Natalya On Her Reaction To Being 2025 Lou Thesz Award Recipient

Natalya will be the first woman to receive the Cauliflower Alley Club’s Lou Thesz Award, and she recently discussed what that means to her. It was announced earlier this week that the WWE star will be honored with the award during the 59th Annual Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion, and she spoke with Busted Open Radio about the honor and more. You can see highlights below (h/t to Wrestling Inc):

On being given the award: “It really is so special because — I was elected to get this from the wrestlers. From legends, from a committee at Cauliflower Alley. There are so many incredible men that have got this award before me, so now to be the first woman to get the Lou Thesz award is just … and knowing what Lou Thesz stood for in the industry and what a pioneer he was. He helped build a foundation for professional wrestling.”

On Stu Hart’s involvement in the Cauliflower Alley Club: “I feel like this is one of those full-circle moments where I really do feel worthy. It’s hard for me to say that because I talk a lot about this with the girls backstage, like, we talk about sometimes we just feel like, ‘Maybe we don’t deserve all of this or maybe we’re not good enough.’ Those doubts creep up in all of our minds. When they called me up and said, ‘Hey, we want to honor you with this award,’ it made me feel like my grandfather had a hand in it.”

On her influence on the WWE women’s division: “I am very humble but I also pride myself on [thinking] ‘We have to continue to build.’ If you look at it, for example, you have an incredible doctor and they know how to cure this or cure that, but they don’t pass along their knowledge, we can’t advance science. I look at that in the [pro wrestling] industry, I think the vets are just as important as the new talent coming in because everybody has a role that they play.”