WWE Superstar Natalya was the latest guest on Insights with Chris Van Vliet.
She sat down with Van Vliet at Insight Live in Toronto to discuss her journey from being a waitress to a WWE Superstar, having to fight for spots on the card, helping Nikki Bella train for her Royal Rumble return, getting her teeth knocked out a live event, and more.
On still looking to prove herself:
“Here’s the thing, even right now in WWE we look at the Women’s Division, it’s never, ever been this competitive, ever. Across NXT, Raw, or SmackDown it’s never, ever been like this. The girls that we have across the board are incredible. I look at the NXT Women’s roster and I’m like they’re amazing. There’s so many women there that I want to work with. I look at the Raw women’s roster, everybody is so good. I look at the SmackDown Women’s roster, everybody is very, very talented.
So you have all this stuff to choose from, all these different styles and different, as we say, flavors of ice cream to choose from with every girl bringing something unique to the table. So for me, because I have been here for so long, I understand that like even for me, I don’t like everybody, not everybody has to like everybody, not everybody has to like me. When I signed my new deal with WWE, I signed it last June and I thought to myself as long as I continue to stay in WWE I have to always remember to keep proving myself. I can’t just rest on the fact that I have a world record for the most matches, or the most wins, or the most this, or the most that or that I had a really great match with Charlotte at TakeOver. To me, when you continue to work in WWE, you always have to keep proving yourself no matter what it is that you’re doing, even if you’re not working at WWE.
So I kind of made that vow to myself that if I want to continue working here, I have to not only prove myself and not only fight to be in this division, but also fight to prove my detractors wrong. So that’s why I thought about myself wrestling elsewhere. I thought, Hmm, I wonder what it would be like. I wonder what it would look like for me to wrestle elsewhere, and I want to wrestle everywhere. That’s the thing, I want to wrestle everywhere.
That’s what I love about my ring. My ring is really kind of like a forbidden door. The dungeon that TJ and I have. I love all these different people coming in and just bringing passion, whether it’s Joe Hendry, whether it’s Kevin Knight, whether it’s [Man Like] DeReiss, whether it’s Riho, B-Fab comes in, [Angelo] Dawkins, Apollo [Crews], all these different people come to our ring, whether they’re on the independents, they come from all these different places and that’s what I want to do. I want to wrestle everywhere.
I love that WWE is starting to do that, and actually in the coming weeks, because of how I feel about this and the need to continue to prove myself in the division and fight to be in the division and fight to have my spot in the division. Because, honestly, just because I’ve done a bunch of stuff here doesn’t mean I [should be on TV], wrestling owes nobody anything. WWE doesn’t owe me anything. So for me, it’s always about proving myself with everything that I do, every practice that I run at the dungeon, every match that I have in WWE, it’s all about proving myself.”
On Jim Neidhart being a part of Total Divas:
“So going back to your question, when my dad was on Total Divas he was a trip on that show. He just let loose and I think he loved doing that show because once his career was over in wrestling, it gave him a chance to feel like he was still a part of something. Because it’s hard sometimes when you’re an athlete. Back when my dad was alive and we were doing Total Divas, it’s kind of hard even saying this, but he didn’t always feel like he was wanted. WWE does so much more now to honor legends and to bring back people. But back then, they weren’t doing all of that, it was hard, unless you were getting put in the Hall of Fame, which my dad, when he was alive he was pissed off that he wasn’t in the Hall of Fame. He was like, ‘Why the hell is Hillbilly Jim in before me?’ I’m just being honest. My dad loved Hillbilly Jim, but he’s like, ‘Damn it, I should be in there before Hillbilly Jim.’ But my dad was so funny on Total Divas. But my dad just felt like he got to be a part of something, and he loved the limelight, he loved the cameras on him, and he loved all the attention, and he loved feeling like he was a part of something. So that’s one of the things I loved about Total Divas, is I loved having my dad included on that show, even if gummies were involved.”
On a previous report that women were being underutilised in WWE:
“Here’s my thing, and it kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier. I was talking to my mom, I talk to my mom about everything, and I was saying sometimes it’s so easy, especially nowadays. We all have a platform. If you’re on Twitter, you’re on Instagram, you’re on TikTok, you’re on social media, you have a platform. That’s the cool thing about this day and age is that everybody has a voice. It is so easy. It would be so easy for me to go on social media and be like, ‘I’m mad about this, and I’m mad about that, and I should have this and I should have that…’
I would have loved to have been the first-ever Women’s IC Champion. I would have loved that. For me, and this is the big thing is that there just has to be the right story. I think everybody wants everything now, we’re living in a world of instant gratification where we want everything right now. So there’s always going to be times where people feel like we should have this, and the Women’s Division should do that, and that there should be this.
I do think that booking a weekly TV show, it’s not easy, especially because there’s lots of things that happen behind the scenes that people just don’t know about. Somebody gets hurt, or somebody can’t make it or this isn’t where we’re going for the big picture. Of course I would love to do more in WWE, but I also want there to be the right story. Especially being somebody that has been in WWE for 18 years, I would love to do more, but I also understand that timing is everything, so I have faith that the right story will come.
So yeah, it’s easy to critique, but at the same time I try to be patient, I try to empathize. And also, the one thing I do is make suggestions. Rather than be like, ‘I should have this, I should have that.’ I go, ‘Hey, I have an idea’, ‘We don’t like that.’ ‘Hey, I got an idea.’ ‘We don’t like that.’ ‘Hey, I got an idea.’ Something is going to stick. So I have faith, I think that things are going to get exciting. It’s just not easy, because also, right now we just have so many women, and I think that it’s a good thing but it’s also challenging, because you want to make sure that everybody has a special place. I think that’s the thing is that back a few years ago, sometimes I’d be on TV every single week, but I wasn’t always doing the most meaningful things. I mean, at one point I was passing gas. I’m joking about that but I think what I do like about this new era is that we’re just trying to find the right stories. I think we all want more. You’re only human to want more, but I also think that let’s just see what happens.”
