In the latest PWP Throwback (an article from our old site) written by Brennan Daly features Natalya Neidhart in advance of her WWE Women’s Championship match at WWE Extreme Rules 2016. (originally published on August 26, 2015)
As we have seen over the last six weeks, the women’s wrestling landscape has changed drastically. That change includes giving the women more time on television and instead of signing talent based off of looks, we get women that can put on good in ring performances. Led by the leader of NXT, Triple H‘s vision of wrestling has been proven to be what is best for business.
Selling out the Barclays Center was one hell of an accomplishment, but that is not the end. The match of the night (maybe the year) was not Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor, it was Sasha Banks vs Bayley!
Yes, women’s wrestling has become a priority and Vince McMahon’s ego can no longer deny that women have the ability to help the show.
With the WWE pushing the Divas Revolution, you would think that they would make sure to have one of their best women wrestlers involved. That talent happens to be Natalya Niedhart!
Nattie is the daughter of wrestler Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart and Ellie Hart, who is the daughter of Stu Hart, which makes her a third generation wrestler. Her debut was in 2008 was as a manager for The Hart Dynasty and it wasn’t until 2010 where she got to get into the ring competitively.
At Survivor Series 2010, Natalya defeated McCool and Layla in a two-on-one handicap match to win the WWE Divas Championship for the first time. For some odd reason, her title reign did not last long as she ended up holding the Divas Championship for only 70 days. The next couple of years she had to manage to carry some of the least talented wrestlers on the roster to some entertaining watchable matches.
During those years, the WWE universe got a good match “once in a blue moon.” When we did get a good match it often involved AJ Lee or Natayla. Instead of changing the channel to watch something else, we see matches that have a story and go longer than 5 minutes. It took WWE about 30 years to realize that this is what we have been waiting for!
Just a couple months ago, Natalya was entered into a tournament to determine the new NXT Women’s Champion. She defeated Layla and Sasha Banks en route to the finals at NXT TakeOver, in which she lost to Charlotte. Her match with Charlotte has been regarded as one of the best women’s matches in the WWE. At the time, it was probably the best women’s match I have ever seen. Their next match was a forgettable one as it didn’t last more than 5 minutes.
Whatever happened to her after that? One of the reasons Natalya hasn’t been featured more heavily on WWE television is due to a serious neck injury Tyson Kidd suffered. As the former manager of Kidd’s tag team, Natalya has been left with nothing to do. Why is this? Does Kidd need her as he recovers from a career threatening injury? If that is the reason, then hats off to her, but she can add to the greatness that is going on all around us.
As Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky, Bayley and the rest of the newcomers continue to steal the show, there will come a time where WWE needs fresh matches that we have not seen before. Being only 32 and one of the veterans on the roster and an in-ring mastermind, Natalya should be squaring off against the best.
A dream matchup of “The Boss” Sasha Bank vs. Natayla could be the best match in history (topping many of the NXT Specials). As the Divas Revolution eventually transition away from the three-team concept that they have going, expect Natayla to show up and prove that she is one of the most underrated women in WWE history.