Despite working for WWE for nearly eight years, Kacy Catanzaro says her release from the company came as a genuine shock – until she began retracing the warning signs that, in hindsight, pointed to her departure.
In a revealing interview on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, the former Katana Chance detailed the series of subtle changes and cancelled plans that preceded her release on May 2, 2025, offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at how WWE departures actually unfold.
“I actually was very surprised. I just it wasn’t on my radar. And then as I was telling like the story of kind of how it led up to it, at first I was like, ‘Yeah, I really like didn’t have any notice, you know?’ And then as I told the story, I was like, ‘Oh, wait. Maybe I could have taken some of those as signs that like something could have been coming.'”
The warning signs began with what seemed like a positive development – being moved from Raw to SmackDown during February 2025’s transfer window. While initially trying to view it optimistically, Catanzaro noted the timing was suspicious.
“We got moved from Raw to Smackdown and originally you’re like, ‘Oh man, like Raw just got moved to Netflix. That’s really big.’ And now they’re like taking us off of it. Is that bad? But then, you know, people are like, ‘Well, there’s more time on Smackdown. Like, we want more storylines for you guys.’ Cool. I’m like, ‘Okay, cool. That’s believable. I love that.'”
However, once on SmackDown, promised opportunities failed to materialize. A planned six-woman tag team match involving Catanzaro, Kayden Carter, and Zelina Vega against Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, and Alba Fyre kept getting postponed.
“Things keep changing where it just keeps getting pushed. So like they had a singles the next week was supposed to be the six woman then it didn’t happen and we were like oh well will there be a backstage but then it didn’t happen,” she recalled. The cancellations continued through WrestleMania season, with the match ultimately being scrapped entirely.
The most telling sign came through an unexpected source – a charity event. Catanzaro regularly participated in a non-WWE charity event that the company typically allowed. When an NXT wrestler scheduled for the same event was suddenly told she couldn’t attend, speculation began.
“One of the NXT girls that was invited had messaged me and said something to the effect of they said that I can’t do it and they’ll like let me know why soon. And I was like, sounds weird, but like people are weird. Who knows?”
The speculation intensified when multiple people began connecting the dots. “My boyfriend says I wonder if it’s because they’re going to do releases. And I was like, but that wouldn’t really make sense because it’s not a WWE event, so they wouldn’t care. It wasn’t like being posted anywhere. It was just, you know, for a good cause. And I’m like, that’s weird. Then the person doing the charity event messaged me and said, another wrestler was like, oh, I wonder if releases are happening.”
Despite the mounting speculation, Catanzaro tried to maintain her characteristic optimism. “I actually made a joke to my boyfriend when he said it. I was like, if I get released, will you still love me? You know how girls are crazy. And he was like, yes, of course. But I I only made that joke because I didn’t actually think that it was happening.”
The final warning sign was the absence of travel that week. “We didn’t travel that week. Another sign, but I was like, okay, it’s we don’t have a story yet. No big deal.”
When the call finally came while she was working out in her garage, Catanzaro said the surreal nature of the moment left her unprepared. “I’m working out in my garage and I get a phone call and it’s not a 203 number [Connecticut area code]. So I ignore it cuz I’m working out. Then it calls again… It called a second time and I was like, ‘Okay.’ And I look and it said, ‘Might be so and so.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ I knew right away.”
The actual conversation was brief and disorienting. “I picked up the phone and I was like, ‘Hello.’ And then I was like, ‘Oh, this is it.’ And like I’ve thought about that moment so many times that when it happened, it was just like I felt like I like I felt like I wasn’t in my body. Like I was on the phone and answering and then when I hung up, I was like, I feel like I should have said more or like asked more questions. And I think I was just like, ‘Okay, okay, bye.'”
Reflecting on her WWE tenure, Catanzaro acknowledged the precarious nature of employment in the wrestling industry. “I feel like when you work there there is a joke of like you you could literally be fired at any time. Like we’re like nervous about it often. Not like oh I’m sitting there upset every day but like enough that someone will make a random joke every now and then like oh like something happened. Oh, well, what if we get fired? You know, it it is in the back of your mind because it does happen and you know how the business works.”
Ironically, Catanzaro had survived multiple previous rounds of releases, including the major cuts during the pandemic era, making this departure even more unexpected.
Her first call back to WWE after the release? Asking about fixing her twice-broken nose. Her second priority? “Hey, I need my Instagram name back.”
Now, as she contemplates her future, Catanzaro remains uncertain about whether she wants to continue wrestling. “I’m bummed because I know that I have a lot more potential that I could have shown that I didn’t get to,” she said, while also expressing gratitude for her nearly eight-year run with the company.