Kacy Catanzaro (ケイシー・カタンツァーロ) is a current professional wrestler, obstacle course trainer, former NCAA gymnast, former ANW competitor, and notable ex-girlfriend of Brent Steffensen. She debuted in American Ninja Warrior 5 and competed until American Ninja Warrior 9. She and Steffensen used to train together at obstacle course gyms having practiced on obstacles like the Jumping Spider, Salmon Ladder, Ultimate Cliffhanger, and the Warped Wall. Kacy gained major popularity in the Ninja Community, as she became the first female competitor to beat the Warped Wall.
American Ninja Warrior[]
American Ninja Warrior 5[]
Catanzaro made her debut appearance in American Ninja Warrior 5 at the Venice qualifying course. She easily cleared the first three obstacles but struggled on the Floating Chains, due to her height and as a result, her hands got tired and she wasn't able to grip onto the Flying Nunchucks. Along with Steffensen, they both competed at the Vegas Finals as wildcards. On her run, she beat the Timbers easily but on the Giant Cycle, her feet hit the edge of the trampoline causing her to fall into the water but she was shown supporting Brent in Vegas on Stage 1 and 2.
American Ninja Warrior 6[]
In American Ninja Warrior 6, she passed all 5 obstacles and became the third woman after Nika Muckelroy (who had competed earlier that night) and Jessie Graff to make it to the Warped Wall. Unlike Nika and Jessie, she was able to complete the obstacle and became the first woman in American Ninja Warrior history to complete the qualifying course, and the third to qualify for the city finals, finishing in 21st place.
At the Dallas City Finals, she went on to become the first female to ever to earn her spot at the Vegas Finals by completing the city finals placing 7th.
In the Vegas Finals, she got her revenge on the Giant Cycle but failed to stick on the Jumping Spider but still, this is her very best season.
American Ninja Warrior 7[]
After gaining a large fan base due to her success in the previous tournament, she vowed to repeat it on American Ninja Warrior 7. However, in the Houston qualifiers, she failed the Cargo Crossing, the one she said that she worried the most, while trying to leap to the bar. Despite this, she received a Wild Card spot in the Las Vegas finals. In the Vegas finals, a nervous Kacy wanted to redeem herself after her failure in the Houston qualifiers. On the course, Kacy managed to complete the Piston Road with ease but just like two years ago, she overshot her jump on the mini tramp to the Propeller Bar and fell in the water. She was shown crying in a post-run interview, saying that she was not going to fail an American Ninja Warrior obstacle course.
American Ninja Warrior: All Stars Special[]
She competed in the first ever American Ninja Warrior: All Stars Special where she competed in the Super Salmon Ladder where Kacy was able to make it all the way to the 11th rung.
American Ninja Warrior 8[]
She competed again in American Ninja Warrior 8 in Oklahoma City, hoping to redeem herself after the failures of last year. Catanzaro passed through the first two obstacles, but her size proved to be a disadvantage on the Log Runner, due to the distance between each log being 4 feet, almost 80% of her total height. Consequently, she tripped on the fourth log. She attempted to recover, but the log ended up spinning, thus causing her feet to hit the water. Kacy received a Wild Card spot in Vegas for the second year in a row. However, she failed on the Propeller Bar again for a second straight season despite landing on the trampoline properly.
Kacy was shown on American Ninja Warrior: Crashing the Course with Alex Weber in Los Angeles giving advice on Tick Tock about how it incorporates a lot into one obstacle (swinging pendulum and then the leap to the cargo net), again in Indianapolis giving support after he failed the transition on Disc Runner even bringing him a towel, and finally in Las Vegas where she was shown supporting him as he wanted to take down the Giant Log Grip and anointed him as an honorary American Ninja Warrior (making it official with a shirt).
American Ninja Warrior: All Stars Special 2[]
Kacy competed in the Striding Steps challenge this time around where although she was able to clear the obstacle, she wasn't able to do it in the top two times so she got eliminated at the end of the qualifying round.
American Ninja Warrior 9[]
In American Ninja Warrior 9, Kacy had high ambitions to redeem herself after falling in qualifying the past two seasons. It was shown that Kacy had even higher stakes this season particularly due to her mother's heart attack recently. Kacy completed the first three obstacles easily, which secured her spot in the finals as one of the top 5 women. However, she made a fatal mistake on the Sky Hooks when she attempted to make the last throw, only for the ring to get stuck on the hook. Although her performance overall wasn't in the Top 30, she went the 2nd farthest out of all the females in San Antonio, advancing her to the city finals.
In the city finals, Kacy got her revenge on the Sky Hooks and she even defeated the following obstacle, the Pipe Fitter but unfortunately, she wasn't able to clear the adjusted 14'6 Warped Wall on her three attempts. Even though she failed to scale the Warped Wall, she still earned her ticket to Vegas by finishing in the top two of female competitors. On August 28th, 2017, it was announced that Kacy will be retiring from American Ninja Warrior and signed a contract with the WWE as a wrestler. In Kacy's final run at Mt. Midoryama, Kacy finally managed to defeat the Propeller Bar that eliminated her in the past two seasons. Her run was short lived though, as she failed the very next obstacle, the Double Dipper, when she failed to grab the second bar, ending her second-best season.
