Nixon Newell On Dakota Kai’s NXT Heel Turn: When You’re Friends With Someone, You Can Hit Them Harder

Nixon Newell reflects on Dakota Kai turning heel in NXT.

At NXT TakeOver War Games in 2019, Nixon Newell, then known as Tegan Nox, was betrayed by Dakota Kai. Dakota would viciously attack Newell in her cage, taking her out of the match. The turn caught many fans by surprise, with Kai also not participating in the War Games bout as a result.

While speaking on the latest episode of Muscle Memory, Nixon spoke about Dakota Kai turning heel on her at TakeOver War Games in 2019.

“Oh, I felt it. I felt every single slam, crack, slap, everything. But it was just… I don’t know. Like when you’re friends with someone, you can hit them harder. I think that helped with our entire situation. We were a bit sad at first that we weren’t actually going to get into War Games, and we did try and finagle the system and be like, what if we did it this way? They’re like, ‘nope.’ We’re like, all right. But in honesty, they did it perfectly. Like, I don’t think it would have got the reaction that it did if we had entered that match. But yeah, It was just so incredible to see that take Dakota to the next level.  Like that was when people went, oh no, she’s really good. When it’s like, no, she’s been really good. One of the best female wrestlers in the world for close to a decade. Now, now you’re just seeing her on your level. Cause this is all that you guys watch. Like she has been this person for a very long time. Now you’re about to see her do this, but 10 times even better. Cause now she’s finding her feet. It was incredible to be a part of that and then to have that whole storyline with her and do the Portland street fight and stuff. Like, that’s one of my favorite matches of all time.”

Nixon continued, reinforcing the idea that her match with Dakota Kai in Portland was one of her favorite matches ever.

“Dude, it was one of my favorite matches I’ve ever done. Like, I’ve done a lot of matches, but that one is up there in, like, top three, 100%. Like, just, like I said, it’s just fantastic. Fun doing it with your friends. You can trust them more and they trust you. Dude, it was just such a fond, very, very fond memory of mine.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Newell spoke about fans who believe she is injury prone. You can read more about that here.

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