Charly Arnolt (born July 14, 1987) is an American

sports broadcaster In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio w ...

and television personality for the multimedia platform '' OutKick''. She is best known for her tenure as a sportscaster and

ring announcer A ring announcer is an in-ring (and sometimes on-camera) employee or contractor for a boxing, professional wrestling or mixed martial arts event or promotion, who introduces the competitors to the audience. In boxing and mixed martial arts bou ...

with

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

from 2016 to 2021, where she appeared under the ring name Charly Caruso. She was a backup host and moderator on ESPN's '' First Take'' with

Stephen A. Smith Stephen Anthony Smith (born ) is an American sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He is a commentator on ESPN's ''First Take'', where he appears with Molly Qerim. He also makes frequent appearances as an N ...

and

Molly Qerim Molly Qerim (born March 31, 1984) is an American television personality and a host of ESPN's '' First Take''. She previously was the host of NFL Network's weekday morning show, ''NFL AM'', and ''NFL Fantasy Live''. Early life Qerim was born ...

, but in April 2023, left ESPN and joined the

Clay Travis Richard Clay Travis (born April 6, 1979) is an American writer, lawyer, radio host and television analyst. As a sports journalist, Travis founded ''OutKick''. As a political commentator, he and Buck Sexton host ''The Clay Travis and Buck Sexto ...

founded sports, news, and politics platform ''OutKick''.

Early life and education

Arnolt was born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. She is Italian American. Arnolt developed a love for sports as a child, and began playing

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, and

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

. She had hopes of going to the Olympics as a gymnast, but retired from the sport due to injuries. She also had aspirations of playing volleyball at a collegiate level, but was hindered because of her height. In 2010, Arnolt graduated '' summa cum laude'' from American University with a degree in broadcast journalism. She previously attended North Central High School.

Career

Early journalism career

In 2010, she joined

WSAZ-TV WSAZ-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Huntington, West Virginia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves the Charleston–Huntington market, the second-largest television market (in terms of geographical area) east of t ...

as a reporter in Huntington, West Virginia. Arnolt later moved back to Indianapolis to work as a freelance reporter for

WXIN WXIN (channel 59) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Bloomington-licensed CBS affiliate WTTV, channel 4 (and its Kokomo-licensed s ...

"Fox 59". In 2011, she moved to

WDAF-TV WDAF-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Summit Street in the Signal H ...

"Fox 4" in Kansas City, Missouri. where she worked for about two years. In 2014, she returned to WXIN where she became a sports reporter and anchor.

WWE (2016–2021)

Arnolt was invited by friend, NFL

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

and future

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, ...

co-owner

Tony Khan Antony Rafiq Khan (born October 10, 1982) is an American businessman, promoter, and sports executive. He is known for his involvement in American football, professional wrestling and soccer. He is best known as the founder and co-owner of All E ...

to a

WWE SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes sim ...

show in Indianapolis in 2016. At that show, Arnolt met WWE Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano, who connected her with WWE Monday Night Raw play-by-play commentator Michael Cole who is instrumental in hiring TV broadcasters and ring announcers for the company. Cole was very interested, but there were no openings. When

Brandi Rhodes Brandi Alexis Runnels ( née Reed; born June 23, 1983), known professionally as Brandi Rhodes, is an American professional wrestler, ring announcer, model, businesswoman and television personality. She is known for her time as the former Chief ...

opted to leave WWE in May 2016, a door opened, and Arnolt joined WWE. She adopted the name Charly Caruso and debuted as a

for

WWE NXT ''WWE NXT'', also known as ''NXT'', is an American professional wrestling television program. It is produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, featuring performers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The show currentl ...

in 2016, but it didn't take long for her to make the main roster, interviewing WWE superstars and hosting events, segments and shows across WWE's platforms, including USA Network, WWE Network, YouTube and social media. She hosted pre-show panels and conducted backstage interviews on

Monday Night RAW ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

and WWE NXT until 2021, when she did not re-sign a new contract with WWE.

ESPN

Charly joined ESPN in September 2018. She provided updates on SportsCenter and hosted SportsCenter show on Snapchat. A couple of months later, she hosted '' First Take'' for the first time after someone in the talent department asked her what she wanted to do at the network if she had her choice. After she made a favorable impression in late December 2018 she received more opportunities to ''First Take'' and cemented her role as the primary fill in host. Arnolt was also part of the ''First Take, Her Take'' podcast on ESPN. The weekly show, which also featured Kimberley Martin and

Elle Duncan Lauren "Elle" Duncan (born April 12, 1983) is an American sports anchor for ESPN. Career Atlanta Duncan began her career in Atlanta as an intern with the 2 Live Stews, an American syndicated sports talk radio show on 790/The Zone. After a ...

, had the same format as the television show. The podcast allowed all three of them to discuss other topics about their lives and culture. Arnolt additionally also regularly appeared on '' SportsNation'' on ESPN+ as well as other shows on the streaming service, although she acknowledged that it had been difficult to make sure there was no conflict between her WWE and ESPN schedules. She completed her move from the WWE to ESPN. Arnolt debuted as a fight interviewer at UFC on ESPN: dos Anjos vs. Fiziev on July 9, 2022.Charly Arnolt Makes UFC Roving Reporter Debut At UFC Vegas 58
Alex Behunin, Middleeasy.com (July 9, 2022)

''OutKick''

In April 2023, Arnolt left ESPN and joined the

founded sports, news, and politics multimedia platform ''OutKick'', saying "Cancel culture doesn’t exist here. I speak freely".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnolt, Charly American people of Italian descent American reporters and correspondents American sports journalists ESPN people Fox News people OutKick people People from Indianapolis Professional wrestling announcers Living people 1987 births Sports YouTubers Television anchors from Indianapolis