Natalya talks current career goals, family, more

[Chris]

On her job before pro wrestling:​

“Before I got to WWE, I was a waitress. So I worked at a restaurant called Montana’s. Before I worked at Montana’s, I worked at a restaurant called Humpty’s. And to this day, Humpty’s is my favorite. People will say, where do you want to go to eat? When I came up I said to Bret let’s go to Humpty’s, I gotta get my eggs benedict. It’s just a Canadian thing. I don’t know if you guys have Humpty’s. It must be like a Calgary, West Coast thing. But yeah, I worked at a place called Montana’s. I worked there as a hostess, a bust person and a waitress for like 10 years, until I finally got hired by WWE. I remember telling my manager, and I loved it, I will never forget this moment I told my manager at Montana’s. I was like, I’m so sorry, but I’m just giving him my two weeks notice. I just got hired by WWE. I did not say I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. But I was so excited because I had worked that waitressing job, I cleaned bathrooms, I busted tables, and I did my wrestling when I wasn’t working at that job, and I just fought so hard to get here. I always remembered how much I actually enjoyed waitressing. I think everybody that does public service or works in the service industry, like I give them a round of applause, because you guys, whoever works in restaurants or retail or has to serve people, it is not easy.”

On the moment where it clicked in WWE:​

“There’s been so many moments. I mean, just getting the phone call. I remember getting the phone call that I was getting hired. I was so excited. It’s funny now, because you hear about contract negotiations and this and that. I remember when I got called, I was told, Hey, we’re going to hire you at this amount. And then they called back and said, Actually, we changed our minds, it’s a little lower and I was like, no worries. Don’t even worry about it, it’s fine. I just remember being so excited, even though they called back and said actually, no, it’s not gonna be that much. I was like, It’s fine. I was just so excited when I got my first WWE check in the mail. I actually have never shared this before, but I have saved every single paycheck I’ve ever gotten from WWE. I have saved the stub, the check stub. I’ve saved all of them, every single one of them. Because I just remembered how big of a deal it was for me to get that. Even when they were small, and I was only making in my first year in WWE $500 a week. So of course that’s not terrible by any means, when you’re just getting started, but when you have to pay for ring gear and your hair and your makeup, and you have to pay taxes on that. In some ways it was less money than I was making as a waitress. But for me, it was about getting my foot in the door. I just had to get my foot in the door and that’s how 18 years later I’m still here. But yeah, just getting to be a part of the company and I never have ever taken it for granted. I always try to approach going to work like, even though we all are human, we all have our highs and lows and ups and downs. I’m just so grateful that I get to do such a fun job, do what I love and do something that just fulfills me. It makes me so happy.”

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 for 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 DeReiss, whether it’s Riho, B-Fab comes in, Dawkins, Apollo, 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. And so in the coming weeks there’s going to be some announcements made. WWE and myself, we’re going to be addressing some very, very exciting things coming up. Because, yeah, I want to wrestle. I really want to wrestle everywhere.”

On helping Nikki Bella train for her WWE return at the Royal Rumble:​

“Nikki actually has been coming and training with me privately. So she flies in every week, and she’s been coming and working with me. I will tell you that she hasn’t lost it, she has so much passion for this. It’s funny because I saw her last week. She came to Tampa and I said to her, This is so funny because we started our careers together in the very same week, Nikki and I and Brie. So we started together in the same week in developmental in WWE and I remember when all three of us had nothing. All three of us were hired at the very base amount of pay and it was never, ever about the money. It was always about the work, the passion. So we were just laughing and sharing old stories.

I didn’t have enough money to buy wrestling gear, so The Bella Twins were giving me their clothes. Because when you just get started, you’re just kind of literally just getting started. I went to Florida with this one suitcase because I was like, I gotta get down to Florida, I’ll just leave everything behind. I’ll get back to Calgary. I never went back to live [in Calgary] because my whole life with WWE has been kind of stateside as far as living, but I didn’t have money for a lot of the things that we need to look like superstars. So The Bella Twins, they were giving me their clothes. They were giving me stuff to look nice. I was taking certain things that they had and I was cutting them up and glueing my own sequins on them, and trying to make it. I look back on that now I’m like Nattie you look like sh*t, pardon my language. But I was like, I wouldn’t have hired you looking like that, because you look horrible, but you do what you have to do. I just remember those early years with the twins. So being able to help Nikki prepare for Royal Rumble and of course, I would love to see Nikki back. I’m looking for a tag team partner and of course I’d love to have Nikki as my partner. But I just love her, and I love Brie so much, and they just have so much passion. So seeing what Nikki’s doing in the ring and doing in our dungeon, I mean, our dungeon is really like a dungeon. We try to make it as much like the original dungeon that my grandfather started in Calgary. There’s no air conditioning. It’s in Florida. It’s just a small room with enough room to put a ring in, and there’s one bathroom, and there’s some fans, and there’s a lot of stray cats that my husband and I feed.”

