Kacy Esther Catanzaro (born January 14, 1990) is an Americanprofessional wrestler and a formergymnast andobstacle racer. She is best known for her time inWWE, where she performed under thering nameKatana Chance. AlongsideKayden Carter, she is a one-timeNXT Women's Tag Team Champion, holding the record for the longest reign in the title's history, and a one-timeWWE Women's Tag Team Champion. Carter and Chance are also the first women's tag team to have won the WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Championships.
Prior to her professional wrestling career, Catanzaro competed on the television sports showAmerican Ninja Warrior and became the first woman to complete a City Qualifiers course and the first woman to complete a City Finals course.[4]
Catanzaro was aJunior Olympic gymnast, having started training at age 6.[10] She reachedlevel 10 in 2007 and competed at the 2007 New Jersey Level 10 State Championships where she placed fifth in the Senior-A division.[11] The following year Catanzaro competed at the 2008 New Jersey Level 10 State Championships where she placed third[12] and advanced to the 2008Junior Olympic National Championships. She finished 23rd overall but finished 6th on the balance beam.[13]
She worked for Alpha Warrior, an obstacle-course gym inSan Antonio, Texas, from February 2013.[2]
Catanzaro spent two years training forAmerican Ninja Warrior alongside her then-boyfriend and co-competitor Brent Steffensen.[17] She did not complete the qualifying course inVenice, California, but was an invited wildcard at the 2013 finals,[18] where she fell early on the Giant cycle/ring.
In 2014, Catanzaro became the first woman to complete the qualifying course ofAmerican Ninja Warrior (season 6), making it up the warped wall on her second try at 5:26.18 at the Dallas qualifiers, ranking her 21 out of 30; this also makes her the first woman to make it up the warped wall in competition. Later in 2014, Catanzaro competed in the Dallas finals ofAmerican Ninja Warrior. She was the first woman ever to complete a city finals course (and the second woman to attempt it afterJessie Graff in season 5), qualifying for the national finals in Las Vegas with a time of 8 minutes, 59 seconds.[19] (Not until five years later, during the 2019 season, was her accomplishment of a woman completing a City Finals course matched.)[20]
Of the 2014 city finals run, host commentatorAkbar Gbaja-Biamila remarked "I've seen greatness during my NFL career...And I've been in awe of people, but I am really in awe of Kacy".[21] The run had been especially notable because due to her short stature, many of the obstacles looked difficult to manage and in one case, she had to leap between boards whereas other competitors could traverse them. Her achievement made her a social media phenomenon, with her run being viewed over 100 million times; supporters onTwitter coined thehashtag #MightyKacy.[18][22]
Catanzaro failed to complete the first stage of the National Finals in Las Vegas. She made it past the first three obstacles, including the Giant Ring and the Silk Slider, before she fell attempting the Jumping Spider, where her full extension was simply too short to hold the position.
In the2015 Houston Qualifying round (season 7), Catanzaro failed to complete the course after falling on the cargo crossing. She was given a wild card spot in Vegas and she failed due to a mistimed trampoline jump at the Propeller Bar at Stage 1 of the national finals. By this time the pressure she felt to live up to her broadcast reputation asNinja's greatest female competitor was reportedly showing and she was tearful in her post-run interview withKristine Leahy.
In 2016, Catanzaro was invited to compete in the 32nd competition of the original Japanese version of ANW,Sasuke. Catanzaro performed well, completing 8 of the stage 1 obstacles before timing out on the final obstacle, the Lumberjack Climb. Since the course's renewal and increased difficulty, Catanzaro set the record for the furthest a female athlete has gone and the closest a female athlete has gotten to completing stage 1 since the 2nd competition (until 2017 when Jessie Graff completed stage 1 and became the first woman ever to complete stage 2.)
In the2016 Oklahoma City Qualifying round (season 8), Catanzaro failed to complete the course after falling on an early obstacle, the Log Runner; however, she was again given a Wild Card spot in Las Vegas. In the Las Vegas National Finals, Stage 1, she fell on the second obstacle.
