Natalya comes from one of the most legendary families in professional wrestling history – The Hart family.
“The Queen Of Harts” is related to former WWE Champion Bret “The Hitman” Hart, the legendary Stu Hart, former Intercontinental Champion Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and so many more. Natalya has racked up quite a few accolades herself.
She is a previous WWE Divas Champion and a former SmackDown Live Women’s Champion. Hart has proven to be one of the more impressive technical wrestlers in the women’s division for the past several years. The 36-year-old recently did an interview with The Sun to talk about her legendary professional wrestling family.
Hart first discussed how she once felt as if she didn’t want to do the same things as her family members inside the ring, or wear the same colors as them. She didn’t want fans to think she was riding the coattails of her family. Her perspective on that has changed, however, as she now realizes she’s simply honoring their legacy and is proud of them:
“My family have influenced me heavily. I loved Owen’s style – I’m not a high flyer but I love looking back at his matches for his personality. Bret was always great at selling and he’d always make you believe. Bret was also compatible with everyone he worked with.
“Whoever it was, they’d always say Bret was their favorite match – from Roddy Piper to Steve Austin. And British Bulldog was so agile for a guy his size. He could do just about anything. I’m a bigger girl – sturdy and I can do a lot of power moves, but I’m also agile on my feet.
“Every time I do the surfboard submission hold I think of British Bulldog – I pay homage to him. And the Sharpshooter is me paying homage to Bret and our family’s legacy. And my father was about power. Just the way he moved around in the ring… we have a lot of the same mannerisms.
“I look back at old matches and think we’re so much alike. When I first started I didn’t want to do the things they did or wear the same colors because I didn’t want people to think I was riding off my family’s coattails. Now I see it differently – I’m proud of them.”
