Natalya Reveals How She Pushed For Her Bloodsport Match During WrestleMania Week

WWE veteran Natalya appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show to discuss several topics, including how she made her upcoming Bloodsport appearance happen and how hard she worked to get it.

Natalya said, “I very much made this happen. I had to work very, very hard to make this happen. [Asked if it was difficult] Well, it’s just that it’s very unusual that a talent, especially somebody that has been there as long as I’ve been and who’s as established as I’ve been and who l, like I said, there might be a perception of me that, listen, I got expensive cats [laughs]. I love the idea of stepping outside my comfort zone and doing something that nobody would expect. So I think I also am at the stage where I have been wanting so much more and screaming for so much more, but I think I have to do different things, and I have to get a little uncomfortable. So Josh Barnett is a really good friend of mine and somebody that I deeply respect, and I reached out to Josh, and I was like, ‘Hey, you’re gonna be here during WrestleMania week. I would love to do what Shayna did last year.’ I told Josh and Triple H, I said I would love to work in that space and to show people what I can do because Josh’s style, I’ve trained with Josh before, it is very, very reminiscent of the Dungeon style. So Triple H and Josh were both super supportive of it. It’s one thing for me to just jump back into the division and do something. It’s another thing for me to go outside of the division, literally run a gauntlet on my career and go, ‘Hey, either I’m gonna prove everybody wrong or I’m gonna prove myself right, that I really am one of the greatest women wrestlers in the entire world.’ I’m screaming for change, and that’s again why I reached out to Josh and why I reached out to Billy Corgan. When I had asked to do Bloodsport and when I asked to do Billy Corgan’s show, NWA, I very, very much wanted to do it. I fought very hard to do it because I was like, I really want to make this happen. Of course, with scheduling and it’s WrestleMania week, we have to make sure everything kind of aligns, both Nick [Khan] and Triple H were both supportive of it. They were like, ‘Yeah, that sounds awesome, no problem.’ Granted, we have to make sure, again, scheduling and that it’s the right fit and we have all the proper things aligned so that it’s good for everyone. But I could never have even dreamed of doing that prior.”

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(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)