Natalya recently appeared as a guest on the latest episode of the INSIGHT With Chris Van Vliet podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling and WWE.
During the discussion the women’s wrestling and WWE legend spoke about her new character outside of WWE, debuting in the ‘Divas Era’ in WWE, on finding out that Owen Hart had tragically passed away, as well as the entire story behind the infamous Nattie Neidfart character in WWE.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where she touches on these topics with her thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
On her new character outside of WWE: “It’s been the most liberating feeling working on that character, and it all just happened so organically, it really stemmed from the book. After I finished writing the book, I was like, Oh my God, I know what I need to do now. I had signed this new contract with WWE, and I think with Triple H, I think he really wanted to find the right thing. I think he didn’t want to just throw me in stuff that didn’t matter. I think he really wanted to find the right thing. The thing with him is that I believe he’s a forward thinker. So he was like, we just can’t rush into it. We just have to find the right thing for you. And because I had expressed when I was signing my new deal, I was like, I got to grow. This isn’t just about money for me. This is about growing. I have to grow. I have to evolve. I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life. I love wrestling and I need something to dive into. But when I was doing my contract, I didn’t quite know what that was. It wasn’t until I finished the book, so I was in a little bit of a creative rut. It was early this year. It was like February of this year, and I was like, man, WrestleMania is right around the corner, and I don’t know where I fit in. I just know I’m not going to be on the card. I’m not in a storyline. No one’s talking about where I fit in, because you can read the room, you can measure the pulse. I would talk to the writers, I would try to pick people’s brains and go where do I fit in? And this, by the way, is after being in a company for over 18 years. I’m still climbing and scratching and clawing for my spot, which is half the battle and half the beauty. So Josh Barnett and I got to talking, and he was like, ‘Let’s do Bloodsport.’ I was like, I’d love to do Bloodsport. We got to talking about me doing Bloodsport, and I said, I’m going to ask for permission. I walked up to Triple H. He was at the ringside. He was doing a rehearsal for Monday Night Raw. Walked up to him. I told him, ‘Listen, I’ve spoken to Josh Barnett. I would love to do Bloodsport.’ And Hunter was like, Sure. I was so afraid that he was going to say no, because I was like, I really, really, really want to do something Mania weekend. I need to do something, my creative juices are just feeling so stifled. He said yes right away. And he’s like, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, no problem at all. And I know that the company really respects Josh, and they’ve let talent work and do stuff at Bloodsport before. He said yes, so supportively that I was like, I remember that day. I was so excited. I ran up to TJ, and I was like, Hunter loved it. He was like, Yeah, go for it. So I took that as a this is my mission to build something that I’ve never built before.”
On debuting in the Divas Era in WWE: “It was so difficult because I realized that I couldn’t dance to save my life. I tried so, so hard. I took dance classes, I hired private coaches to try to [teach me], because I had always heard Vince love dancing. So I wanted to learn, let me learn how to dance. They’ll love that. I sucked at it. I wrote about that in the book. But I was like, I gotta try to lose weight. I gotta try to be thin. I gotta look like Torrie Wilson. I always had Torrie on this pedestal because she’s to me, I love her physique and she’s so beautiful. I was like, I always wanted to look like Torrie, but I couldn’t, because my body’s not like Torrie’s. I realized that all these things that I thought that they wanted at that time, I was like, I know what they’ll like. What if I made every single girl I worked with look like gold? What if I was the, maybe not the star, but you know what I can do really well, I’ll be the star maker. I’ll be Vince’s Star Maker. I wanted to be Vince’s Star Maker. I wanted to be the girl that Vince would go, or creative would go, put her with Nattie. Because when I was first getting started, I was like, they don’t want me. They don’t want this. I’m never going to be them. I’m never going to look like Torrie. I’m never going to look like Kelly Kelly. But you know what I can do? I can make those girls look like a million bucks, and that will be how I get my in. And I actually started to look at myself the way that I felt like they were looking at me, where I was like, I don’t really know if I’m worthy of being the champion, I don’t think I am.”
