dynasty, WWE Diva Natalya is undeniably a tough girl, but with her new reality role on E! Total Divas we’ve come to know that what really makes her so fascinating is her powerhouse skills in the ring—which prove that she’s not just another pretty face.
A WHOLE LOT OF HART
With a powerhouse combination of brains, beauty, and undeniable skill, this diva not only hails from a long line of WWE superstars but also holds her own in the ring. The first girl to prove she can hang with the big boys in the famous “Dungeon,” Natalie Neidhart came out of the womb dropping her signature move, the Sharpshooter, on the world. She was the middle child and definitely the entertainer of the three girls in her family. Her grandfather, uncle, and father set the standard for what it meant to be a part of the Hart dynasty and she has certainly done everything to far exceed those expectations. “Being in the WWE is part of my blood,” she says. “It’s very important to me. It’s very much a part of who I am.” As a young kid she knew her life’s goals. “I remember when my dad won his first tag-team championship, he brought the title home, and my sister and I grabbed it and had our own wrestling match with it, she recalls. “It’s so funny to think about those times. Growing up around it made me want to do it.”
THE DUNGEON
If you don’t
know about the Hart dungeon, it’s exactly what it sounds like. It was a dark, damp, and dreary room with one tiny little window in the basement of Naty’s grandfather’s (the iconic Stu Hart) house. Before he owned that home it was a hospital, and the dungeon was the crematorium. After it became the Dungeon it was notorious for being the most intense training room in the world of athletics. Natalya wrestled grown men down there during her training. There were no ropes, just walls. Only the greatest in wrestling history went through the Dungeon, and Naty was the first female to ever do so.
“I think that experience made me a survivor. It taught me who I am. I knew that if I could survive down there with all men, and persevere, there was nothing in my life I couldn’t get through. Only the strong survive the dungeon. It was literally all blood, sweat, and tears,” she recalls of her experience. Basically, unless you’ve got a really good chiropractor, you do not want to get near Naty in the ring, because once she’s got you in her signature Sharpshooter move, it’s game over.
NOTHING BUT NATY
As one of the
most popular, if not the most popular WWE Diva, Naty believes that what makes each individual girl beautiful is being comfortable in her own skin. What makes her a knockout and a standout among her competition is her security in who she is and the confidence she emits both in and out of the ring.
“For me, I’m never going to be a Barbie doll and I don’t want to be,” she proclaims. “My legs are strong because I’ve worked hard for them. Everything I have, I’ve earned it. I go in the ring with confidence because I know that I can go in to kick ass, take names, and not have to apologize for it.” Sure, she believes it to be situational for each diva, and with such a diverse group of girls the competition is tough, but what she says separates her from the rest is knowing not only what makes her special but also her imperfections and being able to accept and own them: “I like knowing that people around the world look at me and say, ‘You know what? I’m not perfect either, that’s why I like Naty. She’s not perfect nor does she pretend to be.’ ”
WWE DIVAS
Never having thought she would ever see herself on a reality show, Naty says that E! Total Divas was a way for her to really let all of the walls down. The show was a game changer for her, and knowing that people would finally get to see it all was what made it so easy to allow cameras into her everyday life. Everybody has a story and the experiences the girls go through on this show teach them the most valuable of life lessons. Being a part of the cast was a really great form of motivation, and her family and husband inspired her more than ever, but Naty found true inspiration in WWE superstar Triple H. His balance between family, running the company, and having a personal life has helped her to stay hungry for success. “Triple H reinforced that just because I’ve been in the industry doesn’t mean I’m an old dog that can’t learn new tricks,” she says. “He reminded me to keep having new goals—and just when you think you’ve done it all, you have to keep going and find new things to take on.”
CHASING SUCCESS
Constantly pushing herself to grow, Naty feels that her definition of success is something that changes daily. The goals she had 10 years ago, five years ago, or even six months ago are so different from the ones she has today and will have in the future, although she says a few standards remain: “I’m always finding ways to continue to move forward in my life. My career is a huge part of my life. Balance is a huge part of my life. Challenging myself is a huge part of my life as well. My happiness is centered around never accepting less than my personal best and that’s something that I’ll never change about myself.” Her constant need to outdo herself in every aspect of her life is what makes her the powerhouse diva we’ve all come to know, love, and respect. FLEX
