Cathy Kelley wasn’t about to let a bunch of male wrestling fans convince her she was stupid. The WWE backstage interviewer revealed that constant insults about her intelligence actually pushed her to take the Mensa test, giving her a way to prove her critics wrong.
During an appearance on The Nikki & Brie Show, Kelley opened up about why she decided to pursue membership in the high-IQ society. The conversation started when Nikki and Brie Bella brought up her intelligence and asked about her experience with Mensa. Kelley admitted that the whole thing might sound pretentious, but there was a very personal reason behind her decision.
“No, a lot of people don’t because it’s it is really pretentious. And can I swear on this? Okay. So, when I was starting to watch wrestling, um, there were a lot of male fans and they were criticizing me for not knowing a lot of the product, basically calling me a dumb b*tch.”
Kelley explained that being treated like she wasn’t intelligent simply because she didn’t know everything about wrestling started getting to her. Rather than continuing to take the criticism, she decided to challenge herself with an intelligence test.
“And that was like the comment that I got all the time. I was too, but I was like, I’m going to take this test so I can prove that they’re half wrong.”
The WWE personality admitted that she was much more affected by other people’s opinions at that point in her life. Although she recognized that taking the test could come across as showing off, she wanted to do something for herself after spending so much time questioning her abilities.
“I I get that it’s like such a pretentious thing to do, but I think I just wanted to do it for myself because um that was the time that I really internalized a lot of what other people said. And now I get to like have a card that says that like I’m smarter than everyone.”
Kelley also cleared up one detail about her Mensa status. While she successfully took the test and received her membership card, she revealed that she didn’t maintain her membership. For her, getting the results was more important than continuing to belong to the organization.
“I mean, not Mensa members because that is like I my membership lapsed. I didn’t I took the test and I just got the card and like whatever. But it was the the proof that like okay and then there are people who are like well high IQ doesn’t mean anything.”
She wasn’t claiming that having a high IQ automatically made her better than anybody else, either. Kelley acknowledged that intelligence comes in different forms and said the test helped her recognize some of her personal strengths, particularly when it comes to logic and recognizing patterns.
“I’m like no I know like it’s not going to get me it’s not going to help me better in the business world. that’s not going to help me in certain aspects of my life, but as far as like logic, solving things and and maybe seeing patterns in people quicker, like those are things that are my strengths.”
The conversation also took an interesting turn when Kelley revealed that Stephanie McMahon played a role in helping her embrace her intelligence professionally. Kelley admitted that she previously felt uncomfortable being perceived as smart because of outdated attitudes toward intelligent women.
“And I was I was actually really self-conscious about it because there was this narrative for so long that guys didn’t like smart girls. And I hate that that ever existed, but um Stephanie McMahon was the one that really encouraged me to promote like my intelligence and use that as um like an aspect of my career.”
Kelley’s comments offer another look at the challenges she faced while establishing herself in professional wrestling. She has since become one of WWE’s recognizable backstage personalities, and WWE has explored expanding her role beyond backstage interviews. Her latest revelation shows that some of the criticism she received early on ultimately motivated her to prove something to herself.
What do you think about Cathy Kelley taking the Mensa test after wrestling viewers questioned her intelligence? Do you think she handled the criticism the right way, or should she have ignored it altogether? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.
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