Natalie Katherine Neidhart-Wilson (May 27, 1982), better known by her ring name Natalya, a Canadian-American professional wrestlerwho performed in FCW and WWE.
In January 2007, she signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and spent time in the Deep South Wrestling, Ohio Valley Wrestling, and Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territories. While in FCW, she managed her cousin, DH Smith, and her boyfriend, TJ Wilson. She debuted on the main roster in April 2008 as Natalya, allying herself with Victoria. The following year, she began managing Tyson Kidd, formerly TJ Wilson, and they were joined by David Hart Smith (formerly DH Smith) to form The Hart Dynasty. In September 2010, Natalya began focusing on singles competition, which culminated in her winning the WWE Divas Championship in November of that year. Since July 2013
Professional wrestling career[]
Natalya made her main roster debut as a villainess under the name Natalya Neidhart on the April 4, 2008 SmackDown!, coming out of the crowd to aid Victoria in an attack on Michelle McCool and Cherry. Natalya made her televised in-ring debut, on the April 25 SmackDown!, where she gained a win over Cherry after putting her in to a sharpshooter. At Backlash on April 28, Natalya teamed up with Beth Phoenix, Victoria, Jillian Hall, Layla and Melina to defeat Mickie James, Maria, Ashley, McCool, Cherry and Kelly Kelly. On the May 2 SmackDown!, Natalya teamed up with Victoria in winning effort defeating Michelle McCool and Cherry after Natalya pinned McCool after the interference from Victoria.
When SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero announced the creation of the WWE Divas Championship on June 6, Natalya was the first Diva to qualify for the championship match. On the May 9 SmackDown!, Natalya with Victoria in her corner defeated ECW's Kelly Kelly. On the June 27 episode SmackDown!, Natalya teamed up with Victoria and Maryse to defeat Michelle McCool, Cherry and Kelly Kelly. At The Great American Bash on July 20, however, Natalya lost the match to determine the inaugural champion to McCool. On the July 18 SmackDown, Natalya gained another victory over Cherry. On the August 15 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Maryse to defeat McCool and Maria. On the August 29 SmackDown, Natalya and Maryse defeated McCool and Maria again.
Natalya then entered into a feud with Brie Bella. On the September 26 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Victoria in losing effort to Maria and Brie Bella after Bella pinned Victoria. On the October 10 SmackDown, Natalya was defeated by Brie, despite having Victoria in her corner. On the October 31 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Victoria and Maryse in losing effort to McCool, Maria and Brie Bella. On the November 7 SmackDown!, Natalya accompanied Victoria where she was defeated Brie, after the match it was revealed that there was another Bella in which they attacked Natalya and Victoria. On the November 21 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Victoria in losing effort to The Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie Bella). On the November 28 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Maryse and Victoria in winnng effort defeating The Bella Twins and Michelle McCool. On the December 12 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Maryse in losing effort to the Bella Twins. On the January 23 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Michelle McCool (who turned heel) in a no contest to the Bella Twins after Maria attacked McCool during the match.
While still a member of the SmackDown brand, she made her debut for the ECW brand, via the talent exchange agreement, on February 10, 2009, managing Tyson Kidd. In her ECW in-ring debut, on the March 3 episode, Natalya defeated Alicia Fox. On April 5, Neidhart competed in a Divas battle royal at WrestleMania XXV, but the match was won by Santina Marella. On April 15 Natalya was made an official member of the ECW brand, when she was drafted there as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. On the May 13 ECW, Kidd and Natalya were joined by her real-life cousin David Hart Smith, forming The Hart Dynasty, although it was originally called The Hart Trilogy.
On June 29, 2009, Natalya was traded back to SmackDown along with the other members of The Hart Dynasty. Natalya's first match back for the brand was in a six-person mixed tag team match on the July 17 episode, when The Hart Dynasty defeated Cryme Tyme (JTG and Shad Gaspard) and Eve Torres. Natalya, Kidd, and Smith went on to feud with Torres and Cryme Tyme, with Natalya also facing Torres in singles matches and tag team matches involving other Divas. Natalya, along with Michelle McCool and Beth Phoenix, represented the SmackDown brand at Bragging Rights in October, where they defeated Melina, Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim from the Raw brand. On December 4, Natalya lost in a triple threat match to determine to number one contender for the WWE Women's Championship after she was pinned by Mickie James. The match also involved Beth Phoenix.
