Dakota Kai is the first woman from New Zealand to appear in the WWE.

Dakota Kai signed with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) more than a year ago but every now and then, she still has to pinch herself.

It's easy to see why. The 30-year-old Aucklander is breaking new ground for Kiwi women wrestlers and it keeps getting better and better.

In April, Kai was preparing to watch WrestleMania, the WWE's flagship event, from backstage, when she was paid a surprise visit the night before by high-ranking executive and former wrestling star Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H.

Next thing she knew Kai was strutting her stuff in the WrestleMania pre-show, walking out in front of 80,000 people at the Superdome in New Orleans to realise a career-long dream.

READ MORE: Kiwi's big WWE break

"It's still hard to believe that happened. Us girls involved found out literally the night before," Kai told Stuff from her base in Orlando, Florida.

"Before I went down the ramp towards the ring, someone told me that it's going to be overwhelming, it's going to be insane but just take a moment, take a breath and absorb it as best you can because it's going to go by like that and it really did.

"The whole experience was a whirlwind of emotions. Walking out in front of 80,000 people, as you could imagine, it's the scariest thing in the world. But it was really, really cool."

Kai, whose real name is Cheree Crowley, is in the infancy of her WWE career and that was only a minor role.

WWE Dakota Kai spent more than a decade on the independent wrestling scene before earning a contract with the WWE.

It's a remarkable rise nonetheless, one that has taken her from performing in front of a couple hundred people at an Auckland gym to the top of the sports entertainment world.

But it's just a taste of what she hopes to achieve after becoming the first woman from New Zealand to crack the WWE.

"Being here has been my dream for at least the last 13 years," she said. "I spent a lot of that time working the independent scene so to be here is still really crazy to me."

Kai, whose mother is Samoan, continues a long list of wrestlers with links to the Pacific Island nation, headed by none other than Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Her 'gimmick' in the WWE is a typical girl next door – with a kick – but she describes herself as "very much a tom-boy".

She comes from a strong sporting family. Her grandfather, Pat Crowley, played six tests and 15 games for the All Blacks between 1949-50. Younger sister Nyrene is competing for a contract with the biggest mixed martial arts organisation in Asia, One Championship.

And had she not stumbled into pro wrestling, Kai may have pursued a career in athletics after excelling at high school.

She initially discovered wrestling through her younger brother and with the WWE TV shows typically a no-go in the Crowley household, they would usually try and watch it "in private".

Intrigued by the athleticism, when a friend from track and field mentioned a local promotion was looking for more girls to take part, Kai decided to head along.

She started training at 18 and was hooked.

What followed was more than a decade of grinding away on the independent scene, beginning at home before making a name in Australia as well as featuring in promotions in Japan and the US.

"And from there the opportunity to have a tryout happened and I got offered a contract," Kai added.

"So it's been a crazy ride but I've never been more passionate about anything in my life. All that travelling was something I loved to do and I always, always hoped that one day I'd be given the opportunity and here we are."

And having had to sneak around just to watch the WWE growing up, it's mum and dad who are now doing the snooping.

"They're more supportive than anyone else. My parents are not social media-savvy but they've got Instagram now so they can stalk me and find out what I'm doing. And they'll know of something before I even do.

"But without them I really wouldn't be here. My mum was the one that told me to follow my dream so that's what I did."

Kai knows her journey is only beginning.

Since joining the WWE she has been based in Orlando, training at the organisation's state of the art Performance Centre at least five days a week and performing on NXT, the WWE's development brand.

She is quickly working her way up the NXT ranks and has her sights set on a spot in the main roster.

The WWE is an extremely competitive business. As her WrestleMania experience showed, chances can crop up when you least expect it.

If you are not ready, who knows when they will come around again?

"It's like with any sport really. I know what we do is more entertainment but the same thing applies," Kai said.

"You really have to stay on top of you game because opportunities don't come to everyone. You have to keep your head in the game as well, you can't let politics side of things get to you.

"It's just about working hard and proving to everyone else that you deserve to be here. I have sacrificed a lot, I've moved away from my family and so much has had to take a back seat because this is what I want to do."

She is aiming high. Kai's ultimate goal is to be a WWE champion and given what she had to go through just to reach this point, don't put it past her.

In the short-term she is eying up a place on Evolution on October 29, the first all-women's pay-per-view event in WWE history.

Women have been involved throughout the history of the WWE but it is only in the last few years where they have been fully recognised for their wrestling ability as opposed to their sex appeal.

Since 2015, the organisation's female talent have been given more central roles on shows, headlining PPV events and they are now referred to as 'Superstars' instead of 'Divas'.

The Evolution event is something Kai is passionate about, regardless of whether she appears on the card or not.

"I'd love to be a part of that more than anything. But the fact that it's even happening is just a big leap forward in terms of women in sport.

"The women's revolution has been going for the last few years now and women are progressing so much more than what they used to be portrayed as. It's just an amazing thing for all involved.

"We can only really do the best we can in between now and then and work hard. But you never know when opportunities can fall on your lap."

WWE Evolution takes place on October 29 (NZT) and airs live in New Zealand on the WWE Network.