Natalya Says Total Divas Was Good for Women’s Wrestling
Speaking with ET Canada to promote SummerSlam, Natalya discussed her match with Becky Lynch, how Total Divas contributed to the women’s evolution and more. Highlights are below:
On what excites her most about SummerSlam: “For me, SummerSlam is really like a Hart family event because some of the greatest SummerSlam moments in WWE history involve my family — like SummerSlam 1992 with Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldogs. That, to me, is one of the greatest SummerSlam matches of all time and it was a sold-out Wembley Stadium with 83,000 people. It was an epic, iconic moment and it’s crazy how decades later we’re still talking about that match. And I look at one of my favourite personal matches that I’ve had from my Natty archives, my match against Naomi in 2017 when I won the women’s championship for the first time. It’s just very special and she’s one of my favourite opponents. Being able to compete in the SummerSlam and have that moment for myself to win the women’s championship, that was at SummerSlam. I just think about a lot of great SummerSlam inspirations and a lot about my family.”
On if she was destined to become a wrestler: “Looking back on my life I feel like the only thing that every really got me feeling excited and inspired and motivated was wrestling. I started thinking about what I wanted to do in my teens and I was always athletic but very dramatic. I feel like, athletics, dramatics and wrestling was a great fit. I started training in the dungeon when I was in my late teens and I was hooked from the first moment I started training. It’s this amazing feeling I can’t even put into words. The way you feel when you wrestle, if you could bottle that up and make it into a magic potion it would just be the best feeling. Money can’t buy it.”
On being the first-ever third-generation female wrestler: “It’s awesome. It’s something I obviously didn’t choose but because I am a third-generation superstar in WWE, I’m so proud of it. I think about my lineage and everybody’s journey is different. Even going into SummerSlam Becky [Lynch]’s journey is very different. She fought hard to get here, she had some road blocks —which we all do. But everybody’s journey is different and I respect everyone’s journey. But for me, my dream was always to get to WWE. Once I set my mind to wanting to be a WWE superstar and wanting to be a female wrestler, I just knew that I could make it happen. I never doubted that for one second that I wasn’t gonna make it here.”
On if she felt a lot of pressure from her family: “I feel pressure all the time. I think I put the most pressure on myself especially with my family — and especially when your uncle is Brett The Hitman Hart, the British Bulldogs and my dad, Jim The Anvil Neidhart, and my grandfather. We’ve got three Hall of Famers in our family and some soon-to-be Hall of Famers I think, a couple of them (laughing). But for me I always felt so much pressure to be good. And when your uncle was Bret Hart and he’s just this iconic wrestling legend and he’s had some of the greatest matches in the history of WWE, I hoped that people wouldn’t think I’d be as good as Brett. Especially when I was getting started in WWE because it took Brett years and years and years to get to that level. But what was great for me is that I’m a woman. I blazed my own trail and I didn’t have to be like my uncles. I’m totally different and we’re never gonna be the same. Every person has their own blueprint.”
On Total Divas’ role in elevating the women in WWE: “I think it really brought a great spotlight to women’s wrestling because a lot of people that watch Total Divas never watched WWE before. And I’ve met so many people that have said ‘Because of Total Divas I brought my family to a live event.’ Moms make a lot of decisions for the household and a lot of moms that were watching our show were also becoming huge wrestling fans. The moms were coming to events dressed up like Nikki and Brie Bella because of the show. That’s where I feel like we brought a really big spotlight from Total Divas to WWE.”
On her relationship with the Bella Twins: “We’re very, very close. I love the twins. I clicked with them in the ring immediately and I clicked with them outside the ring. And they’re such driven, hard-working girls and they’re very passionate. They’re very loyal and they fight for what they believe in and they don’t believe in something they won’t stand behind it. And I think that they’re just such good examples to reach for the stars and keep going. And when one door closes, open up another one and kick the door down.”
On can fans expect from SummerSlam: “You’re going to see a new RAW women’s champion on Sunday when I make Becky Lynch tap out to a sharpshooter. And it’s just going to be so great because Becky Lynch is arguable one of the greatest female superstars in the history of WWE. She’s had the most incredible run of almost anyone I’ve ever seen in WWE, man or woman. It’s going to be unbelievable to be able to beat her in my home country and to take home gold in Canada.”
