WWE Release Dakota Kai, Malcolm Bivens

WWE have released NXT talents Dakota Kai (Cheree Crowley) and Malcolm Bivens (Stokely Hathaway), according to Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp.

The company reportedly pushed to re-sign Bivens in 2021 which resulted in a short extension and WWE asked about him signing a new deal again in February of 2022. Bivens made it clear that he did not want to sign a new contract, though, and the company subsequently released him today.

Why WWE decided to release Dakota Kai is currently unknown. The Captain Of Team Kick had been off TV since she unsuccessfully challenged Mandy Rose for the NXT Women's Championship on April 12.

Kai first signed with WWE back in December 2016 and she spent the entirety of her run on NXT. She is a two-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion, having held the gold with Raquel Gonzalez.

Bivens signed with WWE in 2019 and he managed several talents on NXT, including Indus Sher, Babatunde, and Tyler Rust. He was revealed as a founding member of Diamond Mine in June 2021 and he remained the stable's manager on the developmental brand until his release.

Commenting on his release, Bivens said he will miss Xia Li most of all, adding, "godspeed baby girl, godspeed."