ONE OF THE toughest wrestlers in the world is a bedazzled, 5’3” dynamo, who has laced her boots and glued on her eyelashes to down some of the top names in deathmatch wrestling. On the outside, Kasey Catal’s venture into deathmatch is an unexpected turn in an unexpected wrestling career—unlike many pro wrestlers, she didn’t grow up watching the sport on television. Her journey into the industry was born of opportunity and a love for entertaining.
A natural performer, Catal’s first goal in life was to be a clown or trapeze artist. The circus was an early fixation for the Poughkeepsie native, whose grandparents made a yearly tradition of taking her. She begged her parents to send her to circus camp, where she could realize her dreams, though her appeals failed to move them.
But Catal’s ambitions of being in the spotlight lived on, from living room performances to the stage. A dancer most of her life, she gravitated toward musical theater—an obsession combining her loves of movement and entertaining crowds. “It’s just always been performing,” Catal said. “Whether it’s dancing, whether it’s acting, whatever it is. I have just always wanted to be a performer.”
