There’s something wholesome in having a “found family”. The notion that the platonic love between a person and a group of people is one that is a miracle to some in real life and a heartwarming thing in fiction. To have a family in others where water ends up just as thick as blood makes for something so beautiful.
This is Damage CTRL’s story. It’s one founded on love, nefarious actions, and missed opportunities.
Here’s how it starts.
The wrestling world was abuzz in the near end of 2022’s summer. Many topics and questions were abound due to Triple H’s rise to creative power in WWE. Some of which pertained to if anyone would be coming back, who had been released earlier in the year and the ones prior. Others wondered what would happen with storylines.
All conversations would be halted, however, as Summerslam 2022 opened with an amazing rematch between Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair that saw the former injured and the latter retaining her Raw Women’s Championship.
Celebration was cut short for the champion, as Bayley’s music hit and her long absence was over. She hadn’t been seen since her injury in July 2021, and this felt huge. Before anybody had time to process that, however, Dakota Kai and then Io Shirai (now IYO SKY) would follow suit.
It felt truly shocking that such a change was so soon – Dakota Kai had been released from the company months prior, while Io Shirai seemed set to leave and possibly rejoin World Wonder Ring Stardom back in Japan – she had not been seen since NXT’s Stand and Deliver program before the 2.0 branding.
This alliance of stars was one that kept viewers buzzing about this development to WWE’s women’s division on the main roster. A faction of women who would often be the subject of conversation were finally here, together. Holy smokes.
In the months following, the trio were causing all sorts of grief for Bianca Belair after sending Becky Lynch out on injury. Things seemed so strong for the group, now known as Damage CTRL, that everyone was hyped.
And yet, this mischievous stable were often trounced during Kai and SKY’s time holding the Women’s Tag Team Championship belts, not to mention Bayley falling short of gaining the Raw Women’s Championship.
What was worse for the group, was that Becky Lynch was back, and the group had pissed off enough women on the roster, that a WarGames match was held that year’s Survivor Series. With Belair aligning herself with Alexa Bliss, Asuka, and Mia Yim on the opposite end, Bayley, Dakota, and IYO reached out to Nikki Cross and Rhea Ripley to even the odds.
Even then, the group still lost. Despite everything they kept trying, victory was shortly and constantly out of reach.
Yet Bayley never gave up on her women after each setback. She believed in them, and them, her. This is a team effort. This was women taking for themselves. There was love and care between them.
Often they’d work to gain opportunities for themselves and for each other. If one person were to eat, everyone was to eat, and what better treat than gold? Oh, but there was more to this. One of my personal favorite moments of the group’s existence was the moment Becky Lynch, fresh off injury and demanding a cage match with Bayley, threatened to injure IYO SKY after a failed assault on the Irish Lass Kicker. Becky was a ruthless beast after becoming The Man, and Bayley knew what she was capable of. She pleaded and begged and agreed to the match, just to see her new sister safely out of the show that night.
In measured hundredweight and penny pound, The Man always comes around. Whereas the protagonist Becky Lynch is able to cross a line of morality due to her ruthlessness, our antagonist, Bayley, cared enough for her found family to swallow her pride and agreed to the match. Just to see IYO safe. Some things are more important than grudges and titles in professional wrestling.
Of course, this meant war. Bayley would lose that match against The Man, Damage CTRl would find more enemies in legends such as Lita and Trish Stratus, and Kai and SKY would lose their Women’s Tag Team Championships to Lynch and Lita, but they still had their grit. They’re filled with spite and resentment.
WrestleMania 39, things would come to a head when the trio would face off against Becky and her veteran allies. Becky, who had a history of trust issues due to most friend stabbing her in the back, found solace in Trish and in her former rival, Lita and in that, they found a sisterhood. Aside from Bianca Belair and Naomi, Becky could trust Lita and Trish on this night.
Explosive and fun (while not having the titles on the line, unfortunately), the three-on-three match gave two legends a wondrous moment in the sun, and Becky got to live it up. Yet, Damage CTRL struggled to keep up. And they didn’t even feel a part of the conversation.2
The disrespect continues.
I’d like to think that was why Bayley took Dakota and IYO under her wing – she was being strung around in whichever way, be it the crowd disliking her on the main roster when she was failing to be the woman seen in her NXT days, Sasha Banks losing her and Bayley’s title reign, or being treated as a joke as the host of WrestleMania 37, sometimes being left off of WrestleMania cards in general. Not to mention the unfair drama that would plague her and Sasha Banks following their loss at WrestleMania 35, ending their inaugural run as tag champs in 2019.
Bayley, who had helped put the women’s division on an entirely new level in NXT, putting on classics to prove women’s wrestling can be just as good, if not better, than men’s wrestling. Bayley, who had helped massively carry the WWE through the pandemic era. Bayley, who had fought wars in Hell in a Cell. Bayley, who helped bring back IYO SKY and Dakota Kai. She brings more to the table than what is expected.
It’s no secret she saw greatness in her stablemates. In a way, they’re her sisters, younger sisters who deserve the world, who are capable of so much and in that, maybe she’s seen that IYO and Dakota need that push to get where they need.
Of course, if you haven’t seen Dakota’s time as Evie on the independent scene or Io Shirai’s tenure as a joshi wrestler, you might not know what Bayley knows. Yeah, you may have seen how impressive they’ve been in NXT, but beyond that, they’re so much more. Evie illuminated her presence immensely in places like Shimmer and Shine, while Shirai was one of the Three Daughters of Stardom alongside Mayu Iwatani and Kairi Hojo. If you don’t watch Shimmer, Shine, and Stardom, you are missing out. For all we talk about women’s presentation on mainstream American wrestling shows, we should all enjoy the promotions that solely fixate on women’s wrestling.
Because that’s the idea of what Damage CTRL is based upon – the greatness of women’s wrestling in the fight to take up that space and to keep instilling the hope for women that they deserve as much space as the other sex.
That is Bayley’s end goal for her friends and for herself. Yet, it’s hard to see the people you care dearly for get opportunities, and want some for yourself. The former hugger, very human, is seen struggling with this herself. For as proud as she is to see her stalwarts succeed, she wants it for herself as well. She gets a little too ahead of herself – pushing them when they aren’t ready or pushing herself front and center when Dakota and IYO need it just as much, if not more. These conflicts of interest could spell a rough patch, a separation, or an outright split if she doesn’t address it and work on it. She needs it and her sisters depend on her as much as she does them.
However, all three of these women have consistently excelled more at singles competition in WWE than in tag team action. Perhaps that’s why their success has been spotty at best, nonexistent at worst.
You can have excellent teamwork, but you can’t always teach success that way when everyone has their own styles of being exceptional. As someone who often works better alone, I can attest to that. When left to your own devices, while given the support needed, anything can be possible.
In this, I find a funny feeling about Damage CTRL. They’re not so much as controlling it as they are self-inflicting it. While I want to see them accomplish more and more despite being Dastardly Debbies, the writing is on the wall.
Bayley, who has had her time in the sun, is soon to be outshone by Kai and SKY. She’s eternally incredible, but she’s created a path in the future for two women who can make the most of their time and do damn well at it. Bayley has created embers that will soon become a raging fire.
And sometimes with flames – you can’t control that.
