Katana Chance Reveals Why She Disappeared After 2019 Royal Rumble

The former NXT and WWE Womens Tag Team Champion sat down with D.S. Shin of Ring The Belle and finally opened up about why she stepped away from WWE in 2019. After her impressive debut in the Royal Rumble that year, Chance vanished from the ring for several months, sparking rumors that she might be done with wrestling entirely. Now, shes cleared the air.

So, I was dealing with a back injury (in 2019), she explained. I remember it was actually right after the (Royal) Rumble I had some sort of bursitis, something in my back. I dont even remember the real name of it.

But it wasnt just physical. Chance admitted she was mentally spiraling, especially coming from a non-wrestling background. It was very tough for me coming in, having not come from wrestling, having people, just every day, question why is she here? Why did she get to come here? Does she deserve to be here?

At just two years in, the pressure got real. I was just kind of in the trenches. You know, at the Performance Center in the trenches and I was like, man, will I get there? Can I find this love for it? Am I gonna be good enough? Maybe I am too small.

During her recovery, she stayed silent publicly, unsure of what the future held. I wasnt ready to talk about it I was kind of just taking my time to not let any of that get in my head and so, it was tough but, we made it back. So Im glad.

Fast forward to now, and Chance is back in the thick of things with her longtime tag partner Kayden Carter. The duo competed on the April 11 episode of Friday Night SmackDown in a match to determine WrestleMania 41 challengers for Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguezs Tag Team Titles. They came up short, as Bayley and Womens Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria snagged the win and punched their ticket to night two of WrestleMania.

Katana Chance mightve doubted herself at one point, but her resilience speaks volumes.