WWE backstage interview Cathy Kelley has lifted the lid on her 2022 WWE return, revealing that it all started with a happy birthday text message sent to WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H.
Kelley was an integral part of WWE’s broadcast team during he first stint with company, which spanned four years after signing in February 2016.
Initially a mainstay of NXT pre-shows, as well as hosting social media shows such as WWE Now, Kelley was moved onto television and made her debut on NXT in September 2019.
Seemingly frustrated at a lack of opportunities available in a backstage interviewer role on Raw or SmackDown, the Illinois native departed the company to pursue other opportunities in the entertainment world and made her acting debut later in 2020 in Netflix comedy show #blackAF.
On October 6th 2022, however, it was announced that Kelley would be returning to WWE ahead of the 2022/23 season premiere of Raw. It was revealed that the popular personality would be handling backstage reporting duties for the red brand alongside Byron Saxton.
The beloved personality would later move to SmackDown where she has handled lead backstage interviewing responsibilities since April 2023.
Why Did Cathy Kelley Return To WWE?
In a recent interview with Ryan Satin on the Out Of Character podcast, Kelley revealed that her 2022 return came about after a simple birthday greeting sent to her former boss, Triple H:
“Like I said, when I left the door was never completely closed, it was wanting to be a part of a specific — either Raw or SmackDown at the time. I had always an open door with both Steph and Hunter, staying in contact the entire time.
I think it started as me reaching out to Hunter as a happy birthday text. I was in Alaska with my mom at the time and he started talking about how he was fishing there years ago and how he remembers it fondly, but that turned into him asking me to have a conversation with Steph, which is something that he also asked me when I was leaving.
I had my mind made up at the time, but I credit them to me coming back. I think that they’re incredible leaders. I loved working with him in NXT.
Yeah, it felt like the right time and the right opportunity. Steph was really welcoming with listening to what I wanted to do, she offered if I wanted to learn how to do commentary, if I wanted a writer role, and this opportunity opened up right as we were having those conversations.”
H/T: Fightful for the above transcription