Kacy Catanzaro made her in-ring return on last week’s episode of NXT as a surprise participant in the NXT women’s battle royal.

The former American Ninja Warrior hasn’t been seen on TV since this past September. Rumors had circulated that she was leaving pro wrestling all together due to a back injury but she still remained under contract with WWE.

WWE posted a video from the Performance Center where Kacy spoke about why she had temporarily left NXT.

“I was kinda just figuring out if this was the right path for me or not. I think that, it’s not something people usually talk about because I know this is really difficult to get into. This is people’s dream since they’re born. But for me, it wasn’t what I always knew I wanted to do. I had my own path. I had gymnastics, American Ninja Warrior, those were my forever dreams.“

“Coming into something new like this, it is fair to have moments when you’re not sure. Physically, mentally, I didn’t know if this was the right place for me. Taking some time away, getting to rehab, taking care of myself physically, but also mentally, do some soul searching and looking into the future. Where do I see myself? What’s important to me? Obviously, it brought me back here, which is nice. Now that I’m back, I got a new mindset. I’m excited. For me, I’m just excited to be back and see what the possibilities are with a brand new mindset.” (h/t to Fightful for the transcription)

Kacy Catanzaro is an immensely athletic and talented performer, who has naturally picked up the art of professional wrestling. It seems the time off has given her a new lease on her career and hopefully, her back issues won’t prevent her from having a long successful career.

What do you think of Kacy’s return to NXT? Leave a comment below and let us know.