On getting her teeth knocked out:​

“So yeah, my front teeth aren’t real, amongst other things [laughs]. But when you’re a lady wrestler, listen, a lot of things get kind of crazy. I feel like at night when I come home after a match I’m like pulling out hair extensions, I’m pulling off eyelashes, I’m taking off my tanner. TJ is like who is that? I’m like, This is me, I’m putting on my pyjamas. But we’ve been on a live event in Las Vegas, and it was a six woman tag. It was me Carmella and Alexa were a team, and it was against Nikki and two other girls and Nikki tackled me. She gave me a crazy shoulder tackle that turned into a head butt and I lost my two front teeth. So there was a picture that kind of went viral of my teeth that were missing, and I was with Renee Young because when I got my teeth knocked out I knew what happened. I gave them to the referee who gave them to the security guard. I didn’t know the security guard, he just had my teeth in his hand. Then I remember Alexa Bliss saying, Do you want me to finish the match? I was like, I’ve got this. I’m already in there. I’m good. Anyway, finished the match like a pro, and afterwards, I remember Renee driving me to an emergency dentist at midnight in Las Vegas. I got two fake front teeth put back, they made me a little bridge, and it got me through the weekend. But, yeah, there’s a lot of teeth that I have that aren’t real and we’ll give Nikki all the credit for that.”

On Jim Neidhart:​

“I remember when my dad came to my kindergarten PTA meeting, and he showed up on a Ninja motorcycle with no shirt on. He was wearing a fanny pack. Remember that little pink hat my dad used to wear? He showed up with that hat on and a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, he showed up like The Anvil, but he had no shirt on. He had three different types of spandex on that were layered, because he loved spandex. And he had these knee pads that were on, he was wearing Reeboks pumps but then the knee pads were down by his shoes and he showed up to the PTA meeting like that.

I remember it was kindergarten, it was bring your parent to work day and all the other kids’ parents were like I’m a dentist and I’m a librarian and I’m a banker. My dad came in and I was so excited. I mean, sweat was dripping off of his chest, he had no shirt on, and he was wearing spandex and a Rolex watch, and he just looked like a maniac. And, of course, I was so excited. Think about it. This guy’s 300 pounds. He’s got no shirt on. He’s just barrel-chested, I would say he was just resembling Otis at some points. So he comes in and then it’s my dad’s turn to talk and I’m so excited. I’m in kindergarten here, my dad tells everybody in the kindergarten class don’t worry about going to school, worry about doing well in sports. The teacher was trying to pull my dad off stage like a referee trying to interfere in a match. She was like, get him off stage. My dad’s like, ‘No, no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about doing well in school. What you need to do is do well in sports. Because I got everything from sports. I never even went to class.’ We were like, Oh my God, my dad was literally telling these kindergarteners not to worry about school. I will never forget that they never invited him back and I was so traumatized. My parents are crazy. But my dad, especially when your dad’s The Anvil. He’s The Anvil on television, he’s The Anvil at home. That’s why a lot of guys didn’t ask me out when I was in high school. People didn’t want to knock on the door and get my dad pulling a beer going like, ‘Hi can I help you?’ Guys did not ask me out.”

On Jim Neidhart on 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 was 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 her Canadian Mount Rushmore with no Harts allowed to be included:​

“Okay, he’s a very close personal friend, and I think the world of him, Edge. A great little thing about Edge is that he’s obviously one of the most decorated superstars ever, but Edge was somebody that when I would have problems with promos, or when I needed to work on promos, or that I wanted to get better at promos, I would text him and say, Hey, can I get on a call with you? Can you help me with a promo? He would drop everything that he was doing to get on a call with me and talk to me for like an hour and a half and walk me through a promo. He’s incredible, and his body of work is incredible, but he’s helped me so much as a friend. So I think sometimes Adam doesn’t get like [recognition], people don’t know about that kind of stuff. He’s just very genuine and I always remember him helping me and saying, say it like this Nattie and then he would watch the promo, he’d call me back, he’d analyze it with me. It was nice to have somebody like that really care and help.”