In 2017, Catanzaro competed inAmerican Ninja Warrior season 9 in the San Antonio city qualifier and finals. In the former she failed on the fourth obstacle, but did well enough to qualify for city finals under the show's new rules.[23] In that latter run she had her best performance since 2014, making it past the Sky Hooks and the fifth obstacle to get to the now-higher Warped Wall, which she failed to surmount. Nonetheless she qualified for the national finals.[24] At the national finals, she failed on Stage 1 at the Double Dipper.[25]
In 2017, Catanzaro announced her retirement fromAmerican Ninja Warrior, with season 9 being her last.[26]
Catanzaro continued to make appearances during 2018, both in house shows and on NXT television; she wrestled as aface and took inspiration from WWE'sAlexa Bliss's slogan "Five Feet of Fury", making reference to Catanzaro's own diminutive size.[30] In the second episode of theMae Young Classic, which aired on September 12, Catanzaro made her televised debut in a winning effort against Reina González in the first round match.[31] On Episode 5, she lost in the second round toRhea Ripley.[32] On January 27, 2019, Catanzaro made her main roster debut, entering theRoyal Rumble at number 19 and lasting 10:45, before being eliminated by Ripley.[33][34] She would make her NXT debut afterwards, on March 13.[35]
In September 2019, it was reported that Catanzaro had resigned from WWE and retired from professional wrestling due to an ongoing back injury she suffered.[36][37] She returned on the January 15, 2020, episode ofNXT as a surprise entrant in a women'sbattle royal.[38] Catanzaro revealed in an interview that she took some time off because she had doubts about continuing in the professional wrestling business.[39][40]
On the September 16 episode ofNXT, Catanzaro teamed withKayden Carter in a winning effort against Jessi Kamea andXia Li.[41] They participated in the2021 Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, defeatingMercedes Martinez andToni Storm in the quarterfinals,[42] but were beaten by Dakota Kai andRaquel Rodriguez in the semifinals.[43] They would then feud with Xia Li after constantly being attacked by her throughout the following weeks. Catanzaro lost to Li on the February 24 episode ofNXT and got her leg injured afterwards.[44] The next year, Catanzaro and Carter participated in the 2022 Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic where they defeatedDiamond Mine's Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley in the first round,[45] but lost toKay Lee Ray andIo Shirai in the semifinals.[46] On April 19, Catanzaro's ring name was changed toKatana Chance. Chance and Carter won theNXT Women's Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way tag team elimination match, lastly eliminatingToxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin andJacy Jayne), on the August 2 episode ofNXT, marking Kacy's first professional wrestling championship.[47] They defended their titles againstDoudrop andNikki A.S.H. atWorlds Collide,[48] and againstNikkita Lyons andZoey Stark on the October 25[49] and November 8 episodes ofNXT.[50] On January 8, 2023, Catanzaro and Carter became the longest reigning NXT Women's Tag Team Champions. On the January 24 episode ofNXT, they retained againstAlba Fyre and Sol Ruca.[51] AtNXT Vengeance Day, Chance and Carter lost the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship toFallon Henley andKiana James, ending their record-setting reign at 186 days.[52]
As part of the2023 WWE Draft, Chance and Carter were drafted to theRawbrand.[53][54] Chance and Carter made their main roster debut on the June 5 episode ofRaw in a losing effort against theWWE Women's Tag Team ChampionsRonda Rousey andShayna Baszler.[55] Almost six months later, they defeatedChelsea Green andPiper Niven for the titles, becoming the first women's tag team to have won the WWE and NXT Women's Tag Team Championships.[56] Chance and Carter had their first successful title defense on the January 8, 2024, episode ofRaw where they defeated Green and Niven in a rematch.[57] On the January 26 episode ofSmackDown, they lost the titles toDamage CTRL'sThe Kabuki Warriors (Asuka andKairi Sane), ending their reign at 39 days.[58]
Catanzaro previously dated fellow American Ninja Warrior competitor Brent Steffensen, and fellow professional wrestler Trevor Mann, best known under the ring nameRicochet.[62][63] She is currently in a relationship with fitness trainer Naoufal Abouelhouda.[63]
^Edmonson, Jonathan."Kacy Catanzaro fails to completeAmerican Ninja Warrior qualifying round", NJ Advance Media forNJ.com, June 9, 2015, updated January 17, 2019. Accessed November 12, 2020. "Catanzaro, a Glen Ridge native who made history when she became the first woman to qualify for the finals on season six of NBC'sAmerican Ninja Warrior, was derailed at the Houston qualifying round last night."
^Schneider, Jeremy."From N.J. to WWE: Kacy Catanzaro begins pro wrestling journey", NJ Advance Media forNJ.com, January 30, 2018, updated January 30, 2019. Accessed November 12, 2020. "World Wrestling Entertainment announced on Jan. 18 that Catanzaro, a Belleville High School graduate who was born in Glen Ridge, has joined WWE's NXT, the organization's developmental system."
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