Six months ago Dakota Kai's quest for vengeance inadvertently crowned Mandy Rose the NXT Women's Champion. Mandy would go on to become the Evil, Toxic Queen defeating let us call them all the Black & Gold Era knights of the women's division except one. Dakota would bury her quest for vengeance and rediscover the power of friendship. It was inevitable their paths would cross at some point. Dakota made that clear in a subtle manner last November. Of course, now she is in a much better place, having overcome the demons that plagued her mind for months. But beware The Reaper's wrath if you piss her off. Mandy did just that, costing her the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship and attacking her new best friend, Wendy Choo.

April 12, 2022. Dakota finally challenged Mandy for the NXT Women's Championship. Mandy would have her Toxic Attraction cronies Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne at ringside while Dakota entered this fray alone, not willing to put Wendy in harm's way. Dakota is The Last Knight; the sole burning ember of the Black & Gold Era whom Mandy has not faced or beaten. After the introductions both women came at each other, not holding back. Dakota would take out all three members of Toxic Attraction with a crossbody from the top rope to the floor. But once the action returned to the ring, a gutwrench suplex variant from Mandy gained her control for a bit.

Dakota fought back, using signature moves such as the scorpion kick and facewash to inflict pain on the Toxic Queen. A standing variant of the Coup-de-Kai and Roll of the Cap took a lot of wind out of Mandy. Dakota lifted Mandy on her shoulders for Go to Kick, however Rose slipped out and took Kai down with a chopblock. Mandy taunted Dakota. But that only infuriated Dakota, who grounded Mandy with a ruthless headbutt followed by the Kairopractor. Dakota was ready to lop Mandy's head off with the Kaio-Kick when Gigi and Jacy climbed onto the apron.

Gigi distracted the referee while Jacy tossed one of the tag team titles into the ring as Dakota struck her with a pump kick. Dakota picked up the title, distracted by the thought of using it. Mandy took advantage of Dakota's distraction, striking her with a V-Trigger that smashed the title belt into Dakota's face. The Toxic Queen proceeded to cover Dakota for the pinfall victory. She may have lost the match, however I'd say Dakota got the last laugh. It took three people and a V-Trigger smashing a belt into her face to put her down. She went out fighting her heart out like always.

The First Age of Dakota Kai: The Last & Forever Knight had come to an end, passing on into legend. We thought this would be Our Captain's final match in WWE. That was not destined to be so. King Kota would return and The Second Age of Dakota Kai would begin. But that is another story.

Additional Information | NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose defeated Dakota Kai (10:48) to retain the NXT Women's Championship on WWE NXT April 12, 2022 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. This was Dakota's final match in NXT. She was released from her WWE contract on April 29, 2022, however got hired back in July 2022 by the new management over SummerSlam 2022 weekend. She would finally make her formal main roster debut as part of the Monday Night RAW brand at WWE SummerSlam 2022.