Cathy Kelley

Last updated

Cathy Kelley
Born
Catherine Anne Kelley

(1988-09-27) September 27, 1988 (age 36)
Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater Loyola University Chicago (BA)
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • television host
  • actress
  • model
Years active2008–present
Height5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
DebutApril 1, 2016
Website cathykelley.com

Catherine Anne Kelley (born September 27, 1988) is an American journalist, television host, model and actress signed to WWE, working as a backstage interviewer on the Raw brand. [1] Prior to signing with WWE, she was a panelist on Maria Menounos' online network AfterBuzz TV. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Kelley was born on September 27, 1988, in Oak Park, Illinois. [3] [4] She is of Austrian and Irish descent. She grew up with a single mother, but spent much of her time on her father's farm in Vermont. [5] Her grandfather, Bartram Kelley was an aviation pioneer, as the senior engineer of Bell Helicopters. [6]

Kelley became interested in journalism when she was in high school, and started hosting for several of her school's news broadcasts. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in multimedia journalism. [7] She is a member of Mensa International, the world's largest and oldest high IQ society, and is also a certified Mensa journalist.

Career

Kelley has hosted and contributed to WTTW's GenYTV, [3] WOI-DT's The Open House Television Show, [8] DSM Living, [9] [10] and JUCE TV's Hot Off The Press.

Kelley joined AfterBuzz TV in 2012. She was a panelist on the networks' recap shows of WWE's Monday Night Raw, NXT, and ABC's The Bachelor . [11] In 2013, she began hosting a podcast called "Chatting with Cathy," where she interviewed celebrities, social influencers, and friends of the network. [12]

Kelley was signed to WWE in February 2016 and was a correspondent for NXT and special events. She made her official WWE debut on April 1, 2016, on the pre-show of NXT Takeover: Dallas. [11] During her tenure, she hosted WWE Now, a show that airs on WWE's social media platforms and their official website that covers stories, breaking news, previews of upcoming episodes of Raw and SmackDown, and event recaps. [13] During her tenure, she contributed to Sam Roberts' show on Sirius XM.

On September 25, 2019, Kelley made her official television debut during an episode of NXT. She also made one night appearance on SmackDown as correspondent on November 1, 2019, after most of the WWE roster were stuck overseas. On February 13, 2020, Kelley announced on social media that she was leaving WWE. Her last day with the company was at NXT TakeOver: Portland on February 16. [14] In 2020, Kelley made her acting debut on the Netflix sitcom #blackAF as a flight attendant. [15] On October 6, 2022, WWE announced that Kelley will be returning to the company as a backstage interviewer on the Raw brand. [1] In June 2023, she joined the SmackDown brand in the same role. On December of that year she started hosting "The OK show" alongside Kevin Owens, available on Youtube. She was moved back to the RAW brand in February 2024, where she currently works.

Filmography

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2016–2020 WWE NXT Backstage interviewer
2020 #blackAF Flight attendant
2022–2023
2024–present		 WWE Raw Backstage interviewer
2023–2024 WWE SmackDown Backstage interviewer

Related Research Articles

<i>WWE Experience</i> WWE television program

WWE Experience is a syndicated American television program that was produced by WWE which mainly recaps events taking place on Raw and SmackDown. The show ran from May 2004 until September 2005 in the US, broadcasting 64 episodes domestically before its cancellation.

The WWE Draft is a process used by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE to refresh its rosters between the Raw and SmackDown brands when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers from the promotion's developmental brand NXT (2016–present) are also eligible to be drafted to Raw and SmackDown. Two of WWE's former brands, ECW (2006–2009) and 205 Live (2019), have also taken part in the draft during the promotion's various brand split periods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slammy Award</span> Professional wrestling award

The Slammy Awards, also known as the Slammys, is a concept used by WWE, where awards, similar to the Academy and Grammy Awards, are given to professional wrestlers and other individuals within WWE, such as commentators and managers. Introduced in 1986, there have been 13 editions of the concept. The awards are a mixture of "serious" and "tongue-in-cheek". Winners of the award receive a statuette that depicts one wrestler holding another over his head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWE brand extension</span> Professional wrestling roster division in WWE

The brand extension, also referred to as the brand split, is the separation of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE's roster of wrestlers into distinct divisions, or "brands". The promotion's wrestlers are assigned to a brand via the annual WWE Draft and exclusively perform on that brand's weekly television show, with some exceptions. Throughout its history, WWE has utilized the brand extension twice. The first brand split occurred from 2002 to 2011, while the ongoing second began in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryse Mizanin</span> Canadian professional wrestler and model (born 1983)

Maryse Mizanin is a Canadian television personality, model, actress and retired professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, under the ring name Maryse. After spending years modeling, including winning Miss Hawaiian Tropic Canada in 2003, Mizanin participated in the WWE Diva Search competition and was hired by WWE in 2006. She spent time in developmental territories Ohio Valley Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling, before being assigned to the SmackDown brand in 2008. That year, Maryse won her first WWE Divas Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabbi Tuft</span> American professional wrestler

Gabbi Alon Tuft is an American TikToker and retired professional wrestler. Tuft is best known for her time with WWE under the ring name Tyler Reks. Tuft also competed in WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where she won the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship once and the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship twice, once with Joe Hennig and once with Johnny Curtis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer Rae</span> American professional wrestler (b. 1983)

Danielle Louise Moinet is an American model, actress, ring announcer, former professional wrestler, manager and American football player. She is best known for her tenures in WWE from 2011 to 2017 and in 2022, under the ring name Summer Rae. Moinet was a main cast member on the reality show Total Divas during its second and third seasons. Before joining WWE, she played with the Chicago Bliss of the Lingerie Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercedes Moné</span> American professional wrestler (born 1992)

Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado is an American professional wrestler and actress. As a wrestler, she has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) since January 2024, where she performs under the ring name Mercedes Moné and is the current AEW TBS Champion in her first reign. She also appears in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and its sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is the current Strong Women's Champion in her first reign. Varnado became widely known for her time in WWE from 2012 to 2022, where she performed under the ring name Sasha Banks. She is the first and only female professional wrestler to win championships across WWE, AEW, and NJPW.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eva Marie</span> American actress, fashion designer, model, and professional wrestler

Natalie Eva Marie Nelson is an American actress, fashion designer, model, and professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenures in WWE, from 2013–2017 and 2020–2021, where she performed under the ring name Eva Marie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renee Paquette</span> Canadian television personality

Renee Jane Paquette is a Canadian-American television personality working as a backstage interviewer for All Elite Wrestling (AEW). She was previously known for her time in WWE between 2012 and 2020, where she served as a commentator, presenter, and interviewer under the ring name Renee Young. During her time in WWE, Young also appeared as a main cast member on the reality TV series Total Divas. Before signing with WWE, she was a sports broadcaster for The Score Television Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexa Bliss</span> American professional wrestler (born 1991)

Alexis Cabrera is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs under the ring name Alexa Bliss. As of January 2023, she is inactive due to maternity leave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hannifan</span> American professional wrestling announcer

Thomas Hannifan is an American professional wrestling commentator and sports broadcaster. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), alongside Matthew Rehwoldt. He was previously an announcer for WWE under the ring name Tom Phillips and served at various points as the play-by-play commentator on NXT, SmackDown, 205 Live, NXT UK and Raw. In 2022, Hannifan joined Impact Wrestling as their lead commentator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonya Deville</span> American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist

Daria Rae Berenato is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Sonya Deville, and as a member of Pure Fusion Collective. She is a former one-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion.

The 2016 WWE draft was a professional wrestling event and the tenth WWE draft, the first since 2011, produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between the Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on July 19 during the live premiere of SmackDown on the USA Network in the United States broadcasting from the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's championships in WWE</span> Listing of professional wrestling championships

The American professional wrestling promotion WWE has maintained several women's championships since 1983, when the World Wrestling Federation established the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship. One year later, the WWF bought the NWA Women's Championship and renamed it the WWF Women's Championship, establishing their first women's world championship. Although the title preceded the company's creation, the WWF claimed a lineage that began in 1956. Whenever the WWE brand extension has been implemented, separate women's championships have been created or allocated for each brand.

<i>WWE 205 Live</i> Professional wrestling streaming television series

WWE 205 Live is an American professional wrestling streaming television program that was produced by WWE. It premiered on November 29, 2016, as a replacement for WWE Superstars, and ended on February 11, 2022. The show originally aired exclusively on the WWE Network until March 2021 when the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock, after which, it was available on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lacey Evans</span> American professional wrestler

Macey Estrella-Kadlec is an American professional wrestler and former U.S. Marine. She is best known for her career in WWE from 2016 to 2023, where she performed under the ring name Lacey Evans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raw (WWE brand)</span> Professional wrestling roster division, referred to as brands, in WWE

Raw is a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was established on March 25, 2002. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to Raw primarily appear on the brand's weekly television program, Monday Night Raw, also referred to simply as Raw. It is one of WWE's two main brands, along with SmackDown, collectively referred to as WWE's main roster. The brand extension was discontinued between August 2011 and July 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ECW (WWE brand)</span> Former professional wrestling roster division

ECW was a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that was established in May 2006 and discontinued in February 2010. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers that were assigned to ECW primarily appeared on the brand's weekly television program, ECW. The brand was established as a relaunch of the former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, the assets of which WWE acquired in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 WWE Draft</span> WWEs intra-brand draft

The 2020 WWE Draft was the 15th WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The two-night event began on the October 9 episode of Friday Night SmackDown and concluded on the October 12 episode of Monday Night Raw. Both shows were broadcast from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, with SmackDown airing on FOX and Raw on USA.

References

  1. 1 2 "WWE announces updates to commentary teams". WWE.com . World Wrestling Entertainment.
  2. ↑ "Chatting with Cathy on Stitcher Radio" . Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Dean, Terry (January 22, 2008). "Former OPRF Students Produce Ch. 11 Show" . Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Cathy Kelley's Biography" . Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  5. ↑ McGregor, David. "A Session With Cathy Kelley". tvandfilmreview.com. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Army Aviation Hall of Fame 1995 Induction". Army Aviation Association of America. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  7. ↑ Barrasso, Justin (November 18, 2019). "Why Cathy Kelley Fought to Go Back to NXT". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  8. ↑ "About The Open House Television Show". Facebook . Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  9. ↑ "About WOI-DT's DSM Living". Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  10. ↑ "About DSM Living". Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  11. 1 2 Hanstock, Bill (February 5, 2016). "WWE hires announcer Catherine Kelley". Cageside Seats. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  12. ↑ "AfterBuzz TV's Chatting with Cathy". AfterBuzz TV. March 6, 2016. Archived from the original on November 12, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  13. ↑ "WWE Now". WWE. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  14. ↑ Middleton, Marc (February 14, 2020). "Cathy Kelley Announces WWE Departure". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  15. ↑ Upton, Felix (April 18, 2020). "WATCH Cathy Kelley Snags Role In Netflix Comedy". Ringside News. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.