Natalya, along with the other Hart Dynasty members, appeared at WrestleMania XXVI, helping her uncle Bret Hart during his match against Vince McMahon, turning them into fan favorites as a result. On April 26, The Hart Dynasty won the Unified Tag Team Championship from The Miz and The Big Show. The following day, as part of the 2010 WWE Supplemental Draft, Natalya was drafted to the Raw brand, along with Kidd and Smith. On the May 24, 2010 Raw, all three members of The Hart Dynasty were attacked by The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) and Tamina, who were making their debuts. This provoked a feud between the trios, with The Hart Dynasty attacking The Usos and Tamina the following week in retaliation. At Fatal 4-Way in June, Natalya and The Hart Dynasty defeated Tamina and The Uso Brothers in a six-person mixed tag team match, when Natalya pinned Tamina following a discus clothesline. At the next pay-per-view, Money in the Bank, Natalya helped The Hart Dynasty to retain the championship against The Usos by stopping Tamina from interfering in the match, ending the feud. In September, at Night of Champions, The Hart Dynasty lost the Tag Team Championship in a Tag Team Turmoil match.
On the September 27 Raw, Natalya won a battle royal to become the number one contender to the WWE Unified Divas Championship, and began feuding with self-professed co-Divas Champions Lay-Cool (Michelle McCool and Layla). On the October 1 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Kelly Kelly and The Bella Twins in winning effort defeating LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla), Alicia Fox and Maryse after Natalya made Maryse submit to the Sharpshooter. At Hell in a Cell on October 3, she defeated Michelle McCool via disqualification in a match for the championship, which meant that McCool retained the championship. She received another championship match three weeks later at Bragging Rights, where she lost to Layla after McCool interfered. On the November 1 Raw, she once again became number one contender to the Unified Divas Championship after defeating Michelle McCool in a non-title match. The Hart Dynasty split on November 15 after weeks of tension, when Kidd attacked Smith.
At Survivor Series on November 21, Natalya defeated McCool and Layla in a two-on-one handicap match to win the WWE Divas Championship for the first time. After the match she was attacked by Lay-Cool until Beth Phoenix came to her aid, with the pair forming an alliance. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December, Natalya and Phoenix defeated Lay-Cool in the first Divas Tag Team Tables match in WWE history.
On the December 20 Raw, Melina became the number one contender for the WWE Divas Championship and turned into a villainess in the process when she slapped Natalya who had attempted to congratulate her following her victory. When the two fought for the WWE Divas Championship on January 24 on Raw, Natalya emerged victorious. Natalya was scheduled to defend her championship agasinst Lay-Cool in a two-on-one handicap match at the Royal Rumble, but the match was changed to a fatal four-way, also involving Eve, who went on to pin Layla and become the new Divas Champion. On the February 14 Raw, Natalya failed to retrieve the title from Eve in a diva lumberjill match.
On April 26, Natalya was drafted back to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2011 supplemental draft. In her return match for the brand, she was defeated by then Divas Champion Brie Bella in singles competition. In May, Natalya began acting as the on-screen mentor to the Chickbusters (AJ and Kaitlyn), giving them advice and managing them during their matches. Natalya and the Chickbusters feuded with Alicia Fox, Tamina, and Rosa Mendes throughout mid-2011.
On the August 1 Raw, Natalya competed in a Divas battle royal to determinate the number one contender to Kelly Kelly's Divas Championship at SummerSlam, which was ultimately won by Phoenix; Phoenix turned heel afterwards, when she attacked Kelly and stated stating that the days of the "perky blonde little bimbo" were over. Four days later on SmackDown, Natalya faced her protégé AJ in singles competition in a winning effort, and also turned heel after brutally attacking AJ post-match and aligning herself with Phoenix. Natalya and Phoenix officially debuted together as "The Divas of Doom" on the August 12 SmackDown defeating the Chickbusters, who they continued to assault after the match. The two started a feud with Alicia Fox, Eve Torres, and Kelly Kelly Kelly and on the August 30 SuperSmackDown, defeated Fox and Kelly in a tag team match. On October 2 at Hell in a Cell, the evil Natalya helped Phoenix defeat Kelly to win her first Divas Championship, after Natalya hit Kelly with the microphone. On the October 17 Raw, Natalya was accompanied by Phoenix on commentary in a match against Eve Torres who was accompanied by Kelly Kelly in a losing effort. At Survivor Series, Natalya accompanied Beth Phoenix to a successful lumberjill Divas Championship match against Eve Torres. On January 29, 2012, at the Royal Rumble, the Divas of Doom and the Bella Twins defeated Alicia Fox, Eve, Kelly Kelly, and Tamina in an eight diva tag team match. Natalya and Phoenix then quiently ended their alliance, with Natalya turning tweener, and on the March 22 SmackDown!, Natalya teamed up with Tamina Snuka in a losing effort to Eve and Phoenix.
