Wrestle Pedia
Natalya is one of WWE’s most seasoned veterans. She has been actively working with younger talent in NXT, and she’s thrilled about the growth she’s witnessing. Recently feuding with Lola Vice and interacting with other up-and-comers, Natalya has seen firsthand the impressive development happening under the guidance of Shawn Michaels and his team.
In an interview with The Wrestling Classic, she stated her admiration for the work being done to build characters and develop talent from the ground up. She talked about the impact of Total Divas, emphasizing how it brought new fans to WWE by showcasing personalities and building characters. She sees a similar approach in NXT, where Shawn Michaels and Matt Bloom are cultivating talent.
“What we did on [Total Divas] that was so important is, we were able to show people what our personalities were like and build characters. That’s what I love about NXT so much. I have to give Shawn Michaels and Matt Bloom and the team there at NXT so much credit. They have a team of writers, coaches and producers and faculty that work together to basically build talent from the ground up and find something special inside people that they may never have known that they had. But they build characters,”
Natalya was particularly impressed by the number of women featured on NXT TV each week, noting that around 18 women are regularly involved in storylines and character development. She highlighted the progress she’s seen, especially with talents like Lola Vice, who showed significant growth between their first match and their recent Underground match.
“I said the other day to Shawn Michaels, I said I can’t believe how many women are used on the show, like 18 women are used on the show every week, and not only are they used on the show, they’re building characters, they’re in storylines, and they’re thriving, they’re excited, they’re challenged, they’re motivated, they’re driven, they’re hungry. You watch them, from week-to-week, grow. Even just the growth that I saw in Lola from the first time that I worked with her until this huge Underground match that we had, it was so cool because that’s what excites me about wrestling is what Shawn Michaels is doing with talent at NXT is helping them grow, he’s helping them evolve, he’s helping them build characters and stories. When you have characters and you have stories, it’s what gets people excited about watching a match. We were able to do promos and we were able to build this match through stories, and I just love it. I really admire what Shawn has done down there, as far as cultivating that and building it. It’s so cool, it’s well-done, and I love it. I can’t say enough about how great the women are doing at NXT. It just makes me so proud to be a part of it because I’m even getting into the characters where I walk up to Santino’s daughter, Bianca [Arianna Grace]. I’ll walk up to her and be like, I just love your character, it’s so fun, it’s so entertaining, and I love what you’re doing with Gigi [Dolin], and I think Gigi has such a fun vibe about her, and I love Jacy Jayne’s heel character and how she’s great on the mic. There’s so many girls here that I want to work with. Just seeing them thrive…another woman that I really want to work with is Lyra. Lyra has been coming down to our dungeon. Months ago, she was coming down and training with us and working with us. She is so talented and so passionate. I want to work with Blair [Davenport]. I know Blair’s on SmackDown. But Kiana [James], I love that she had such great training at Flatbacks and then she really turned it up a notch through all the work at NXT. So I just love seeing the growth. I love seeing how people are developing and evolving and they’re taking their work and they’re building with it. That’s what the business is all about is growing,”
Natalya is not only impressed but also motivated by the passion and talent she sees in NXT and wants to work with several rising stars, such as Bianca [Arianna Grace], Gigi Dolin, Jacy Jayne, and Lyra Valkyria. Meanwhile, she is set to compete on the May 21 episode of WWE NXT. Stay tuned to Ringside News for more!
What do you think about Natalya’s praise for Shawn Michaels and the growth of women in NXT? Let us know in the comments below!
