WWE veteran Natalya debuted her gritter character, Nattie, at the 2026 Royal Rumble, after first portraying her in Bloodsport. Nattie has since worked in "WWE NXT," after a short program with Maxxine Dupri on the main roster, and she's eager to show fans more on the red and blue brands, something she explained on the Toronto Sun's "No Holds Barred."Nattie explained she's done maybe about six weeks of main roster character work, including vignettes with Dupri last December that she called "bada**." She explained that WrestleMania season made things difficult for her character development, as plans were already set."There was this little break from, 'Okay, we kicked off the new character,' and then all of a sudden it was like, 'Okay, we gotta get into WrestleMania stuff,'" she said. "I totally understand that I wasn't going to be part of WrestleMania. But, here's the thing, when you love this and you're passionate about it, it's like, 'Man, I would give anything to be part of WrestleMania.' But the wheels were already spinning for me. So, I was thinking, 'Okay, what do I do to continue to develop the character? What do I do to continue to explain to people who might not know who Nattie is and where she came from and why the change?'"She remembered being told she needs to explain why she went from being Natalya for 18 years to now becoming a new character. Nattie said she's not trying to do an MMA fighter gimmick, like Ronda Rousey, as much as she respects the former UFC champion and the work she did in WWE."I feel like my character is still evolving and growing," Nattie said. "But the character's just really a derivative of what I did when I first started from my grandfather's dungeon."
The third-generation star is adamant that her character stems from her work in her grandfather, Stu Hart's dungeon, where she was trained before debuting for the family's own promotion, Stampede Wrestling, in 2003. Natalya has been with WWE since she signed a developmental contract in 2007, and for her, the Nattie character is about being unapologetic about her legendary career, though she said she doesn't feel the need to tell the world about it anymore."That's why I say I'm a 'low key legend,' because people are coming back and saying, 'No, no, you're not low key,'" she said. "Let them make the decision. Let them decide whether I'm a legend or not. For me, I'm always just, truthfully, keep my head down and just keep grinding and keep working... Bubba Dudley said to me, he goes, 'Why do you feel like you have to keep on paying your dues?' I'm like, 'The rent is always due.' As long as I'm going to keep competing in this business, I will never stop paying my dues."Nattie said she'll never rest on the fact she has close to 2,000 matches under her belt or that she has seven Guinness World Records, she's going to keep paying those dues. She cited WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio, who she called the "greatest wrestler in the world" because he also keeps humbly paying his, and said she looks to him as a great example of not resting on your laurels and continuing to do great work.If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "No Holds Barred" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
