As shown on the recent episode of the 2018 Mae Young Classic, Kacy Catanzaro defeated Reina Gonzalez to advance to the second round and will face Rhea Ripley. Catanzaro had been a competitor throughout her life and she’s famously known for her time on American Ninja Warrior before signing with the WWE back in 2017.
The MYC participant conducted an interview with
ESPN and talked about her transition into professional wrestling:
There are so many things about wrestling... that your body has trained itself its whole life not to do. Everything that you do in a wrestling match is something that your body doesn't want to do. Your body doesn't want to take these huge falls or jump off the top of a ring, these things that you never thought that you would be doing. It's been this really cool but difficult thing to train my body to learn all of the amazing aspects that this sports entertainment business is, but it's been really hard.
How do you feel about competing in the Mae Young Classic?
Mae Young has been such a constant presence in this business for women. She didn't care what anyone thought women could do, or that they didn't want her in this spot or told her she couldn't do that. She never let that get to her. She never let that get in her way. She didn't accept it. She pushed it and broke through those ceilings. And Mae Young, along with a lot of other women, they sacrificed so much and everything that they have done has made me sitting here be possible because of what they endured and what they didn't accept and because of all of the hardships that they went through. They did all of that and now I get to be here when there is this amazing women's revolution and when we do get to be part of those main events that they didn't get to. It's amazing to see that process and be a part of it now and know that they paved the way for us and we, being here, get to blaze the path for the future women.