Even though this was her final run on American Ninja Warrior, she still participated in the Mega Spider Climb during the American Ninja Warrior: All Stars Special 3, where she lost Heat 4 of the first round to Barclay Stockett.
SASUKE[]
Kacy competed in SASUKE 32, as the 51st competitor to run the course. She passed the first two obstacles with ease, managed to quickly get her traction on the TIE Fighter and easily passed the other obstacles until she reached the Soritatsu Kabe with 40 seconds left. She ended up losing a great deal of time on the Soritatsu Kabe due to the physical exhaustion following the Tackle and thus timed out at the Lumberjack Climb, having attempted it with 4 seconds left. By making it to Lumberjack Climb, she made further than any women in that tournament.
Post ANW[]
After her final run on Stage One during American Ninja Warrior 9, Kacy reappeared during both the Dallas qualifying and city finals to support her friend and fellow ninja, Barclay Stockett. It was also shown after Michelle Warnky had cleared the city finals course that Kacy had commented with: "Congrats, Michelle! Welcome to the City Finals Buzzer club. I love following your journey! Such an inspiration!" During the American Ninja Warrior: Women's Championship 2, she showed up (on the video screen) once again to support Barclay but before she started her run, Zuri asked that although they love talking about her ninja history if she would talk about the future and possibly come back and attempt which she said she would love too but it was about the ladies that were there tonight and never say never which Zuri said, she's gonna go out on a limb and say that she would return sometime in the future which hasn't happened yet.
In her WWE career, her and her teammate, Kayden Carter have won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship and became the first women's tag team to win both the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship. She and Carter were drafted to the Raw brand during the 2023 WWE Draft. They won the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles on the December 18, 2023 episode of Raw. WWE's Michael Cole nicknamed them "The Twinkle Twins.
She will return for the second round of National Finals for American Ninja Warrior 17 to be a guest commentator for a ninja's run.
Trivia[]
- Kacy set many firsts as a female ninja, which include being the:
- First woman to ever defeat the Warped Wall on American Ninja Warrior.
- First woman to ever complete a city qualifiers course on American Ninja Warrior.
- First woman to complete a city finals course on American Ninja Warrior.
- First woman to ever qualify for the national finals on American Ninja Warrior.
- First woman to clear multiple Warped Walls on multiple SASUKE/Ninja Warrior international formats.
- First woman to have a perfect season going into Stage One.
- She served as the sideline reporter on Team Ninja Warrior: College Madness.
- She, Michelle Warnky-Buurma, Jesse Labreck, Olivia Vivian, Stefanie Edelmann, Taylor Greene, Rachel Degutz, Madelyn Madaras (twice), Addy Herman, and Katarzyna Jonaczyk are the only eleven women to conquer a semifinals course in a international setting.
- Back when she and Brent Steffensen were still together, they hit 18 buzzers together as a couple. They are the only ninja power couple whose streak has ended and are in third place just ahead of Noah Meunier and Addy Herman.
- After the airing of her runs in American Ninja Warrior 6, she, Matt, and Akbar were on a appearance of the Ellen Show in the American Ninja Warrior: Parking Lot Challenge where she competed against Bob Harper where she was able to beat him with ease and even earned the official American Ninja Warrior vacuum cleaner.
Team Ninja Record[]
| Season | Episode | Round | Heat | Opponent Team | Opponent | Result | Notes | Individual Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team: Team Alpha | ||||||||
| 1 | 3 (Qualifying) | Round One | 2 | Stratis Faction | Grace Jones | Win | Both of them failed at the Warped Wall after 3 attempts. However, Kacy reached the obstacle first. | 1-0 |
| 1 | 3 (Qualifying) | Round Two | 2 | ExpendaBulls | Luci Romberg | Win | Luci fell at the Dancing Stones. | 2-0 |
| 2 | 5 (Qualifying) | Round One | 2 | Karsten's Fast Kats | Joy Strickland | Win | 3-0 | |
| 2 | 5 (Qualifying) | Round Two | 2 | Storm Team | Allyssa Beird | Win | Allyssa fell at the Swing Jump. | 4-0 |
Results[]
SASUKE[]
| SASUKE | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | 51 | Failed Lumberjack Climb (First Stage) | Time out. Shown in Navi. |
American Ninja Warrior[]
| ANW | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 70 | Failed Giant Cycle (Stage One) | Qualified as wildcard. Missed the trampoline. |
| 6 | 74 | Failed Jumping Spider (Stage One) | First female in ANW history to beat the Warped Wall, finish a city finals course, and qualify for Mount Midoriyama. |
| 7 | 60 | Failed Propeller Bar (Stage One) | Qualified as wildcard. Overshot the trampoline. |
| 8 | 83 | Failed Propeller Bar (Stage One) | Qualified as Wildcard. Couldn't get a grip on the bar. |
| 9 | Failed Double Dipper (Stage One) | Couldn't reach the second bar. Final run on ANW. |