Kacy Catanzaro Talks Transitioning To WWE, American Ninja Warrior, More

Kacy Catanzaro talked to ESPN recently about making her televised debut during the Mae Young Classic. She also talked about the hardest part about transitioning into pro wrestling and the direction of her character. Below are some highlights

Kacy On American Ninja Warrior:

When I was watching American Ninja Warrior, it was really big that no woman had ever completed the course. I was sitting there and I was like, I really think that I can do this. I know it’s going to be hard, but I think that I could get through those obstacles. That would be really cool — something to show everyone that women can do it.

In my first season I got to the second-to-last obstacle that was right before the Warped Wall. I remember everybody saying to me, “You did really good for a girl. You should be happy.” And I was bummed because I didn’t make it. I’m a competitor and I wanted to finish the course. Everybody was trying to make me feel better by saying you did really good for a girl and it honestly did the opposite, because I was like, “What does that mean that I did good for a girl? What does ‘for a girl’ mean?” You’re saying we’re not as good as what the regular good is? I remember it sparked this extra fire in me being like, “Oh, I’m going to come back and I’m going to do good, period.” There’s going to be no “for a girl” and everybody’s going to know that we can keep up with the guys and we can beat them.

Kacy On Transitioning To WWE:

There are so many things about wrestling… that your body has trained itself it’s whole life not to do. Everything that you do in a wrestling match is something that your body doesn’t want to do. Your body doesn’t want to take these huge falls or jump off the top of a ring, these things that you never thought that you would be doing. It’s been this really cool but difficult thing to train my body to learn all of the amazing aspects that this sports entertainment business is, but it’s been really hard.

Kacy On The Direction Of Her Character:

I think it would be really fun [to be a heel]. Honestly, for me, I feel like there’s so many times that you have those moments where that heel wants to come out of you in normal life, but you decide to be a good person so you don’t let it come out. I feel like I have those moments a lot, and I’ll know these are my two choices. I could flip out on this person or I could be the bigger person and walk away. Walking away is what I usually try and choose, but I think it would be fun to be in a situation where I could choose the other one and to be a little bit “heelish.”

Kacy On The Mae Young Classic:

Mae Young has been such a constant presence in this business for women. She didn’t care what anyone thought women could do, or that they didn’t want her in this spot or told her she couldn’t do that. She never let that get to her. She never let that get in her way. She didn’t accept it. She pushed it and broke through those ceilings. And Mae Young, along with a lot of other women, they sacrificed so much and everything that they have done has made me sitting here be possible because of what they endured and what they didn’t accept and because of all of the hardships that they went through. They did all of that and now I get to be here when there is this amazing women’s revolution and when we do get to be part of those main events that they didn’t get to. It’s amazing to see that process and be a part of it now and know that they paved the way for us and we, being here, get to blaze the path for the future women.

To read the full article and find out more about Kacy and her goals, click the ESPN hyperlink above.

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