Natalya recently revealed that she is nowhere near ready to retire because she still feels so good. Natalya started her career in WWE all the way back in 2007 wrestling for OVW. Coming from the legendary Hart Dynasty it didn’t take her long to move to the main roster.
Natalya is currently the most experienced woman on the roster. Many of her peers have come and gone. They have both moved to other promotions and retired from both regular matches and completely from in-ring action. However, she is still grinding along and forcing her opponents to test themselves against the third-generation wrestler and future WWE Hall of Famer.
Despite having over 20 years of experience in the wrestling business Natalya isn’t anywhere near being ready to retire. On a recent episode of INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, she revealed why retirement isn’t on her mind at all currently.
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“I just feel so good. That’s the crazy thing, is that people always say, ‘Oh, when are you gonna wrap it up? When is it gonna be done?’ It’s like, listen, this is Hotel California. You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave. Once you do this, I’m a wrestler through and through. It’ll never ever, ever, ever, ever leave me, ever. It’s a community. It’s a family. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a way of life and it doesn’t mean that I’ll be competing forever.”
H/T To Wrestling Inc. For Transcription
Long And Storied Career
In Natalya’s long career, she has accomplished a lot. She has held the WWE Divas Championship, WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship, and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. Even though her position in the company is vastly different from where it was a few years ago, she is still competing in high-profile matches. She challenged Rhea Ripley in July for the Women’s World Championship and challenged Becky Lynch for the NXT Women’s Championship last month.
Currently, Natalya seems to be WWE’s go-to woman for when they need a woman to step into a match or feud at the last minute. They know she will have a good match and protect her opponent, especially if they are untested on the main roster. This leads her to be involved in a lot of squash matches recently, but someone has to do it. She is willing to because it doesn’t hurt her gimmick.
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Wrestling Legend Inspires Natalya To Do More
Natalya credits another WWE legend who has a position not all that dissimilar to her, Rey Mysterio. Mysterio is also someone who is used by WWE to elevate the opponent and is extremely trusted by WWE. An example of this is his upcoming feud with Logan Paul. Another thing the two share is they are both nearing their retirement, but refuse to hang up their boots. Natalya talked about how much she respects and idolizes Mysterio. She stated:
“I watched Rey perform live, it was in Mexico and he was wrestling Roman Reigns. I was just like Rey is almost 50 and he is doing the best work of his career. He is so inspiring, his gear, his look, his energy, his vibe, his ability to move around, to make people feel something … Rey is one of the greatest of all time. He just inspires me so much. I’m not close to being done when I look at what Rey is doing. Rey inspires me to do so much more and to also help people.”
A Living Legend Still Performing At A High Level
Mysterio is the current United States Champion and the current leader of the Latino World Order. He still moves like that young kid in WCW. Speaking of young kids, he is set to go face-to-face with Paul on this week’s SmackDown after Paul recently challenged Mysterio for his U.S. Championship. Their feud may be the best Paul has had yet because of how good Mysterio is.
What have you thought of Natalya’s career? Do you think she is over or underrated? Do you think she should be used more on TV? Is it time for her to think about retiring? Do you think WWE using her to help younger talent is the perfect position for her or should she be used in a more significant role? What do you think of Mysterio’s work in the past year? Do you think he should think about retiring soon? Let us know if you feel Jade Cargill should have her first feud in WWE with Natalya on our social media.
SOURCE: INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Wrestling Inc.
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