After this week’s episode of Raw, it looks like Natalya Neidhart might actually get the chance to truly showcase her skills after almost two decades in the organization. Natayla turned heel when she attacked Maxxine Dupri following a match against Becky Lynch. This was after the longtime veteran was positioned as somewhat of a storyline coach for Dupri, who was presented as an underdog that was earning her stripes as an in-ring competitor.
Given Dupri’s inexperience, it makes sense for her to work with someone at the level of Neidhart, especially if the office wants to try to get her to a place where she’s a more well-rounded performer and theoretically more marketable. While this undoubtedly could finally give Nattie a spotlighted angle on the main roster, it more or less puts her in the same position that she was in for the majority of her WWE tenure, she was such a consistent and solid worker that management trusted her with the project performers. So, it’s a scenario that makes her a valuable asset to the organization and it’s one of the reasons that she has kept a job for so long, but ultimately, she’s working in a role that gets the opponent over instead of her.
It’s not a new situation in sports entertainment, Jerry Lynn became an underrated legend in that position, but the female dynamic had more pieces to the puzzle as to why Neidhart wasn’t really given the chance to shine the way that her peers had in the women’s division. There’s a reason that Ronda Rousey was originally paired with Nattie when the former MMA champion arrived in the WWE in 2019.
In many ways, Natalya was a victim of circumstances, as she just wasn’t at the right place at the right time, along with being labeled as someone that could shine opponents that the office made a priority. As one of the last students of the legendary dungeon in Calgary, the second generation competitor had the family background, but didn’t get nearly the same opportunities as some other second generation stars later on. Breaking into the business at just 18, she inked a WWE deal by 2007 when she was in her early-20s, which gave her the chance to become a long term star in the women’s division. For whatever reason that never materialized the way that it probably could’ve or should’ve.
It’s important to point out that Nattie debuted on the main roster in mid-2008, a time when the company already went PG for Linda McMahon’s two failed bids for a Senate seat so the female performers didn’t get the level of albeit, often misogynistic spotlight of the Attitude era or the few years that followed it, and it was several years before the “women’s revolution” era in 2015 when the women’s division was given the opportunity to work beyond the stereotypical tropes of the diva era.
Unfortunately, for the vast majority of her first decade in WWE, she was stuck in the divas division that kept the length of matches often to the shortest on the card and thus the importance placed on them was minimal. It was unfair to many of the very talented women of that time period, including Victoria, who eventually left for TNA where the organization was somewhat ahead of the curve in the value of women’s wrestling. The Trish and Lita spotlight on the division of the early-2000s had faded by the time Nattie was in the mix because both had left the company a few years earlier.
In fact, for the first few months that Natayla was on the main roster, a women’s title didn’t exist in the Smackdown brand until the Divas title was created in July of 2008. Ironically, Michelle McCool, who was much more of a diva than a pro wrestler (that’s an observation, not a criticism) beat Natayla to become the inaugural champion. This underscores the notion of when she was used to make others look good. Maryse, Eve Torres, and Jillian Hall were among some of the early Divas champions. This isn’t to say that they weren’t talented, but rather to highlight that none of them will be regarded in terms of in-ring ability as many in the women’s division today.
In truth, when she was understandably paired with The Hart Dynasty early on, the stable dissolving didn’t help her individual progress either. She held the Divas title for a forgettable two-month reign in 2010. Infamously, she was booked for a flatulence angle in 2012 that was scripted by Vince McMahon. It was dumb, ridiculous, and an insult to her talent. Furthermore, it had minimized the limited amount of star power or cache she had at the time so afterwards it was almost as if she had to start from scratch, which she did when she worked the NXT brand in the years that followed.
As far as the time period after the “women’s revolution” started, she held the women’s championship in 2017, but by the point, the company had a slew of younger talent that they had to try to establish to promote the previously mentioned “revolution” for the female division.
Obviously, the fact that she has been under contract for almost twenty years proves that the office knows how valuable that she is, and while she could have another five years or so left for her in-ring career, she’s definitely at the latter stages of her tenure as a full-time wrestler so it would be nice for her to get the run as a spotlighted women’s wrestler that she’s clearly capable of and deserves before she starts to wind down her run as an active performer.
Proof of concept so to speak, and the writing team has used pieces of this already for the coach angle with Dupri, is when Nattie worked a pair of GCW Blood Sport event last year. Casting her in the role of the gritty veteran that can work a physical style is not only a way to utilize her Calgary lineage, but also present her in a more serious manner to maximize the skills that she brings to the table. Furthermore, allowing her to use the name Nattie, as she did in GCW, might be even more of a way to showcase a new chapter for her.
Of course, it remains to be seen what direction the office will take the angle or how much television time it will be given ahead of Wrestlemania season, but all things considered, the opportunity is there for the best run of Neidhart’s career. How to define a successful run for her might be a little different than some of the other competitors in the division. With the countless titles that were added to the women’s division in recent years, she doesn’t necessarily need a belt. In fact, the titles have been mostly reduced to props so it would be more about the spotlight than the cache of the championship. For example, Chelsea Greene really boosted her stock during her reign as the Women’s United States champion last year, but it was based on the quality of her performances, not the prestige of the title. Natalya might not have always been in the mix with names like Asuka, Iyo, Bayley, Bianca, and Charlotte, but she definitely has skills on par with the top of the division.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