“We can’t say Edge without Christian. It’s funny, I watched a match, I think it was on SmackDown. I can’t quite remember, but I watched a match between Christian and Randy Orton, and I thought wow, they have magical chemistry. I always knew I liked Christian, but I remember watching Christian in there with Randy and I was like, you just see that even though he’s in there with Randy, who’s obviously a huge leader in the ring, Christian is a leader. I mean, he’s a bad guy. He’s a heel, and he spent a lot of his career being a heel, but Christian is just very good, and he’s one of my favorites.”

“Okay, I am gonna say somebody that’s a little bit left field, because people would obviously think Nattie is gonna say Trish Stratus. And of course, I do think Trish is amazing. I think she’s incredible. I think she’s done so much as a pioneer for women’s wrestling. But for me, I’m always going to have a spot in my heart for the underdog Gail Kim. So it’s nothing to take away from Trish by any means, because I think Trish is awesome. But knowing Gail Kim the way that I do, and knowing how talented she is she’s had some really great matches, and I know some of her best work has been in TNA against Taryn Terrell, and Gail and Kong. The thing about Gail is that once her career was done she wasn’t done giving back. That’s what I love about Gail is that behind the scenes, if people actually knew the stuff that Gail does behind the scenes, it’s just incredible. She really helps give women opportunities that might not have gotten opportunities before. Just a few weeks ago she had reached out to me about something and we were able to help someone, she was just like, I want to make sure that more women get opportunities that wouldn’t have had a chance to get opportunities. So she’s always fighting for the underdog. She loves wrestling. She’s so talented, and she, to me, deserves her flowers.”

“Here’s the thing, I think I know I’ve said a lot of people that may not necessarily be in WWE, but we can’t say the greatest Canadian wrestlers without bringing up Chris Jericho. So Jericho, actually, it’s funny, because Jericho interviewed my dad. That was the last interview my dad ever had. And so Jericho had asked me, Hey, I’d love to interview your dad for my podcast. And I remember saying to Chris, I’ve just been really careful about not letting my dad do a lot of that kind of stuff because he’s not been feeling himself lately. And Chris, the way he treated my dad, and the way that he just handled the interview with so much respect, because my dad was at that time struggling a little bit with his memory and stuff, Chris was so amazing to my dad. But when you think about Chris, I think Chris is a friend of mine, but I think about Chris’s body of work, it’s hard to go, it’s hard to leave him. You cannot leave Chris Jericho out of the conversation.”

On her and Bret putting Sharpshooters on Charlotte and Ric Flair:​

“That day was really emotional, because Bret had just beaten cancer. So that was his first appearance that he had done after beating cancer. I remember asking Bret, hey, they want to bring you in for Payback. It was in Chicago, and Bret had just gone through so much, and so it was such a special time, because it was his first appearance back from beating cancer. And listen, there’s no better feeling than locking Ric Flair into a sharpshooter. But I love collaborating and working with Bret, and he’s been part of such special moments for me in my career. It’s never lost on me when I’ve asked him to be there for me and for him to help me he’s helped me. So to be able to do double sharpshooters with Bret it’s always so special. I appreciate him so much. Because even for my dad’s career, and I say this to Bret all the time, that’s why I wanted my dad and Bret to go into the Hall of Fame together. Because I was asked by Vince, he said Well, do you want your dad to go in alone, or do you want him to go in [with Bret]. My dad would never have had the things that he had in WWE, he never would have had that career had Bret not looked out for him the way that he did. I always hear Bret talking about my dad and he’s like, I never would have found that personality without The Anvil. But Bret really took care of my dad. He looked out for my dad. Brett’s done some great things for our family that aren’t always talked about.”

On the report about women being underutilised:​

“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. And actually, I feel like we’re right around the corner from some big announcements being made, especially with what I’m doing, I’m leaving you guys on such a cliffhanger, those stories will come to fruition.

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. It’s you’re only human to want more. But I also think that let’s just see what happens.”

On NXT dream matches:​

“There’s so many women at NXT right now that are just like, to me, I would absolutely love to tango with Jordynne Grace. I would love to work with her because she loves this, she’s a student of the game. I look at these pictures of her transformation from when she first started to where she is now, and she is a student of the game. I would absolutely love to kick her ass.”

What is Natalya grateful for?​

“My health, that I get to do this and my family.”