Natalya Talks Bloodsport, Dungeon, More (Patreon)

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp spoke with Natalya, the former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, before WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia for an exclusive interview with Fightful Select.

Sean mentioned to Natalya that she was seen backstage at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport X event. She excitedly said, “I just love that we can all celebrate wrestling this weekend. I mean, this is the biggest WWE WrestleMania in WWE history, and when we have WrestleMania, we all come together and celebrate as a family and as a community.”

Sean mentioned to Natalya that even the President of the WWE, Nick Khan, was there. Natalya said, “It’s so cool because I feel like Nick supports the wrestling community. It’s such a cool thing to see because of how our business has evolved so much.”

Natalya was excited to see Nick there to support Shayna Baszler. The WWE veteran, who has been with the company since 2007, told Sean that she trained with Shayna before Shayna was in the WWE. Natalya mentioned training with Josh many years ago and said he is a great coach.

Natalya told Sean that she loves and watches all wrestling. She mentioned that it’s important to support friends and the community. Natalya said during Mania weekend, they were all eating good. ( Note: Natalya is implying it from a perspective of how many wrestlers are working.)

Sean asked Natalya if she would ever consider working at Bloodsport. Natalya said that with all the prior training she has done with Josh and the fact that he has helped her with submissions, along with all her training in Calgary at the Hart Family Dungeon and the training that she does now in the Dungeon that she owns with her husband, TJ Wilson [f.k.a. Tyson Kidd], she would love to do Bloodsport. 

Natalya added, “It was such a cool environment, but the fans at that show made it so much fun.” She also expressed how much she likes WWE working with other companies. She mentioned TNA’s Jordynne Grace, who worked at the Royal Rumble in January, and said it shows that the industry is changing.

Natalya told Sean she went to Stardom’s American Dream 2024 and saw Aja Kong and Kyoko Kimura. She mentioned being on a tour with Aja before signing with WWE.

Sean mentioned to Natalya that he had interviewed Bret Hart once and asked him, other than himself, who does the best sharpshooter. Sean told Natalya that Bret said, “It’d be easier if I told you who did the worst.” Sean asked Natalya who did the best, and she told him it was Tyson Kidd. Sean asked if it could be NXT’s Lola Vice. Natalya said, “Lola can kiss my ass, Lola can kiss my ass, and her sharpshooter by the way needs some work.”

Natalya would talk about Lola Vice some more. Natalya said she was impressed with Lola when she wrestled her at NXT. She noted Lola has not been wrestling that long to be that good. Natalya believes that Lola will be a big player in the WWE.

Sean mentioned that he enjoys talking to her about the Dungeon and how people will go there and show off that they were there. He asked Natalya how it makes her feel when people show how proud they are to get to train there with herself and TJ. Natalya said it means everything to her and that she is very proud.. 

Natalya mentioned people come from around the world to train in their Dungeon. She mentioned Tanahashi, Okada, and Jordynne Grace as people she wants to train with at their Dungeon. Natalya would tell Sean, “I want people from every walk of life, from WWE, New Japan, and all these different promotions to come train with us and be proud of it.”

In closing, Natalya mentioned Liv Morgan and Angelo Dawkins as people who have trained with them, and now they see Liv and Dawkins helping train others.