Kacy Catanzaro On If She Saw Any Signs She Would Get Released From WWE Before It Happened

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet for Insight, Kacy Catanzaro commented on if she saw any signs that her WWE release was coming before it actually happened. Catanzaro, who wrestled in WWE as Katana Chance, was let go from the company last month. Here are highlights:

On if she still wants to wrestle: “That’s a good question. I’m not sure. I’m gonna say I’m not sure, because it could go either way. I feel like most people, they know right away. The second it happens, they’re like, Okay, I’m doing this. I think part of it is because I didn’t wrestle beforehand. I never got those experiences that people who did are like, Okay, I’m gonna go back to that. I know that I wanna do that. For me, I feel like my whole adult life I’ve always really gone right from one challenge to the next. I did gymnastics for four years. I had a scholarship. I couldn’t really do anything else. I was really locked in. Right after I graduated, I went to American Ninja Warrior for five years. I was in contracts with them each season, which WWE took me right from there. I didn’t have any in between. I had to choose to leave, to go there. So eight years there, now I’m like, I really have never not been in a contract, and just thought what does Kacy want to do? And so I think that takes more than a week or two. I’m hoping it’s not just me that can’t figure it out, but I think it’s a really important question to ask myself and figure out. I know the core of things that I’m passionate about, but I think just what direction that’s gonna take me is gonna maybe take a little time.”

On if she saw any signs of her release: “So I didn’t realize there were clues until I was explaining how the last few weeks went, and then I was like, Okay, maybe? So we got moved from Raw to SmackDown in the switch-ups. So it wasn’t like a draft, but people were getting moved around. I’m like, Okay, well you always kind of have to take both sides. Everything that happens can feel like it’s a bad thing, and then I just won’t survive that way. So then I always have to try and make it positive. So we got moved from Raw to SmackDown. Originally, you’re like oh man, Raw just got moved to Netflix. That’s really big and now they’re taking us off of it. Is that bad? But then people are like, well, there’s more time on SmackDown, we want more storylines for you guys. Cool, that’s believable. I love that. So we get to SmackDown, there’s a big pay-per-view coming up, so the stories are all kind of already happening for the pay-per-view for the next two weeks. So we’re like, okay, we’re not doing anything yet. Again, makes sense. That’s how things happen. That totally makes sense. So then the pay-per-view passes. Now it’s another month or so, we’re pitching stuff. We’re pitching all the angles, sending storylines in, trying to get in. We’re trying to fit into what’s already happening, trying to pitch off the wall stuff that could be cool and different, whatever. So as it gets closer, now we’re getting to Mania season. So now it’s like a month before WrestleMania. We’re like, okay, I know that if something that we’re doing isn’t in WrestleMania, anything can happen, because everything has to lead up to that. Times get changed and stories need more time or get changed. So we were supposed to be leading to this six-woman tag with me, Lacey [Kayden Carter] and Zelina against Chelsea, Piper and Alba. So we’re like, okay, cool, it’ll be some tag stuff, some single stuff. This will be great. They start having their singles matches, which is supposed to lead to a tag, which is supposed to lead this, whatever. Things keep changing where it just keeps getting pushed. So they had a singles. The next week was supposed to be the six woman, then it didn’t happen. We were like, Oh, well will there be a backstage? But then it didn’t happen. Zelina had something, and we’re like, Oh, are we gonna be there with her? And they were like, no, no, we’re just gonna do this first. Then it was the week of WrestleMania and it was supposed to happen, and then the day before it got pushed. We were like, Okay, again, it’s WrestleMania weekend. Of course something more important having to do with the show happened. Not very weird. Move on.

On her reaction to her release: “I think at first I thought that I was in shock and not able to process it, because I feel like when you work there, there is a joke of you could literally be fired at any time. We’re nervous about it often. Not like I’m sitting there upset every day. But enough that someone will make a random joke every now and then like oh, something happened. Well, what if we get fired? It is in the back of your mind because it does happen, and you know how the business works. But I actually was very surprised. It wasn’t on my radar. Then as I was telling the story of kind of how it led up to it, at first I was like, Yeah, I really didn’t have any notice. Then as I told the story, I was like wait, maybe I could have taken some of those as signs that something could have been coming. But also things change so often. If every time something got pushed, or every time we didn’t travel I went into a spiral thinking that we were gonna get fired, I wouldn’t have enjoyed my time. So I feel like I was surprised. It was a shock, but I had been there for so many years that I think that’s normal. So now I’m just working on really letting myself process it and kind of feel everything, figure out how I feel. So I’m not really sure. I’m bummed because I know that I have a lot more potential that I could have shown that I didn’t get to. But if I think about it, I could really say that about anything I’ve done. There is no top, there’s always more you can do. So I think I will come to terms with that. It’s just you kind of have to grieve it, appreciate it, be grateful. Be okay that it’s sad and then be kind of excited for whatever’s gonna come next.”

On her team with Kayden Carter: “It’s crazy. On paper and in real life, we are complete opposites. Opposites attract; that’s us. We could not be more different. But when it comes to in the ring, immediately, we randomly just got put together on a live event because they just want more people to wrestle and get experience. So a random Florida live event, we got put together, and she had wrestled before that, so she had more experience, more of that mindset, and she would basically be like, okay, I’ve seen you do this thing. I can do this first, and then you can do that. Then we would try things, and randomly we were like, this is kind of cool. All right, what if we add this thing to it? It kind of just flowed naturally. The beauty about us being so different is she is more rebellious, and I’m more like, let’s rein us in. So it was the perfect combination of some of the stuff that we have done, when she said it originally, or had shown me originally, I would be like, I don’t know if we can do that, that’s crazy. Then she would be like, Okay, well, how can we make it work? Then I’d be like, okay, do we change how I’m landing? Do we change where the person is? Do we change where this is? It would be this amazing idea I wouldn’t think we could do, but she would have the confidence. Then I would be able to rein in a little bit, and then it would become what we’re doing.”