Former WWE star reveals struggle with imposter syndrome despite lengthy tenure with company
Former WWE wrestler Kacy Catanzaro has opened up about a surprising internal struggle during her eight-year run with the company – despite her lengthy tenure and championship success, she never truly felt like she belonged in the wrestling world.
In a candid interview on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Catanzaro (who performed as Katana Chance in WWE) revealed that her unconventional path to professional wrestling left her feeling perpetually like an outsider, even after nearly a decade with the company.
“No matter how long I was in wrestling, I always felt like no matter what, I was the newer person there. Like I because I had never wrestled before. Like when I walked into the performance center, I’d never wrestled. And no matter how long I was at the PC or, you know, in the company, I always felt like wherever I was like, oh, I’m I’m the new like I’m still the newer person here, even though it had been almost a decade that I worked there.”
The revelation sheds light on the unique challenges faced by athletes who transition into wrestling from other disciplines. Unlike most of her peers who had wrestling backgrounds spanning years or even decades, Catanzaro came to WWE directly from her success on American Ninja Warrior, with zero wrestling experience.
When she arrived at WWE’s Performance Center in January 2018, the contrast was stark. “Just to give you an example of who I started with who was in my class, like I walked in with like Candace LaRae, which at that time I think she had been wrestling for like over 10 years. War Raiders was in my group, you know, people who their entire life for a decade like had already been wrestling and then it was me,” she recalled.
This feeling of not belonging persisted despite significant accomplishments during her WWE tenure, including winning both NXT and main roster tag team championships alongside partner Kayden Carter, and creating one of the most memorable Royal Rumble saves in recent memory with her handstand walk along the apron.
When asked whether this was about having a beginner’s mentality or struggling to pick up the craft, Catanzaro clarified: “I think an in between, not so much trouble picking it up as much as it was trouble feeling like I belonged there. I think so. Like no matter how much work I put in or I felt like I’m I’m doing what I’m supposed to, I’ve been here. I’m putting the work in in a room, I still always felt like I don’t like I don’t know if I’m like supposed to be here. I just always felt a little bit out of place.”
The struggle became particularly acute because of wrestling’s deeply rooted culture and traditions. “It’s also such a sacred thing which I understand where like when you know you want to be a wrestler your whole life and then you work really hard specifically at wrestling to get there. I understand why it’s so sacred,” she said. “And my journey being different I felt like really really stuck out in that time of how it was compared to now.”
This experience highlights how WWE’s recruitment strategy has evolved significantly. What was rare when Catanzaro joined – bringing in athletes from other disciplines without wrestling backgrounds – has now become much more common at the Performance Center.
The psychological impact of feeling like an outsider may have contributed to a career crisis Catanzaro faced in 2019, just one year into her WWE run. After suffering a back injury at the Royal Rumble and struggling mentally at the Performance Center, she seriously questioned whether to continue wrestling.
“There was a period where I was dealing with this injury and really like can I come back from this? The injury wasn’t that serious that I wouldn’t be able to come back but in my head being like do I really want to do this and kind of having this crisis about it like is this something I’m going to continue to do?”
Despite these internal struggles, Catanzaro persevered and found success, particularly in her tag team partnership with Kayden Carter. However, her recent release from WWE on May 2, 2025 has reignited questions about her wrestling future.
“I don’t know if I’m done performing. I do have more to give. I’m just not sure where that is,” she said, adding that her unconventional path makes the decision more complex than for traditional wrestlers who can return to the independent scene.
“I think part of it is because I didn’t wrestle beforehand. I never like got those experiences that people who did are like, ‘Okay, I’m going to go back to that. I know that I I want to do that.’ And for me, I feel like I my whole adult life, I’ve always really gone right from one challenge to the next.”
Catanzaro’s story offers a unique perspective on the challenges of breaking into wrestling’s tight-knit community and the lasting psychological impact of feeling like an perpetual outsider, even when achieving success at the highest levels of the industry.