Exclusive: Mia Yim knows patience will pay off, puts over Dakota Kai

Since returning to WWE last year after a successful run in Impact Wrestling, Mia Yim has been working to establish herself on an incredibly talented WWE roster - arguably one of the company’s deepest ever.

Cageside Seats had a chance to catch up with Mia Yim during Royal Rumble weekend, and we talked about her approach to her second run with WWE. She knows that achieving her goals will take time and patience:

“Because there’s so much talent, so much star power. It’s like, I gotta know that I’m not gonna be at the top of the chain tomorrow, but I gotta work my way up, day by day. Every time I’m on TV, I can tell it’s just getting a little bit better. But I also gotta remember that like, me having my place at NXT and what I did at NXT, pretty much coming back is like I’m starting all over again. So, of course, the reactions, everything is gonna be, not like what it was at NXT, but day by day I can start to see that it’s growing and that’s all I can ask.”

Yim finds herself in a similar position as Candice LeRae, Piper Niven, Tegan Nox, Raquel Rodriguez and others who have been introduced, or re-introduced, to the main roster within the last year.

There’s only so much TV time, so the name of the game for many performers in maximizing their minutes. Someone who has excelled in that area over the last few months is one of Yim’s real life best friends, Dakota Kai.

Kai may have woken up this morning as a former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion, but she continues to prove her worth and showcase her potential with each passing week.

Whether it’s playing the sidekick roll to Bayley & IYO SKY or fighting in the main event of Monday Night Raw against two of the greatest women’s wrestlers in WWE history, the Damage CTRL member takes full advantage of every second she’s on screen.

High spots and chair shots may fire up a live crowd, but a mastery of the little things can turn a good performer into a great one. And it’s Kai’s focus and attention to the small details in her performance, in addition to more than holding her own in the ring, that’s created opportunities like the ones Mia hopes to have more of:

“She’s my sister. She’s my jelly. I’m her [peanut butter], she’s my jelly and I’m just so proud,” Yim said. “After everything that’s happened, even when she got released, she was just like, oh, this is what it is. And it’s like, just being around her, she’s just such a carefree spirit that it’s nice when good things happen to good people. It’s like, thank you. You deserve it. But it also shows that good things happen to good people. Charlie’s really, really good. Like, in the ring, on the mic, everything. And as a person, she’s a good person and I’m happy for her. I’m very happy for her.”

When an endorsement was made on our end for Kai becoming either Raw or SmackDown Women’s Champion down the line, potentially even this year, Yim was quick to throw her support behind the move. Even going as far as saying, why wait?

“Agreed, wholeheartedly. I think she could carry it right now.”

The reality is, there’s more room to grow for Damage CTRL as a collective unit and with the current depth of the Women’s Division, there’s really no need to rush Kai’s progression.

Since returning to WWE at SummerSlam, Kai has won multiple Women’s Tag Team Championships and has been featured in a number of high profile feuds and matches, including at Survivor Series WarGames. A star-studded contest that included Mia Yim, a bucket list item that she could finally cross off.

Yim was supposed to take part in the first ever Women’s WarGames match in NXT, but ended up being attacked prior to the match getting underway. Fittingly, she was replaced by her good friend Dakota. History would not repeat itself last year and Yim says the experience of competing inside the double cage lived up to her high expectations.

“If I was ever gonna be in WarGames, like, it would be the original one that I was supposed to be in or this one. And I’m like, with these girls, not only can we go, but we are gonna make magic happen. And we did. In my opinion, we did.”

Mia found herself booked into WarGames during her NXT days thanks to Rhea Ripley, and the same holds true this time around. Instead of being chosen as a teammate, it was her rivalry with Ripley that found her in one of her dream matches just weeks after returning to the company.

Yim made her debut last fall, aligning with The OC to even the odds in their feud against the Judgment Day. She continued to roll with AJ Styles and company after Survivor Series, until an unfortunate accident during a WWE Live event saw their leader go down with an injury.

Styles, Karl Anderson and Mia Yim were taking on Judgment Day in a six-person tag match in Hershey, Pennsylvania when at some point during the bout, Styles broke his ankle.

“AJ is our rock. We love AJ. That’s my wrestling dad in the group. Being there was scary. I’ve broken my ankle before and when I saw what happened, asked him what happened, I was like, get out. Karl, get in, finish this match. Like, we’ll figure it out later.”

Yim says Styles’ had a great attitude after the injury happened, taking an “it’s part of the business” approach to the whole situation. The Phenomenal One was seen backstage afterward laughing, smiling and joking around — a testament to the to the positive influence Styles has backstage.

But with Styles now out of action for months, where does that leave the rest of the OC?

“Even before he did live events with us, we were still out doing our thing too. So it was like, you know what, we’re just gonna keep doing our thing. We’re here for AJ. We’re gonna support him, but we’re also gonna show him that in your absence, the group is gonna be okay. When you come back, we are gonna be ready for you.”

We have yet to see much of either of Gallows or Anderson on WWE TV since Styles went down. The former Tag Team Champions have primarily been used in Main Event matches or backstage segments when called upon.

Yim meanwhile, has maintained her presence on screen with a couple of brief alliances with the likes of Becky Lynch and Candice LeRae, but promises her partnership with The OC is not over.

She says as soon as Styles is good to go, you can expect all four members of the OC to ride again.

“Oh we ready to go! Yeah, Hell yeah.”

Make sure to check out our entire conversation with Mia Yim in the video above. You can follow Rick Ucchino on Twitter and subscribe to the Bleav in Pro Wrestling Podcast Channel for more of his work.