In April, Natalya started occasionally appearing on NXT Redemption, defeating her former protégé Kaitlyn via submission, and was also managed by former Hart Dynasty partner Tyson Kidd on commentary. On the April 25 NXT Redemption, Natalya began a feud with Kaitlyn when she thought Kaitlyn was flirting with Kidd, which lead to a divas tag team match with Maxine against Kaitlyn and Tamina Snuka in a losing effort. On the June 13 NXT Redemption, Natalya was defeated by Kaitlyn in singles competition. On the July 12 WWE Superstars, Natalya reunited with Beth Phoenix as they teamed together in a losing effort against her rival Kaitlyn and Alicia Fox after Kaitlyn pinned Phoenix. On July 15 at Money in the Bank, Natalya, Beth Phoenix, and Eve Torres were defeated by Kaitlyn, Layla, and Tamina Snuka in a six-diva tag team match. On the August 20 Raw, Natalya competed in a number one contender Divas battle royal for the Divas Championship, but was inadvertently eliminated by Tamina Snuka. After a twitter war against Kaitlyn, the two squared off in singles competition on the August 31 SmackDown, in which Natalya was unsuccessful in winning the match, thus ending their feud. Towards the end of her run with Phoenix, Natalya was involved in an infamous angle where she had a problem with flatulence, but this was not well received by fans, thus it was soon dropped.
On the November 2 SmackDown, Natalya appeared backstage watching The Great Khali defeat David Otunga in his return match,[84] and would afterwards thank Khali for defeating him, beginning a relationship between the two and a face turn for Natalya. On the December 6 WWE Superstars, Rosa Mendes attacked Hornswoggle with a bouquet of flowers as a measure of revenge for an incident the previous month on Raw but was in turn, assaulted by Natalya. On the December 7 SmackDown, Natalya accompanied Khali and Hornswoggle, where they defeated Mendes' allies Primo and Epico. During the match, Natalya once again assaulted Mendes. On December 16, during the pre-show TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Natalya participated in a "Santa's Little Helpers" battle royal, which was won by Naomi. On the January 4 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Khali and Hornswoggle to defeat Mendes, Epico and Primo in a mixed-tag-team match. On the January 4 SmackDown, Natalya teamed up with Khali and Hornswoggle to defeat Mendes, Epico and Primo in a mixed-tag-team match. On the January 25 SmackDown!, Natalya defeated Mendes in a singles match via submission after a distraction from Hornswoggle.
In April, Natalya was involved in a storyline where a secret admire would send gifts to Divas Champion Kaitlyn; Natalya would have Khali go under cover to try and find Kaitlyn's admirer. On the May 27 Raw in her home town of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Natalya teamed up with Kaitlyn in a losing effort to The Bella Twins in tag-team action when Brie pinned Natalya after Kaitlyn inadvertently speared Natalya. Natalya faced off against Divas Champion AJ Lee due her dislike of AJ's recent acts of humiliation against Kaitlyn and her disrespect of the entire Divas division on June 21 SmackDown, where Lee emerged victorious after Lee forced her to submit to the Black Widow. Natalya once again faced off against Divas Champion AJ Lee in a non-title match on the June 28 SmackDown, where Natalya emerged victorious following the distraction by Kaitlyn.
Following the debut of Total Divas, Natalya began a feud with the Bella Twins on the July 29 Raw, after they called themselves the stars of the Divas Division and Natalya an "ugly duckling". Later that night, Natalya faced Brie Bella in a losing effort due to a distraction from her sister Nikki. On the August 12 Raw, Natalya and Khali defeated AJ Lee and Big E Langston in a mixed-tag team match, with Natalya submitting the Divas Champion for the win. Six days later at SummerSlam, Natalya, with The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) in her corner, defeated Brie Bella via submission, who had Eva Marie and Nikki Bella in her corner, in a singles match.
AJ interrupted the celebration over Brie Bella's victory in a rematch against Natalya on August 26, 2013 on Raw, cutting a worked shoot promo on the cast of Total Divas. On the following episode of Raw, AJ interfered in a triple threat match between Natalya, Naomi, and Brie Bella, which was to determine the #1 contender for her Divas Championship, leading to the match being stopped and her getting beat down afterwards. Later that night, Stephanie McMahon announced that AJ would defend her Divas Championship in a fatal four-way match against Natalya, Naomi and Brie Bella at Night of Champions. At Night of Champions, Natalya was unsuccessful in winning the title, after being forced to tap to the Black Widow by AJ. On the October 7 episode of Raw, Natalya teamed with rookie divas JoJo and Eva Marie in a winning effort against Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendes, and Aksana in a six diva tag-team match. On the October 11 episode of Smackdown!, Natalya teamed with Kaitlyn and Eva Marie in a losing effort to The Funkadactyls (Cameron and Naomi) and Brie Bella, with Naomi pinning Kaitlyn in a six Diva tag team match. Simultaneously, she continued to appear alongside long-time ally The Great Khali, and the pair began a feud with Fandango and Summer Rae. She and Khali lost a mixed tag team match to them at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. After forcing AJ to submit on the November 1 episode of SmackDown during a six-Diva tag team match, Natalya unsuccessfully challenged AJ for the Divas Championship on WWE Main Event two weeks later. At Survivor Series, the cast of Total Divas faced off with a team led by AJ; Natalya and Nikki Bella were the sole survivors in the match. In December, Natalya unsuccessfully challenged Paige for the NXT Women's Championship. After pinning AJ again in a six-Diva tag team match on Raw, Natalya was named number one contender to the WWE Divas Championship, but failed to capture the title at Tables, Ladders and Chairs. In April 2014, at WrestleMania XXX, Natalya was a participant in the Divas Championship Invitational match, in which AJ retained the championship.
In early 2014, Natalya would start appearing on NXT continuing her feud with Summer Rae, and aligning herself with Bayley. In May, after Paige relinquished the NXT Women's Championship, Natalya was entered into the tournament to crown a new champion. On May 8th Natalya defeated Layla, and would go on to defeat Sash Banks two weeks later to advance to the finals of the tournament, setting up a match between her and Charlotte at NXT Takeover. At NXT Takeover, Natalya, who was accompanied by Bret Hart, competed in a losing effort against Charlotte, who was accompanied by Ric Flair, in the finals of the tournament to crown a new NXT Women's Champion. Natalya defeated WWE Divas Champion Paige on the August 18 episode of Raw as well on SmackDown the same week in non-title matches after distractions from AJ.
In late 2014, Natalya entered a storyline with her real-life husband Tyson Kidd, in which their relationship was openly acknowledged on-screen. She regularly accompanied Kidd to the ring, where he often used her as a distraction to win his matches. In November, Natalya was part of Alicia Fox's team at Survivor Series; the team was victorious in a clean sweep. When Kidd allied himself with Cesaro, Natalya managed the team and was by their side in February 2015 when they won the WWE Tag Team Championship at Fastlane. The following night on Raw, Natalya turned villainous when she helped the duo retain the title against The Usos. On the February 26 episode of Smackdown, the evil Natalya defeated Naomi in a singles match, before the feud ended. Natalya inducted Alundra Blayze into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 28, 2015.
After a short hiatus, Natalya returned to Raw on September 21, 2015 and confronted the villainous Paige over her actions during Charlotte's championship celebration. Later in the evening, she was defeated by Naomi in a singles match. After multiple confrontations between the two, Natalya would defeat Paige on the October 5 episode of Raw. Three days later, on Smackdown, Natalya teamed with Charlotte and Becky Lynch and the three defeated Team Bella (Alicia Fox, Brie and Nikki Bella). On the October 15 episode of Smackdown, while Paige saved Charlotte and Becky from an attack by Team Bella, Natalya, after a backstage altercation with Paige, would be attacked. In the end of October, Natalya started a feud with Team B.A.D. (Naomi, Tamina and Sasha Banks), after the three distracted her during her match with Paige, and attacked her, but Natalya went on to gain revenge over the team by defeating Naomi and Tamina in two singles matches before the feud quietly ended.
