Charlotte Flair visited the WWE Performance Center to give an inspirational talk to the NXT female roster including Dakota Kai. SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch made her own, less inspirational visit, erupting a scuffle between former friends Flair and Lynch. Footage was shown on WWE SmackDown October 23, 2018.

WWE held its first ever all women's Pay-Per-View event WWE Evolution on October 28, 2018 from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New York City, New York. Dakota Kai would make history being one of the two competitors in the first match of the night at the historic show. It was a non-televised (a.k.a. dark match) in which NXT UK Women's Champion Rhea Ripley pinned Kai to successfully defend the title. Ripley had become the inaugural champion at a taping in August, however the tournament announcement itself hadn't even streamed yet on WWE Network where NXT UK was shown.

Kai not only sought to win the NXT UK Women’s Championship, but she also went into her battle against Ripley looking to avenge her injured best friend Tegan Nox whom Rhea defeated in the 2018 Mae Young Classic. Dakota took her bestie into battle with her, wearing one of Nox’s Welsh Dragon kneepads.

Dakota getting the opportunity to help set the tone for the historic night will go down as one of the highlights of her first run in WWE. Sadly, it's a highlight that is all too often overlooked if not forgotten about because it was non-televised. After many years the match was finally released via WWE Vault on September 7, 2024.

Kai is briefly seen passing by Rhea backstage in WWE The Day of: Evolution. At the end of the Evolution broadcast, Dakota was seen in the background during the celebration alongside fellow NXT wrestlers and best friends Tegan Nox, Mia Yim and Candice LeRae.

On the heels of the historic night, Dakota would compete on NXT televison for the first time since September on the November 7, 2018 episode. Her opponent was rising star Taynara Conti. The Brazilian judoka took offense to Dakota calling herself The Captain of Team Kick since she's a legitimate black belt and Kai is not. Kai wasn't concerned with any of that, focused on picking up a win after coming up short "earlier in the day" against Rhea Ripley in the NXT UK Women's Championship Tournament semifinal round.

Conti applied a headlock in the early going and attempted a takedown but Kai rolled through into a headlock of her own. That counter incensed Conti who furiously asked Kai if she was crazy after slamming Dakota back-of-the-head first to the canvas. If only she knew what was to come...

Dakota caught Conti's PK to the back, grasping her leg in her hand as she got to her feet. Conti tried to make nice, insisting Kai was her friend. But Dakota knew that Taynara had a Judas moment in her mind and didn't fall for it, throwing Conti to the canvas shades of a Judo toss. Dakota worked over Conti with offense until Taynara took over with a series of brutal kicks. Conti accused Kai of trying to embarrass her as she worked her over. Dakota would fight back with some of her own kicks building up to the Kairopractor to score a hard-earned pinfall win.

Additional Information | NXT UK Women's Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Dakota Kai (4:21) to retain the title in a dark match at WWE Evolution on October 28, 2018 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. Dakota Kai defeated Taynara Conti (4:49) on the November 7, 2018 episode of WWE NXT at Full Sail in Winter Park, Florida.