Natalya praises fellow WWE star as ‘huge, huge inspiration’

At this moment in her WWE career, Natalya is taking a lot of inspiration from Cody Rhodes.

Natalya re-signed with WWE in 2024 but has gotten the company’s permission to take outside dates at places like Bloodsport and the NWA. She’s worked those shows as “Nattie Neidhart” — a more hard-hitting and ruthless version of her character — and her ultimate goal is to bring that persona to WWE.

While being interviewed on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Natalya said Rhodes is an inspiration for what she’s currently trying to do. Though it was under different circumstances, he was able to find himself outside of WWE and then do the best work of his career when he returned.

“Cody is actually somebody too that is an inspiration to me because he took a chance on himself. And I think about him a lot,” Natalya said.

“And I said to [her husband TJ Wilson] when Cody came back to WWE and he just took off and like everybody was, you know, he started doing the best work of his career. I’m like, ‘I admire Cody so much for the courage that he had to say, I have to step away and like find myself again.’ Cody is a huge, huge inspiration for me in that way where sometimes you got to take a step back [and] grow. He is proof of that. And he’s such a good person. He really, really is.”

Natalya and Cody are members of two of the greatest wrestling families ever — with Natalya representing the Hart dynasty and Cody continuing the Rhodes family legacy. Rhodes is the current WWE Champion and has a title defense against Drew McIntyre scheduled for Saturday Night’s Main Event on November 1.

The release of Natalya’s new memoir — “The Last Hart Beating: From the Dungeon to WWE” — is now less than one week away. The book will be available to purchase on October 28.