Former Divas Champion (and owner of the best shoe collection ever), Natalya, spoke recently to the Miami Herald on a number of subjects, including her relationship with reigning champion, Beth Phoenix.
Natalya says:
“Of course there is friendly competition, but I really look up to her. She is a couple of years older than me, but so she is a big sister to me. She is unconditionally supportive of me, and I’m unconditionally supportive of her.
“We don’t always agree on everything. We don’t always see eye-to-eye on everything, but that is what I like about our relationship. We can always tell each other how we feel. I always equate Beth to being my sister because I have two sisters, and they both grew up in the wresting world with a big wrestling family like the Harts.
“We would have little arguments and then be friends five minutes later. Beth and I have never had a huge argument, but we have a relationship that she is like a family member to me. My whole family respects her very much. I feel such closeness to Beth that I can tell her how I feel. We can be a little competitive, but we also share a lot with each other too. She has helped me come up with different moves, and I have helped her come up with different submissions. We both take our own areas of expertise as Beth is more power, and I’m more submission technician…I really couldn’t ask for a better friend than Beth.”
Natalya also discusses a possible feud/match between the two:
“In the almost four years we have been on the road with WWE, we have never once touched each other,” Natalya said. “People talk about it all the time. I have over 200,000 followers on Twitter, and that is all Beth and I get. ‘When are we going to see Beth and Natalya?’ It’s all anybody wants to see.
“People have been talking about it for years because we look so much alike. It’s funny that the very first time I met Mark Henry he said, ‘You remind me so much of Beth Phoenix.’ She has gotten that in her career, too. We have so many similarities and contrasts.
“Beth and I have this beautiful and amazing story in that she has idolized my family. She has idolized Bret and his brother, Owen, since she was a little girl. She has diary and journal entries that she has shown me when she was 10-years-old saying that she had to meet Bret Hart and that Owen was her idol. She has loved my family, so when she found out I was a wrestler from the Hart family and doing this, she said it was always her dream to get in the ring with me.
“It’s a dream come true of mine to get in the ring with her. It would certainly be something revolutionary and not seen before. I can almost put money on it that we would have the best match in the history of the divas. That may be a little bit arrogant, but nobody is going to fault me for being a confident diva. I think it would certainly be a match everybody is anticipating.”
Speaking on Kharma, Natalya says she’d like to face her, also. The pair previously wrestled in Japan.
“She has definitely proven she is a force to be reckoned with. I think that myself and Beth both have our eye on Kharma…I think she would more than have her hands full with myself or Beth.
“I would love to personally practice my new German suplex on her. I know it would be really hard to get my hands around her waist, but I would love to get in the ring with Kharma. She may be the biggest, most dominating diva in WWE, but I came from the Dungeon. My whole family was raised to be winners. It’s not the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog. So maybe Kharma would be up for challenge.”
Natalya also spoke on her double Sharpshooter at Survivor Series 2010 when she applied the move on LayCool. The Hart Dynasty Diva says Triple H helped her with the move.
“I will work with Bret on different things or advice on what would be a cool way to put on the sharpshooter.”
“Bret has helped me a lot with that. It’s funny, but Triple H has also helped me evolve the sharpshooter a little bit. A lot of people don’t know that. Bret has given me a ton of advice on the sharpshooter, but the one match I had in 2010 at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view when I put Michelle McCool and Layla in the sharpshooter at the same time. It was the first time it had ever been done.”
“It was Triple H who helped me with it and told me he had an idea. He coached me on it, which is kind of a testament to him and his role is changing. My dad has also helped and taught me a ton of power moves. The running powerslam for example was taught to me by my dad. It’s also great to have Triple H around because he has actually helped me with pre-tapes, backstage scenarios and scenes. Triple H has made me feel comfortable when I’m in front of the camera, so it’s cool to have that element too.”
Read the full interview here.
Watch Natalya’s original match with Kharma below:
