Natalya has so many more goals to accomplish in her storied career.
The two-time women’s champion recently spoke with Bill Pritchard of WrestleZone about her accomplishments in WWE. Natalya is a former Divas Champion, SmackDown Women’s Champion, and Women’s Tag Team Champion. She also lays claim to many other accolades, including multiple Guinness World Records.
Natalya was asked if she had any “out of the box” goals left in WWE. She noted that she has many goals left, including winning more titles and main eventing WrestleMania.
Striving for more
“It’s funny, this morning I was talking to AJ Styles and I said to him, ‘You’re looking in the best shape of your life.’ I saw Randy Orton the other day, and Randy looks like he’s in the best shape of his life. We’re just getting started! I think because we’ve been in the industry, people like myself and Rey Mysterio — I don’t want to put myself in their category, because I am a humble person. But you’ve got to give yourself credit for having that kind of longevity.
“And I was saying to AJ, ‘You just look better than you’ve ever looked before’, and I feel for me, I feel like I’m just getting started. There’s so many things that I want to do. So many women I want to compete against. So many titles that I haven’t won. I’ve never main evented a WrestleMania, I would love to be able to do that, and I’d love to continue to give back to women’s wrestling. I think it’s important to strive for that, to have goals and dreams. I have so many.”
Natalya Open To Bloodsport, Working With Gail Kim
Natalya was asked about Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, which was a big talking point on WrestleMania, especially with Shayna Baszler’s appearance at the event. Nattie said she would love to do more things like that outside of WWE, naming a few other bucket list items that would see her in “forbidden door” territory.
“I actually trained with Shayna Baszler and Josh Barnett prior to Shayna ever coming to the WWE. Its how I met Shayna, and ended up getting her a try-out with the WWE,” Natalya explained. “I had so much fun training with her Josh and she was interested in WWE, so I was like, ‘Let me get you a try out.’ So it’s funny how our two worlds kind of combined.
“I would love to do something like Bloodsport. I love how WWE is doing more — Triple H is allowing our world to be more open. At the Royal Rumble, for example, to have Jordynne Grace compete in the women’s Royal Rumble, it was amazing. For me, I would love to go to TNA and wrestle against Jordynne Grace,” she explained. I would love to pull Gail Kim out of retirement and to work with her. Gail Kim is a dream match, a dream opponent of mine.”
Ahead of her time
Nattie praised Triple H for creating more opportunities for talent, noting how a bunch of WWE Superstars were at Bloodsport in support of Baszler. She also spoke in more detail about Kim’s status after Pritchard noted how Gail previously said she’s happy in retirement, but still takes things on a case-by-case basis.
Natalya praised Gail for her achievements in the ring and being a pioneer for women.
“I absolutely understand that she doesn’t want to come out of retirement for anything. I had dinner with her the other night. She is in the best shape of her life. She looks phenomenal. I’m like, ‘Girl. We gotta get you to do one more thing!’ Because she is so underrated.
“She is such an underrated performer. She really was a revolutionary performer for the women. When she was in WWE, that style that she had was the style that so many women in WWE have right now,” Natalya noted. “I think about IYO [SKY], I think about Dakota [Kai], I think about Kairi [Sane], I think about Zoey Stark. Gail was ahead of her time with that style.”
Check out our full interview with Natalya below:
