When looking at the career of Natalya, it is one that cannot just be measured by the number of championships won in her career. Throughout her career in WWE, she’s been SmackDown’s Women’s Champion, Divas Champion, and a WWE Tag Team Champion with Tamina. However, Natalya’s career should equally be measured by the number of WWE superstars she’s helped pave the way for.
Natalya and the Four Horsewomen
Source: WWE
Without reservation, the Four Horsewomen have been the most impactful collection of superstars in the WWE’s Women’s Division over the last decade. These superstars are made up of Sasha Banks, Bayley, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair. Although they’ve won countless championships between them, they all share one common factor: facing Natalya.
To put it another way, all four of these had to pass the measuring stick of Natalya. In essence, you had to hang with the BOAT (Best of All Time) in the ring and prove your worth. Needless to say, Banks, Bayley, Lynch, and Flair did just that and all four have made their mark in WWE.
During the match with Cora & Nattie they mentioned all the top women have had to go through Nattie to get there, they called her the gatekeeper of the women’s division.
— Stephanie Hypes✨👩🏾💻 (@StephanieHypes) May 11, 2022
Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/ILKZVcSTuR
Natalya has made history as one of the first two women to ever compete in a women’s match in Saudi Arabia. She faced superstar Lacey Evans in the match. At that Crown Jewel pay-per-view in 2019, she defeated Evans to win the match.
The BOAT in NXT 2.0
Source: WWE
Next, she made her way back to NXT to make an impact on the future stars in WWE while also doling out punishment. By and large, she’s fought in a tag team match with Lash Legend versus Nikkita Lyons and Cora Jade.
When I saw her in that match, it lets me know that WWE wanted to see the mettle of the others in that match. By and large, the question was could any of these superstars pass the Natalya test?
In reality, when she fought Cora Jade on NXT 2.0 in the main event, I knew that WWE sees Jade as part of the future. Although Natalya won the match with her Sharpshooter, Jade never tapped, which was a rarity. After the conclusion of the match, the BOAT shook Jade’s hands and that was a moment all itself.
In closing, I’ve long admired the in-ring work of Natayla because I know she learned from the very best. Her dad was the late WWE Hall of Famer Jim “The Anvil Neidhart. Her uncle is two-time WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Now, I’ve grown to love what she does out of it in shaping the future of the women’s division.
By all means, she’ll take her place with her late father and her uncle in the Hall of Fame. For now, the BOAT and her career are far from sailing into the sunset.
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