Lita returned to WWE television for the first time in nearly a year on Monday’s Raw, attacking Damage CTRL in the main event segment.
The WWE Hall of Famer appeared during Raw’s main event Becky Lynch vs. Bayley steel cage match, dispatching Dakota Kai and IYO SKY at ringside as they attempted to interfere in the bout. Lita then slammed the cage door on Bayley as she attempted to escape, allowing Lynch to hit Bayley with the Manhandle Slam to score a pinfall victory.
Lita’s last WWE run came in January and February of 2022. She first participated in the women’s Royal Rumble match in January, then kicked off a program with Lynch over the Raw Women’s Championship. She went on to challenge Lynch for the title at Elimination Chamber in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on February 19, 2022 in a losing effort.
Prior to the 2022 run, Lita wrestled three times for WWE in 2018, including appearing in the first women’s Rumble match, tagging with Trish Stratus at the Evolution pay-per-view, then teaming with Stratus, Sasha Banks, Natalya, and Bayley the night after the pay-per-view on Raw.
Damage CTRL’s WWE Survivor Series WarGames team is set following Monday’s Raw episode.
Rhea Ripley will join the team alongside Nikki Cross, and Damage CTRL’s Bayley, IYO SKY, and Dakota Kai in the Survivor Series WarGames match on Saturday, November 26.
Ripley, Cross, Bayley, SKY, and Kai will face a team comprised of Bianca Belair, Asuka, Alexa Bliss, Mia Yim, and one competitor still yet to be announced.
A match to determine which side will start with the one-person WarGames advantage will be held on next week’s Raw episode.
Here is the current Survivor Series WarGames lineup:
WWE Survivor Series WarGames, Saturday, November 26, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Bianca Belair is headed to war with Damage CTRL at Survivor Series.
An angle on Monday night’s Raw set up that it will be Team Belair vs. Damage CTRL in a WarGames match at Survivor Series on Saturday, November 26. The pay-per-view is taking place at TD Garden in Boston.
Belair will be teaming with Alexa Bliss, Asuka, and two partners who have yet to be revealed. Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai & IYO SKY) will be teaming with Nikki Cross and one more partner.
Belair retained her Raw Women’s Championship against Bayley in a Last Woman Standing match at Crown Jewel last Saturday. But Alexa Bliss & Asuka lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles to Kai & SKY in Saudi Arabia. Cross interfered to cost Bliss & Asuka the titles.
Damage CTRL interrupted Belair, Bliss, and Asuka on Raw tonight, claiming that Belair still hasn’t truly beaten Bayley. The segment led to Belair challenging Damage CTRL to settle their rivalry in WarGames.
Cross then attacked Belair, Bliss, and Asuka from behind. After Damage CTRL and Cross laid Belair, Bliss, and Asuka out, Bayley accepted the WarGames challenge.
Survivor Series will feature two WarGames matches. It’s the first time that WarGames has ever been used on the WWE main roster.
The participants for the men’s WarGames match have yet to be announced.
Just five days after winning the titles, Alexa Bliss & Asuka’s Women’s Tag Team Championship reign has come to an end.
Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai & IYO SKY) regained the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles by defeating Bliss & Asuka at Saturday’s Crown Jewel pay-per-view. Damage CTRL were able to get the victory after interference by Nikki Cross.
Bliss was about to hit Twisted Bliss on Kai near the end of the match, but Cross attacked Bliss and laid her out with a swinging fisherman’s neckbreaker. The referee was distracted by Asuka and SKY fighting in the ring and didn’t see Cross interfere. Kai then pinned Bliss to get the victory.
Bliss & Asuka had defeated Kai & SKY in the main event of Raw this past Monday to win the Women’s Tag Team titles.
This is Kai & SKY’s second reign as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Nikki Cross reemerged on Raw last month, ditching her “Almost A Superhero” character for a return to her more chaotic and unhinged persona.
Damage CTRL’s IYO SKY and Dakota Kai are the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Damage CTRL defeated Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah on Monday’s Raw to win the titles after Kai pinned Aliyah with a Kai-Ropractor.
Monday’s match was a rematch of the tournament finals from two weeks ago where Rodriguez and Aliyah won the vacant titles by defeating SKY and Kai. Kai was pinned in the match but was not the legal competitor, setting up the rematch.
Kai had twice previously won the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship with Rodriguez as her partner, and SKY had also captured the NXT Tag titles with Zoey Stark on one occasion, but this is the first main roster title win for both competitors. SKY is also a one-time NXT Women’s Champion.
Kai and SKY returned to the company at SummerSlam in July, making their main roster debuts alongside Bayley as the three formed the Damage CTRL group. Kai had been released in April of this year, while SKY was believed to still be under contract, but considering not renewing her deal if she were earmarked to remain in NXT.
A new WWE trademark filing may have revealed the name of Bayley, Dakota Kai & IYO SKY’s faction.
On August 16, WWE applied to trademark the term “Damage CTRL.” The full trademark filing is available below:
IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via the internet or commercial online service; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment via an online community portal; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information; fan club services, namely, organizing sporting events in the field of wrestling for wrestling fan club members; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment
Bayley, Kai & SKY have been using the word “Control” in association with their group since it debuted at SummerSlam last month. Kai also captioned a social media post on Friday night with “Taking Over. Damage Control.”
Bayley, Kai & SKY’s faction was formed after Paul “Triple H” Levesque took charge of WWE creative. On WWE After the Bell, Bayley explained her vision for the group.
“This is something that I’ve wanted for a while — I would say a couple of years. And actually something that I’ve talked to [Triple H] about before. Just wanting something different for the division and using girls that I think were either underutilized or that didn’t get that opportunity or didn’t get that spotlight. And just a way to evolve myself [in] many different variations of this faction or group that I wanted,” Bayley said.
“But as I got injured and got to spend more time really thinking about it, I knew that I wanted literally girls who haven’t had the opportunity for Raw or SmackDown or that haven’t been given the opportunity to feel what WrestleMania is like. Because that’s the ultimate goal of everybody. I just felt like if I looked for girls that haven’t had that yet, just the hunger is gonna be that much stronger. It’s just gonna be fresher for the fans and fresher for the locker room where they’ll get excited to work with different people. So once I thought of it like that and thought let me look at NXT, it was so easy. I knew who I wanted and I knew who could benefit from it. I knew who I can benefit from. And I knew who would give to the locker room, really.”
Bayley returned at SummerSlam after having been out of action for more than a year due to a torn ACL. Kai was brought back to WWE after having been released from NXT this April, while SKY’s contract had been set to expire soon prior to her main roster call-up.
Kai & SKY are currently taking part in WWE’s Women’s Tag Team title tournament. They’re facing Alexa Bliss & Asuka in a semifinal match on this Monday’s episode of Raw.
