This group desperately needs to win this match

Think back to SummerSlam. That may seem like months ago in WWE years but we’re only a couple months removed from summer’s biggest party. The big story coming out of Nashville was Bayley returning and bringing Dakota Kai and IYO SKY with her. Weeks thereafter, they told us their plans to control the whole game—no pun intended—by raising the bar for all women in WWE, while causing as much havoc as humanly possible. And in typical Bayley fashion, she set her sights on Bianca Belair, the top of the food chain on Raw.

For a few weeks, that not only sounded good but looked great. Kai-N-SKY dominated as a tag team, shimmying their way to a spot in the women’s tag team championships finals. Bayley looked like a master manipulator, getting under Bianca’s skin with ease and making sure her group’s presence was felt every time a woman’s match happened on Raw. But then Kai-N-SKY took an L in those tag team finals to a novice team. Now, you can say part of that loss is attributed to Bianca, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka chasing Bayley away and throwing off their rhythm, but neither woman interfered in the actual match. To say nothing of the fact Dakota and IYO, even in kayfabe, have way too much experience for that. They were basically beat by one woman with one arm tied behind her back.

All of a sudden, this group that talks about how dominant they are looks everything but. Bianca, Asuka, and Alexa need to lose for this story to not only continue, but to have a point. WWE is great at telling but not so much at the showing. Telling me how great or imposing someone is means nothing if those words aren’t backed up in the ring. Bayley’s group, which still doesn’t officially have a name, needs wins for any of their words to matter. If I had the pencil—or a pencil at this point—Dakota and IYO walk into Clash at the Castle with tag titles in hand, looking like serious threats to Raw’s top three women babyfaces. Instead, they’re walking in with Ls in hand, licking their wounds, and salvaging whatever control they have left over their immediate futures.

If all that sounds harsh it’s because it is. But it’s also because I want this group to succeed. Picking up a win at Castle will go a long way in making that a reality.