By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Kacy Catanzaro
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
On no longer being with WWE: “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 and 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 whether 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? 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 Royal Rumble 2019: “That was really, really cool. I had only been at the Performance Center for a year at that time, and there was about five or six of us from NXT that got to go and do the Royal Rumble. So that was my first really huge thing. I really wasn’t even doing NXT TV at the time. Honestly, I didn’t have much experience. So the Royal Rumble was, I remember when my number got called and I walked out, I think I actually did a full spin. When I walked out, I looked around, and then I was like, Okay, you need to go. I almost forgot where I was. I was in such awe of the arena and how many people were there, and the excitement and the energy. I was like, oh my God, this is what people feel like. This is why people love this. I hadn’t had any really cool experiences yet, I was just grinding at the PC. So I was like, Oh my gosh, I get it, this is incredible, this feeling. I get what this feeling is now. So I feel like that was my first understanding of how huge it could be. It was really fun to be in it, to be in there with all the women and people I looked up to, legends and stuff like that.”
On her Royal Rumble save: “I am so grateful for that moment. Because another thing that people will bring up is that was literally seven years ago, something like that. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing that I haven’t done anything that cool since, or was it just that cool, but people still will be like, Oh, yeah, your Rumble save was so cool. So I’m really grateful to at least have some really cool staple moments that people can kind of remember.”
On walking on her hands: “So right now, yes I can walk on my hands. But will it take me one or two tries to get it perfect? Probably. I can do it, but you never know if you are going to lean too much. So I remember when it happened, I had to have a backup plan. If this doesn’t go perfect, my feet can’t touch. So how do I save this if that happens? So when I do it, I do a back roll to get up to kick up into a handstand. I had always said, okay, if I’m walking and I fall, I just have to fall into a roll where I land on my back and my feet still don’t touch so that I can shimmy around to something else and do it. Because that’s the other thing too about being in front of a big crowd. I could have done 1 million good handstands in my whole life, and it does not make me not nervous to go out in front of thousands and thousands of people and do a handstand and not screw it up. It’s one of my favorite moments.”
Will always wish that Kayden Carter had been given a chance at a solo run on the big shows. She had shown a lot of ability in NXT.