Former WWE star Dakota Kai, also known as Charlie, appeared on “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” to discuss topics including what inspired her to pursue a career in wrestling.
Kai said, “Yeah, I know, those are our guys. So I watched wrestling with my brother from a very young age, and he was the one that got me into it, because he would sit down and watch Friday night SmackDown and whatever, and I would always be sitting there, like, when is this over? Can I change the channel, please? But it wasn’t until I actually sat down and started watching the storylines. I kind of got into it a little bit later than a lot of people my age. I didn’t watch the Attitude Era or anything like that. I got into it around 2004.”
On the storyline that got her into wrestling:
“I think it was Stone Cold. Maybe I remember Stone Cold and The Rock, but I don’t know if that was before then, and I was still, like, in this mindset of wrestling? I don’t want to watch this! Put on Full House or something.”
On the origin of her “Dakota Kai” name:
“I wanted something Tom-boyish, I guess, for the first name. There’s not many boy Dakotas, but there are a few. I wanted something like that. And then Kai is obviously Pacifica. So I wanted to tie in my Samoan roots with that. That was the first name that I kind of pitched to them, and then it was the one that they greenlit. So I was happy about that. And then it just sounded cool. I wanted a last name and a first name. Right now, I’ve just got one name.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
