WWE recently decided to reunite Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai as a tag team, but that is ultimately a huge mistake, and a real backward step for both women.
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Reuniting Them Devalues Their Split
WWE had Raquel and Kai work together for a long time, with Gonzalez originally just being the muscle, and then eventually the breakout star of the duo. They were a fantastic team and even enjoyed winning the NXT Women's Tag Team Titles together, which capped things off perfectly.
Of course, the company then split them and pushed the women into a heated feud. It made sense for that storyline, and they both dove headfirst into it, creating a truly engaging angle that fans remember vividly. They had some fantastic matches, and they pushed each other to their limits at the time.
It was easy to believe that they hated each other, so the fact they have now come back together so easily does devalue that entire storyline. There was no slow build-up to them reuniting either, which would have helped. Instead, they just hugged and got back on with things, as if nothing had ever happened between them.
It was lazy booking, and that's something that made one of the best rivalries of each woman's career mean nothing. The problem the company has now is that type of creative decision hurts any future splits, not just with these two, but any other tag team that WWE might want to pull apart.
It's A Backward Step For Both Performers
When the pair originally split as a team, it felt like the right decision to make. Raquel was truly ready to burst out and do bigger things as a solo act, and it just felt like they had naturally concluded as a team. The timing was right for them to no longer be a tag team, and putting them as two top singles wrestlers would make sense.
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That is why bringing them back together is a massive backward step for them as characters. Fans have been expecting to see them move forward onto bigger and better things, but the fact they have now returned to what they were doing before is stunting their progression as wrestlers.
It makes it hard for an audience to get behind them as talents because they have zero reasons to believe that they are going to develop into something new. The entire situation feels like the company had no clue what to do with either of the wrestlers and instead, they just got places together to keep them on the product.
WWE did book them to win the NXT Women's Tag Team Titles at Stand & Deliver, which helped to make it possibly make sense. However, the company quickly derailed that entire situation by having them drop the belts back to Toxic Attraction on the following episode of NXT 2.0.
Flip-flopping the titles doesn't help the women involved, nor does it benefit the championships themselves. It makes the idea even more confusing because WWE doesn't want to commit to Gonzalez and Kai as champions either.
They Are Both Ready For Bigger Things
The truth is that ultimately, both Dakota and Raquel are ready to move on to bigger and better things. With the recent change to NXT 2.0, now would be an ideal time to have them both transition to the main roster, and do so as singles stars. Gonzalez in particular has been ready for this since dropping the NXT Women's Championship.
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After the company let go of so many women over the past year, from Tegan Nox to Toni Storm, there is a real opening for some fresh faces on Raw and SmackDown. Out of everybody in NXT's current women's division, these are the two names most ready to fill those gaps from an in-ring and character perspective.
Kai and Raquel have had opportunities working dark matches on the main roster, so the company values them as wrestlers with their in-ring talent being clear to see. Each woman works well as singles wrestlers, and they have distinct characters. But they have already been watered down by going back together as a team.
Their gimmicks had been enhanced by their original split, as that is what formed their characters. Therefore now they're back together, they feel completely devoid of that, which is why it is a huge mistake.
