Trio of Female WWE Wrestlers Represent True Jersey Grit

Being from Brooklyn and now living in New Jersey, I have developed a deep appreciation for tough women, especially when it comes to professional wrestling. 

So, that’s why I love watching the trio of Garden State female grapplers–Sonya Deville, Liv Morgan, and Kacy Catanzaro–lock it up in a WWE squared circle. It’s true grace, grit, and beauty personified. 

Sonya Deville 

Daria Berenato (Sonya Deville) hails from Shamong Township, N.J., and attended Seneca High School in Tabernacle.

Berenato began training in mixed martial arts at the age of 17. After her mixed martial arts days were over, Berenato began her journey into professional wrestling in 2015, as she was one of the thirteen finalists on the sixth season of WWE competition show, Tough Enough.

Berenato, WWE’s first openly gay female wrestler, made her in-ring debut in 2015 during a live event against Nia Jax in which she lost to the much bigger combatant. 

In 2016, Berenato made her first televised appearance and in-ring debut in NXT in which she competed in a six-woman tag team match alongside Mandy Rose and Alexa Bliss in which they lost to Carmella, Morgan, and Nikki Glencross (Nikki Cross).

The Jersey Devil is currently embroiled in a fierce feud with former tag team partner, Rose, as well as Otis, with Dolph Ziggler in her corner, on Smackdown.  

Liv Morgan

Gionna Jene Daddio, known as WWE’s Liv Morgan, is from Bergen County and has been steadily improving her in-ring abilities as well as her mic skills ever since she inked a contract with WWE in 2014. Daddio made her main roster debut in 2017. 

It’s no surprise that the diminutive 5-foot-4 Daddio is a pretty, rough-and-tumble, soon-to-be 26-year-old pro wrestler. She is the youngest of six children, whom her family constructed a wrestling ring in their backyard; I wonder what children’s birthday parties were like at the Daddio household? 

Kacy Catanzaro (Katana Chance)

One of the shortest female wrestlers in NXT, Catanzaro, a Glen Ridge native, hasn’t let it stop her from achieving athletic success in her life. 

The five-foot Catanzaro dazzled onlookers in 2014, when she became the first woman to scale the treacherous Warped Wall obstacle on NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior.”

The former NCAA Division I gymnast signed with WWE in January of 2018 and continues to shine in an NXT ring. 

— Jerry Del Priore