Kacy Catanzaro On Why She Left WWE Last Summer, What Led To Her Return

Kacy Catanzaro joined WWE in 2017 with much fanfare due to the success she had on American Ninja Warrior. She was the first female to ever complete a qualifying course and coupled with her gymnastics background, she seemed like the perfect kind of athlete to transition into pro wrestling.

But after two years in NXT, Catanzaro stepped away from wrestling in August 2019 due to an ongoing back injury. Her profile was moved to the alumni page on WWE.com and most figured she was done with wrestling. However, she made a surprise return in the NXT Women's Battle Royal last week and she is now a part of the roster again.

As previously reported, the YouTube channel for the Performance Center chronicled Catanzaro's return to the ring with a "Welcome Back Kacy" video and she talked about her return.

"Being away for the last couple of months has been crazy. It feels weird a little bit in that it's normal and like I never left. And then it also feels surreal to be back here," said Catanzaro. "A lot has changed but something that hasn't changed is Kayden [Carter] is still here by my side, so that's good. She's been showing me where everything is and we got to do a fun photoshoot together."

Catanzaro then went into more detail as to why she left WWE last summer.

"I was kinda figuring out if this was the right path for me or not. It's not something that people usually talk about because I know that this is really difficult to get into. This is people's dreams since they were born," Catanzaro said before admitting this wasn't necessarily her dream with her previous athletic pursuits. "Coming into this, I think it's fair to have moments where you're not sure physically or mentally. I just didn't know if this was the right place for me."

She spent her time away rehabbing both physically and mentally and also did lots of soul-searching. It gave her a new mindset for the wrestling business and the support of her boyfriend Ricochet also helped with her return.

"I definitely missed that feeling of energy and excitement. It was so cool to have Trevor [Ricochet] here and have him watching me," Catanzaro said of her battle royal return.

"Today was an awesome experience. First time debuting on NXT TV since it's been live which is huge. I've missed the Full Sail crowd and I especially miss the NXT Universe. So, stepping out there and getting the energy from them and being able to play off that, even though I didn't come out victorious, walking out and seeing them happy reminded me of why I wanna do this."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.