Natalya Neidhart has been a part of the WWE Universe since January of 2007 and is only one year behind Alicia Fox as the most tenured woman in the WWE women’s locker room (The Bella Twins were signed five months later). And while she’s a 2x Women’s Champion in the WWE (a Divas Championship in 2010 and SmackDown Women’s Championship in 2017), Natalya’s true value is the understated leadership she offers a women’s division grappling with proper exposure for the first time in decades, and offering guidance in the ring (and out) for newer stars on the rise.
Born into Canadian wrestling royalty, Natalie Neidhart is the daughter of WWE Legend Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, 2x WWF World Tag Team Champion, and Elizabeth “Ellie” Hart, one of the daughters of Stu Hart. Pro wrestling runs through her blood, as her mother is the sister of Bret “Hitman” Hart, Owen Hart and the rest of the Hart brothers (Bruce, Ross, Keith, Wayne, Smith and Dean), and she counts Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr. as cousins. In 2000, at the age of 18, she began training in the famed Hart Dungeon (the only woman to do so), alongside her cousins Teddy Hart and Harry Smith (Dave Boy Jr.), as well as other students like TJ Wilson (aka Tyson Kidd) and Jack Evans. A year later, she was working for her uncle Bruce – alongside Teddy, Harry, TJ and Jack, as well as a young Maritime grappler named Rene Dupree – in an Eric Bischoff produced promotion/TV show called Mat Rats, which featured a unique roster of wrestlers aged 14 to 21 years old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je0dTCMDQl0
While Mat Rats folded sooner than it took to launch, she soon found herself working in the family business, wrestling for Stampede Wrestling in her native Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In 2005, she expanded her presence in the Western Canadian indie scene, working for Vancouver’s Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW), where she faced the likes of Cheerleader Melissa, LuFisto, and Nicole Matthews. In 2006, she entered the US indie scene, debuting with SHIMMER and wrestling the likes of Sara Del Rey, and All American Wrestling (AAW). She also worked in Japan, where she faced future TNA/IMPACT Wrestling star, Amazing (Awesome) Kong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zScWKaQdBo&t=105s
She joined the WWE in 2007 and immediately headed to WWE’s developmental systems, from Deep South Wrestling (DSW) to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), where she was part of the Next Generation Hart Foundation, alongside fellow signees Harry Smith and Teddy Hart. Teddy’s stint would be short-lived before he was released, and he was replaced by TJ Wilson.
She made her WWE debut as a singles act, appearing in 2008 as Natalya Neidhart, a heel who formed an alliance with Victoria and then Maryse. But in 2009, she introduced the WWE Universe to her family, and the Hart Legacy (Harry Smith as David Hart “DH” Smith and TJ Wilson as Tyson Kidd) was formed. With Natalya at their side, they became WWE Tag Team Champions in 2010 for 146 days.
While The Hart Dynasty would be disbanded, with Smith being released and Kidd sent back to NXT, Natalya would remain a huge part of the women’s division. The WWE was now firmly into its Divas Era, and having a veteran presence like Nattie (alongside fellow indie vets like Beth Phoenix, Mickie James and Melina) in the ring helped new talents like Michelle McCool, Layla, The Bella Twins and Kelly Kelly have proper matches. It was during this time that Natalya and Beth Phoenix formed a unit affectionally called the Divas of Doom.
In 2012, with Beth Phoenix now retired and the WWE Women’s Division heading in another direction, Natalya headed back to NXT, where she began to accompany her fiance Tyson Kidd. But there was another benefit to Nattie’s trip to Orlando, Florida – working with the young talent coming up. The WWE was in a transitional period with their women’s division, and the new crop of talent were indie stars from around the world, like Sasha Banks (Mercedes KV) and Bayley (Davina Rose) from the US indies, plus Paige (Brittany Knight) from the UK, Becky Lynch (Rebecca Knox) from Ireland, and Emma (Tenille Dashwood) from Australia. Working with a veteran like Natalya in the ring and at the WWE training facilities helped these more athletic and technically sound indie stars transitions to the WWE Universe. But it was also her calming effect and inspiration with the raw recruits, in particular, a collegiate volleyballer named Ashley Fleihr who was hoping to follow in the footsteps of her father, 16x World Champion Ric Flair. As Charlotte Flair, she would face Natalya on several occasions into her early wrestling career. It was Natalya that Charlotte would face at the first NXT TakeOver in 2014 in the finals for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship.
Shortly after helping the NXT women’s division surpass the WWE’s main roster division on work ability and potential, she returned to the WWE, this time accompanying Kidd and his new tag team partner, Cesaro. The tandem of Kidd and Cesaro became increasingly popular, winning the WWE Tag Team titles on one occasion before Kidd was forced into early retirement due to injury. In 2014, she also became friends with UFC fighter Ronda Rousey, who was a lifelong wrestling fan herself. When she had the time, Natalya began training Rousey in the squared circle, alongside her fellow MMA friends, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir.
By 2015, the Women’s Revolution in WWE was underway, following the call-up of NXT stars Charlotte, Becky, Sasha (and later Bayley) and Natalya would rotate feuds with them, maintaining a gatekeeper position for the new women coming up. She would continuously face or work alongside new girls in the division, like Naomi, Carmella, and Alexa Bliss, helping them continue to build their confidence in the ring telling stories. It’s a trend that continues today, as she’s worked alongside or faced such recent additions as Ruby Riott, Ember Moon, Nia Jax, and Asuka.
In 2019, Natalya is regarded as the mother hen of the roost, the one reliable member of the women’s locker room that the other women look to for guidance and support, encouragement and advice. Last December, she had a critically acclaimed match against her student, Ronda Rousey, on an episode of Monday Night Raw. According to reports, no producer laid out the match for the women that night – the WWE brass hands the reigns to Natalya to call the match in the ring, resulting in a Stu Hart approved match of intensity and technicality that helped showcase Rousey’s growing abilities in the ring.
With the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles now in play, Natalya has seen a nostalgic (yet welcomed) reunion with Beth Phoenix in the Divas of Doom, which has resulted in them being added to the Tag Team Championship Match at WrestleMania 35, alongside Nia Jax & Tamina Snuka facing the champions, Bayley & Sasha Banks. It’s a nice recap of Natalya’s history in the WWE, as she faces three young women who Natalya helped groom in NXT, alongside her best friend and former partner from the Divas Era, as well as Tamina, whom Natalya feuded with when her and the Hart Legacy fought against Tamina and her cousins, The Usos, early in their mutual WWE careers.
While Natalya will not be remembered for a flashy career or being the main event of the women’s division in any of the eras she’s worked through, her stability in the ring and the locker room will long be heralded, and she’ll go down as one of the best workers and most reliable architects of the Women’s Revolution in the WWE. And somewhere up there, her grandfather Stu and father Jim are smiling down on the Queen of Harts.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