On realizing Owen Hart passed away: “My grandfather had gotten a call from Vince, and that was when we knew that Owen was not okay. But Owen and Martha lived about 20 minutes from my grandparents, we all lived in Calgary at the time. So it was just, yeah, I think that was the hardest thing my family ever went through. I think it just caused this domino effect of chaos. My grandfather was much stronger than my grandmother, but my grandmother, Helen, I don’t think she ever got over it. I do believe that she died from a broken heart. I think that she had a lot of health complications after that, but she never really got over Owen, and you don’t get over that, but she was never okay after that. So it was very hard on my grandfather, because my grandmother was his everything. So it was just a very, very traumatic time for our family.”
On the entire story behind the infamous Nattie Neidfart character in WWE: “I remember with that idea, when the writer came out of the production meeting, he pulled me aside, and he made it very clear this was not his idea. And I remember being like, what’s the idea? I thought I was so excited, because earlier in the day, it was like, hey, this head writer wants to talk to you after the production meeting. They have something they want to talk to you about creatively. I remember I had butterflies in my stomach because I was like, Finally, I’m gonna get this cool idea. They’re gonna have a plan for me, and this is gonna be what I need. This is gonna be what’s gonna finally give me my turning point. Being a good girl pays off. You’ve been helping everybody Nattie, but this is your time now. He came out of the production meeting and he just kept saying over and over and over again, ‘This is not my idea, but this is Vince’s idea, and he really loves this idea.’ Well, the thing with Vince is that he liked to do things that were a lot about entertainment, and he wanted to do something, I think he saw me as being kind of a serious wrestler. So he’s like, let’s do something that’s gonna make Nattie entertaining. And it was this character, you know, eventually what I’m getting to is this Nattie Neidfart character. So that was what the idea was for me to morph into Nattie or Natalya Neidfart. And I remember when the writer was explaining it to me, he’s like, ‘What you’re going to do is you’re going to be passing gas, and it’s going to lead to this big babyface moment where you have this crazy flatulence, but it’s gonna lead to a big babyface moment.’ You think about Kurt Angle. He’s an Olympic gold medalist, but he’s done goofy stuff. The Rock did goofy stuff. Trish Stratus did goofy stuff. I didn’t think anybody was trying to bury me. I think it was just an outlandish, outrageous, kooky, crazy, wacky idea. But I was like, I don’t want to fart. I just don’t want to do that. But in true Natalya form, I smiled. I said, ‘Of course, I’ll do it. Not only will I do it, I’m going to make this amazing.’ I’m going to own it. I’m going to show Vince that I’m not going to be I’m not going to be difficult. I’m not going to be difficult like my dad. I’m going to go out there and I’m going to make it great. I’m going to do exactly what he wants and I’m gonna be professional.”
On if she could hear the sound effects: “Yeah, they would play it off of an audio recorder. They’d play noises and stuff like that. We did it for about six weeks. The thing with Vince, and that whole thing was that he was so helpful. Because Vince, when I first started in WWE, he was in the rehearsals. He was in this. He was helping. He was very, very hands-on. He was a workaholic. He loved being involved in everything. And he was super hands-on with making sure everything was lit right. So he was very helpful with it. I was like, wow, this is so cool. Vince, this is his baby. He’s really getting involved. I think he initially cared about it, but I think feedback from people that were watching the product and stuff, they didn’t like it. Fans didn’t like it. Fans said, This isn’t good. And so they stopped. I think enough people had spoken up and said, The fans don’t like this. So one of the writers came up to me again and was like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do the Nattie Neidfart character. There’s been a lot of negative feedback about it from fans and stuff like that. We’re just gonna drop it. ‘And I go, You know what, in my mind, I was like, I’m so happy that I agreed to that, because now I’m gonna ask for an idea that I want to do. I didn’t have to tell Vince or the writers or anybody, no, the fans did it for me. They protected me. And I was able to ask Vince. I pitched another idea, and that’s the thing about Vince, is that I would go to him very selectively about ideas that I would have creatively, and he would listen. He always listened. He always made time for me, always, always. There was never a moment where I knocked on his door and he said [no]. I could say, ‘Vince, I want to run an idea by you.’ He’s the boss. I mean, sometimes it would take a minute to get to him, but he would listen to the ideas. He didn’t like a lot of my ideas, but he did listen.”
