Nattie has been facing claims from fans that her current character is just her “trying to be like Ronda Rousey” in her presentation.
Her character work has definitely taken on a new, no nonsense attitude that has evolved of the last year or so. She began this during her appearances on the indies and has since brought it to WWE. The claim is that because she utilizes more technical grappling moves as well as a stiffer execution compares her to some other talent.
In her interview with The Toronto Sun on their No Hold’s Barred program she gave a direct response to her current character “trying to be like Ronda Rousey.”
“I remember Michael Hayes saying to me backstage, he was like, ‘It’s really important that people understand the change. Like, why did you go from being Natalya for 18-ish years, and now all of a sudden you’re Nattie?’ I said to Michael, I was like, for me, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to explain this more on WWE programming in the near future, but for me, it’s not like… it’s not like I’m trying to reenact, like I’m trying to do an MMA character, for example. It’s not like some people are like, oh, she’s just trying to be like Ronda Rousey. It’s like, no, I love Ronda, and I think Ronda did really cool work in WWE, but I feel like my character is still evolving and growing.”
You can watch the entire interview below. She also talks about TripleMania, NXT, and the untimely passing of Andy “The Butcher” Williams.
