In 24 hours, Natalya faces off against Michelle McCool and has the chance to make history by becoming the first ever Divas Champion. With the lineage she shares – Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith – she sure has a lot to live up to right? Read the reflections of our third generation Diva below:
Ready or not, here I come!
Friday, July 18, 2008, 06:19 PM EST [General]Well, the Bash is just days away and I am thrilled to death. It is all hitting me now.
I have been visualizing this match over and over in my head. My uncle Bret told me that in his match against Davey Boy Smith at Wembley Stadium, for the IC Championship, he visualized every bit of it and It helped prepared him for “battle.” In this case, I can see it all unfolding and I am trying to find my focus for what I intend to be an all out war. There is no doubt, that McCool is one hell of a fighter. I am going to have to pull out all the stops if I want to walk away victorious.
This is not the first time I have endured a struggle as a Diva. It brings me back to the many other challenges I have faced in the past few years in this industry.
I look back on my time training in the dungeon. You would think that since my family was there, it would have been easier, but it wasn’t. They pushed me even harder. I had to break down all the barriers of being a women, and learn how to survive in a man’s world.
Wrestling in Japan, and competing against the toughest, most brutal women wrestlers on the planet. Not only were they fierce, but they made me fight for my “life” every, single night. I was forced to grow and be strong, even when I was scared…
…and I am always reminded of an injury I got in the land of the Orient. I had to take off a year of wrestling to repair my left knee and rebuild my confidence from the ground up. I learned I wasn’t invincible and that we are actually more fragile (physically and mentally) than we know.
That leads me to now…and I am still fighting. It never gets easier, I am just learning how to dodge the bullets a little better. In fact, I feel it is those moments of despair and hardship, that bring out the very best in us. They make you look within yourself, and ultimately, rise to the occasion. Sometimes, you find something you never knew you had.
