Nataya will go down as one of the most important women in WWE’s history for many reasons.

Her lineage is one thing. Her father was former WWE champion and Hall of Famer Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart and her uncles included Bret and Owen Hart.

But she’s been a cornerstone in undoubtedly the most important time in women’s wrestling ever. The women’s evolution saw us able to fully appreciate Nattie’s skills in the ring in a way many craved. The early gimmicks of her career were more prominent that the clear technician the Canadian was and still is.

After debuting on the main roster back in 2008, Natalya’s tenure with the company has seen her become a cornerstone of the locker room. Speaking to talkSPORT, the 38 year old opened up about who she feels is also a good leader backstage.

“You know who I see leading in a way that I think is really cool… we have so many leaders on SmackDown, I will say that we just have a lot of girls that lead,” Natalya started.

“I have been working lately with Liv Morgan. And we have been training together privately and she has been coming and working with me. I really see Liv – and Ruby actually, both of them – but having worked very closely with Liv, I really think Liv has leadership skills that many people don’t know about.”

“She was in developmental for a long time. And I watched Liv in our wrestling practice – TJ and myself, we were watching here – and people don’t realise it because she looks very young, but she actually has a lot of leadership qualities about her that I’m impressed with.

“I’m impressed with how she brings them to the ring but not a lot of people know that. I told Liv ‘don’t forget, you’re actually a leader.’ She helps people and you don’t event realise she’s doing it. If we need to make somebody look really strong for example, Liv takes herself out of the match and says Ok, I don’t want to look weak but I need to make sure I tell the story of David Vs Goliath and she really puts herself in a leadership role,” Natalya explained.

“I also think Bayley. Bayley is someone who I see really is a leader in the locker room as well as Tamina Snuka.

“Tamina is the mumma bear of the roster. When Chelsea Green broke her wrist, Tamina took control and made sure Chelsea was safe. She stayed with her, went with her to the hospital; Tamina Snuka is a cornerstone of our locker room, she’s very special to our locker room.”

Although Morgan hasn’t reached the world title peaks stars like Bayley and Natalya have, the BOAT – best of all-time – says Morgan is a leader backstage that people might not know about.

“Liv’s got some leadership skills that if I was a casual fan watching, because she looks very young and immature on TV because that’s kind of her character where she’s this girl who is trying to figure out who she is, but she is solid.

“She’s really solid in a lot of ways. And she puts in the work. She comes in and trains with me two days a week. She wants to grow and she wants to be better.

“When I look at the NBA, NFL and all these other major sports teams in the world, I can’t imagine playing on Friday – which is SmackDown – or in the Super Bowl and not training in the week. So anybody that comes to train with me just shows me how much passion they have.

“Of course I’m not a school, I’m not a facility – yet. One day… one day… but right now it’s kind of like an exclusive fight club for WWE girls that want to get better.

“It’s really cool to have it. It’s been a dream of mine my whole life to have my own ring. We’re lucky that we have it so we can help other women realise their fullest potential,” Natalya said.

Speaking of her training facility, Natalya believes it’s very important to pay it forward. She has had the most matches of any female superstar in WWE history and has also won the most matches.

With her legacy and lineage, Natalya is determined to help others.

“Every woman should aspire to inspire somebody. I can’t imagine being a world-renowned, life-changing doctor and not wanting to pass on my skills that could save someone’s life.

“And I’m not saying I’m a doctor [laughs] but as a skilled pro wrestler who trained with some of the greatest wrestlers in the world from the dungeon to working with Tokyo Joe who has passed on now, but he was a world-class Japanese coach and triple-crown champion in Japan, he trained us.

“He trained TJ and myself, I’ve had my uncles in the Hart family, TJ, Dr Tom Prichard, Fit Finlay – I’ve had so many great people train me and pass on so much knowledge that, to me, I think it would be an injustice if I didn’t pass on that knowledge to others.

“The way I look at it is, I’m confident enough in my own work and ability, especially in the ring that I have more than enough knowledge to pass it on and still be able to bring everything I need to bring to the table.

“When I’m in the ring, I want to wrestle great women. But how do we create a strong division? Well we create strong divisions by telling stories, compelling storyline and characters that people want to follow week-to-week. But we also want to make sure the girls have skill.

“TJ and I have our own ring. It’s about 15 minutes from our house and we call it the dungeon. We of course trained in the original dungeon but we call this ring the dungeon because it’s our version of it.

“ A lot of the women from WWE, the ones that want to grow, evolve and get better, they’ve come and trained with us. And TJ is producer in WWE who mainly works with the women.

“And I think that’s kind of by design because he really loves… it’s not that he doesn’t enjoy working with the males, but he really sees a passion and he has ideas for the women.


“Sometimes, it’s hard to actually get TJ as a producer for my matches even though I want him to produce all my matches because he’s in a lot of demand. A lot of women in the company are like ‘we only want TJ’.

“I think that’s awesome because, of course, TJ was an incredible wrestler, but now he’s able to impact the industry and the women’s division in such a way because everybody wants his knowledge.

“So I think it’s important to pass down the knowledge and important to help other people. Yes, I’m looking out for myself undoubtedly and sending out a message to the women of WWE to be warned, but I’ll help them kick ass too. If they ever ask me for help, I’ll always help them grow because I had people helping me.”

talksport.com