Katana Chance aka Kacy Catanzaro made history on “Ninja Warrior” and then joined WWE. Now she’s won her first main roster title on RAW.
She was a well-known TV face in the USA even before she became a wrestler in WWE, and now she has reached the peak of her career for the time being.
Kacy Catanzaro, who made TV history as the most successful contestant on the show “Ninja Warrior”, has won her first title on the WWE main roster. Katana Chance, as Catanzaro is now known in the wrestling ring, won the women’s tag team titles with partner Kayden Carter. On the latest edition of the TV show Monday Night RAW, the duo defeated the previous champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven.
For former gymnast Catanzaro, it is the culmination of a career that was almost over before it had really begun.
From “Ninja Warrior” to WWE
The 33-year-old Catanzaro was signed by WWE in 2017. Before that, she was a talented gymnast and a well-known TV personality in the USA. She took part in the obstacle course show Ninja Warrior on RTL in Germany several times and was the first female finalist there
Not least because of her existing celebrity, Catanzaro was featured prominently by WWE earlier than usual: she competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament, as a surprise entrant in the 2019 Royal Rumble. That same year, she was also sent to New York’s Times Square for media day at WrestleMania 35 with the main roster stars – also usually a sign that WWE has bigger plans for someone in the pipeline.
“When I started in NXT, I was afraid I was at a huge disadvantage because I didn’t have a wrestling background, that I was out of place,” she said, “But then I realized: I can take advantage of it. I have a different look, a different approach. I’m smaller than most, people don’t expect me to be a wrestler at first glance – and my goal is to subvert that expectation and provide exciting entertainment. “
A few months later, however, it became apparent that Catanzaro, who is only 1.52 meters tall, would quit WWE – due to a back injury, but also for family reasons. “She has a great sense of family and wants children, so she doesn’t know if she wants to be on the road so much,” reported her partner at the time, WWE colleague Ricochet (Trevor Mann).
Catanzaro decided to return to wrestling in early 2020. A short time later, she formed the duo with 35-year-old Carter, a former college basketball player and student of WWE Hall of Fame team Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley.
Chance and Carter have also celebrated the breakthrough as a tag team that had eluded them as individual wrestlers: last year they reigned as champions in NXT, followed by a promotion to RAW in the spring, where the two have now achieved the same goal.
WWE RAW: Judgment Day and Gunther remain champions
Meanwhile, two other titles on the line on RAW remained with their previous owners: Judgment Day defended the men’s tag team belts against the up-and-coming pair of brothers Brutus and Julius Creed. The now 556-day record reign of Intercontinental Champion Gunther from Austria also continues. The “Ring General” defeated his current rival, former WWE Champion The Miz, for the second time.