In January 2016, Natalya revealed that she had been working through a broken ankle, which was mistaken for a simple sprain and after two months of inactivity, she made her official return during a live event on January 3, 2016. A few weeks later, Natalya returned to WWE television, on the January 18 episode of Raw, where she defeated Brie Bella, with her former rival Paige in her corner. Upon her return, Natalya started competing in various singles and tag team matches, ending on both winning and losing sides. On March 12, at Roadblock, Natalya unsuccessfully challenged Charlotte for the Divas Championship. On the March 22 episode of Main Event, alongside Alicia Fox she accompanied Paige to her match against Naomi, accompanied by Tamina and Lana. Later in the match, she and Fox were viciously attacked by Summer Rae and Emma, who was making her return to the main roster, distracting Paige as they aligned themselves with Lana and Team B.A.D. The following week, she along with Brie Bella and Fox accompanied Paige to her match against Emma on the March 28 episode of Raw, where she was defeated after Lana attacked Paige. Post-match, she along her allies were attacked by Emma, Summer, Lana, Tamina and Naomi, before they were saved by a returning Eva Marie. As a result, a 10-Diva tag team match between the Total Divas team (Brie, Fox, Natalya, Eva and Paige) and the newly dubbed team B.A.D. & Blonde (Naomi, Tamina, Lana, Emma, and Rae) was announced for the WrestleMania 32 pay-per-view pre-show, which Team Total Divas would win. After confronting Charlotte during her championship celebration the following night, she challenged Charlotte to a championship match on the April 11 episode of Raw, in which she was unsuccessful in capturing the WWE Women's Championship. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Natalya confronted Charlotte during an interview and revealed that Shane McMahon has booked them in a rematch for the Women's Championship at Payback and that her uncle Bret Hart will be at her corner. At the event, she was defeated after match referee Charles Robinson, ended the match as Charlotte held her in the Sharpshooter submission hold, Natalya's signature finishing move, even though she had not submitted making reference to the infamous Montreal Screwjob. After the match, both Natalya and Hart applied their finishing maneuver the "Sharpshooter" on Charlotte and Ric Flair. The following month at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, she was once again defeated by Charlotte in a submission match in which Ric Flair was banned from ringside, however, she was helped by Dana Brooke dressed as flair allowing Charlotte to get the victory.
On June 19 at Money In The Bank, Natalya teamed with Becky Lynch in a losing effort against Charlotte and Dana Brooke. After the match, Natalya turned on Lynch and attacked her, turning into a villainess in the process. Followed by multiple continuous attacks between both females, it was announced that they would face off on July 24 at Battleground. At the event, she defeated Lynch. After being drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2016 WWE draft which took place on July 19, Natalya made her first appearance for the brand on July 26, where she was defeated by Becky Lynch. On the August 5 episode of SmackDown, Natalya attacked Carmella, which led to a match on the August 9 episode of SmackDown, in which Carmella was victorious. The following week on the August 16 episode of SmackDown, Natalya teamed with Alexa Bliss in a losing effort to the team of Carmella and Becky Lynch, after a distraction provided by Eva Marie and Naomi. One day later, a six-woman tag team match was announced for SummerSlam between Natalya, Bliss, and Marie against Naomi, Lynch, and Carmella, but following Marie's suspension on August 18, her place was taken by the returning Nikki Bella, and Natalya's team would ultimately win the match at the pay-per-view. At Backlash, on September 11, Natalya competed in a six-pack elimination challenge to determine the inaugural WWE SmackDown Women's Champion, where she would eliminate Naomi before being eliminated by Nikki Bella.
On the October 25 episode of SmackDown, Natalya demanded to be the team captain of the SmackDown women's team at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, but was defeated by Nikki Bella for the spot, and was instead appointed as the team coach by SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon. At Survivor Series, she ended up replacing team captain Nikki Bella against Team Raw in a losing effort after Bella was attacked moments before the match by an unknown villainess. At the TLC pay-per-view, Carmella stated that she was not Nikki Bella's attacker at Survivor Series, but that it was her fellow Total Divas co-star Natalya. After weeks of denying these accusations, on the December 20 episode of SmackDown, after Carmella again revealed more secrets about Natalya to Nikki Bella, Natalya attacked Carmella and later admitted that she attacked Nikki at Survivor Series, revealing her pent-up jealousy of her success for years. Nikki would call out Natalya on the January 3 episode of SmackDown, calling her the nothing of the Hart family, and would attack Natalya after she tells Nikki she is going to die alone. They would compete in a match on the January 10 episode of SmackDown, but the match would not officially start when the two would brawl it out, with referees coming to break them up. At the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Natalya competed in a six-woman tag team match alongside Alexa Bliss and Mickie James against Nikki Bella, Naomi, and Becky Lynch, however her team was on the losing end after Naomi pinned Bliss. On the January 31 episode of SmackDown, the SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon announced that Natalya will face Nikki Bella in singles competition at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, which ended in a double count-out at the event. The two were set to finally end their feud in a Falls Count Anywhere match on the February 21, 2017 edition of SmackDown Live, which Natalya won.
On the April 25 episode of SmackDown Live, Natalya, along with Carmella and Tamina, interfered in a SmackDown Women's Championship match between Charlotte Flair and Naomi, starting an alliance between the three in the process.
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