Kacy Catanzaro used her time on American Ninja Warrior to launch a wrestling career, and the show’s producer says they’re just as happy to see their talent succeeding in their respective fields.
American Ninja Warrior Executive Producer Anthony Storm recently spoke with ComingSoon.net‘s Tyler Treese about how the show, now entering its thirteenth season, has continued to evolve and grow. Storm credited Catanzaro’s run on the show as a reason for some of the viral growth, and said it keeps growing because of the broad appeal of the competition elements.
“Yeah, I mean, I think we saw that explosion between Season 6 and 7. Initially the growth came from the success of the women in Season 6. Kacy Catanzaro had two remarkable runs hitting the buzzer for the first time and then completing the final course. They both went viral and I think that was a big part of the initial growth. And I think that the growth subsequent growth is season by season and year by year growth. It’s just a result of the show continuing to tell these incredible stories, the athletes continuing to reach remarkable heights and we’re constantly refreshing the obstacles in the course. Some of the rules and challenges that we put in front of them, and we get a new influx of athletes from all walks of life. I just think that it’s just got such broad appeal. It appeals to people of all ages, genders, all sorts of very diverse audience and I think that a new audience is finding it year after year. So I think it’s still got room to grow.”
Asked about Kacy Catanzaro using American Ninja Warrior as a springboard to WWE, Storm says she’s just one of the many athletes that have used the platform to reach new heights and they are happy to see them flourishing.
“It’s amazing. You know, I think you can look at Kacy. You can look at Jessie Graff, who’s become one of the top stuntwomen in Hollywood. Meagan Martin is now going to be broadcasting the rock climbing event from the Olympics for NBC. So many of our athletes have, have used their exposure on Ninja as a springboard to really fantastic careers. They keep coming back and competing too, which is which we love because we love seeing them and getting to see them challenge themselves in our sport too. So, um, we love it. We love seeing them excel in all walks of life.
Catanzaro had been making regular appearances on NXT until a knee injury sidelined her in March. After recovering from a partial LCL tear in her knee, she returned to action on the June 15 episode of NXT, where she and Kayden Carter lost a tag team match to Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez.
New episodes of American Ninja Warrior air Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC.
Read More: WWE NXT Results (6/15/21)
