Kacy Catanzaro Upset With Her WWE Run, Santino Marella On A Potential WWE HOF Induction

During a recent appearance on the “Lightweights” podcast, former WWE Superstar Kacy Catanzaro (Katana Chance) expressed regret at not finding her identity in WWE.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On how she developed her style: “This is a very good question because I think for me, it’s different. A lot of people that I’ve spoken to that have had different experiences came from wrestling on the independents and were able to come here, a lot of people kind of did a lot of that there (on the independents) because there is a lot more freedom. I always felt like, at the Performance Center, for the people that came from the independents, they were like, ‘You being here is the dream. You’re able to be here. This is better than anything.’”

On being unsure if she ever fully found herself in WWE: “Some other people would say they got to figure themselves out with the freedom of not having producers, TV, and all of these restrictions. I don’t know if I was able to fully really find myself in it because when you’re in there and you’re getting on TV and put in these spots, you’re needed to be a specific thing right away. You can try different things and try different characters, but if it’s decided where they want you to be, I just want to do that and do the right thing and do whatever they needed.”

On if she was able to push her boundaries: “I don’t know if I, creatively enough, pushed those boundaries to be like, ‘Even though this is what I’m supposed to do, I need to figure out how to do what I’m supposed to be.’ I think that was an ongoing struggle of mine throughout my journey. I don’t know if I ever got to do that and fully find if I was myself and what I wanted to do with no restrictions, what it would have been. That’s why it’s a really hard question. You do have the time before you’re on TV, you’re in promo classes and doing stuff where you are figuring out what works best, but what is going to stick out?”

During a recent appearance on the “Insight” podcast, former WWE Superstar Santino Marella discussed his run as Director of Authority in TNA Wrestling, a potential WWE Hall of Fame induction, and other topics.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On becoming the TNA Director of Authority: “Scott D’Amore kind of asked me if I was interested a few times, and it’s just timing wasn’t right. Then coming out of COVID, I’m like, you know what? I think it’s time. Everything kind of lined up, talked to my wife and we went back in. So anyway, I got a call from Robert Evans, who was one of the writers at the time, and he had this vision of the Director of Authority. We started talking about that FBI kind of [look]. In the beginning, I was wearing tactical pants, and I had like an FBI jacket, which someone scooped up. I don’t know [who it was]. We had some TNA shows at Battle Arts back in the day, and during cleanup, someone scooped it. So, yeah, it was one of one. Then we switched to the tracksuits, which came in super handy, it’s one of our sponsors. But being able to wear a uniform on a weekly basis, it just saves so much decision-making. What am I going to wear? I have a uniform. I wear the tracksuit with the badge, it’s good for now.”

On keeping his WWE ring name: “So that was actually almost bigger news than me appearing on TNA, was the fact that I was Santino Marella. So in 2021, I imagine the COVID confusion or whatever, there were people getting fired and hired, and it seemed like it was team Hunter and team Vince, and they were changing regimes or whatever. Somebody didn’t renew the trademark. So Scott D’Amore, as a habit, because if he’s getting a former WWE guy, he kind of checks the trademark to see if they’re available, because he has to get creative and come up with a name. If it’s not Fandango, it’s Dango or something that’s legally not going to be too close to the intellectual property.”

On the ring name being available: “He checked, and all of a sudden he goes, damn, Santino Marella is available. So he bought it. It’s not as simple as you can just buy it and it’s yours. There’s a case that they created the character, they developed the character. It’s still on their library. I mean, there’s still tons of Santino stuff in the library. But when it’s library use, I think it’s not considered like current use, because it’s from a library. So they sent an email or a phone call to Scott, and they say, ‘Yeah, you’re using our intellectual property.’ And Scott’s like, ‘Actually, I own the trademark.’ So they’re like, ‘Let me get back to you.’ It’s kind of sitting there for a while. Then they filed an extension to the time they can appeal it, and then when Scott was no longer with TNA, Ariel [Shnerer], in hopes of having a good relationship with WWE, kind of just gave it back to them. So they own it, but I’m not sure if a part of the deal was we’ll give it back to you but can we use it? And we’ve been using it.”

On the famous Coba vs. Mr. Socko spot with Mick Foley: “It was funny, because I kind of pitched the whole thing to him, and he was so giddy during my pitch, he was loving it. Anyway, I wanted to do the whole back into each other, a couple of gun fighters in the Wild West, and then kind of turn and then see each other, and kind of get ready. We didn’t time it out, but it took us the exact same amount of time to put our respective socks on, and then we kind of did that. It was perfect timing. Then we circled, there was other guys in the ring, but everyone just kind of got small. You can see Big Show just watching and enjoying it. And yeah, then we did the battle. We were supposed to do a little more. You know like in movies, wizards will have rays kind of hitting each other, they’ll go back. We were supposed to kind of do that across the ring but Cody jumped in a little early, and I was like, we had more planned. But anyway, it was still memorable, because people understood immediately what was happening. Oh, damn, It’s sock versus sock, and he’s the right guy. That was actually probably one of my most fun things.”

On a possible WWE Hall of Fame induction: “Well, it depends what you go to wrestling for. If you want macho tough guys, and some people just don’t like comedy, they want to see slobber knockers each and every match. It’s pretty polarized. I think the vast majority of people appreciate the comedy, but there are people that they have no place for comedy.”

On the Santina Marella angle: “Santina was funny because it was only like three months, but there was so many memorable moments crammed into three months. It was supposed to be one night, but again, it tickled the funny bone of the right person, and it ended up lasting for three months. But I tell you what, I got a lot of respect for the makeup process that girls go through, it’s like an hour. The fake lashes are hard. It’s no joke, your face is burning from makeup and stuff. Yeah, they go through a lot.”

On the idea for posing as Santina: “Well, the storyline with Beth Phoenix was that I was an insecure boyfriend. She was the alpha in the relationship, and I was desperately trying to show that men are better athletes. So by dressing up as a woman and winning the battle royal and then revealing, Ha, I’m a man, I just won the women’s battle royal, therefore men are better athletes. That was the idea. And then it was just executed so well that it stuck around for a while.”

On working with Beth Phoenix: “We used to do little things that like when she’d flex, and I’d come around and bite her bicep like an apple, and she was the perfect [straight person]. You need the comedy guy and that straight person and stuff. She was excellent at the role, and then she’s an awesome wrestler too. She was a high-level collegiate wrestler. They used to wrestle boys and stuff. And just watching her in the gym, sometimes you’re like, she’s doing more than [me], squatting two plates for like, 20 or something, really legitimately strong, standing shoulder pressed a plate, really impressive lifts and then going out there and having great technical matches.”

The post Kacy Catanzaro Upset With Her WWE Run, Santino Marella On A Potential WWE HOF Induction appeared first on eWrestlingNews.com.

from eWrestlingNews.com https://ift.tt/AIL6Fce
via wwe