Natalya Was Excited and Honored To Work a Program In NXT This Year

In an interview with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport (via Fightful), Natalya spoke about being asked by Shawn Michaels to work a program with Cora Jade in NXT earlier this year. Here are highlights:

On looking out for herself in WWE: “I’m not going to be politically correct at every single corner of my career even if it means getting in trouble a little bit here and there. You have to in order to be great. I’m not going to worry about making friends with every single girl in the locker room, including trying to please Ronda and kiss her ass at every corner. I’m done kissing people’s asses. Nobody kissing my ass to help me get here [to the top]. I’ve helped everybody else get here and now it’s my time to stay up here.”

On working a program in NXT: “For me, it was right before I went to NXT and started working with Cora Jade. Shawn Michaels had requested that I come to NXT and do a program there. I was so excited and honored because I truly consider NXT a huge honor to go there. It’s the brand that Triple H really built, and I feel like he built it from his heart and soul and love for pro wrestling. But also, you see a huge difference over the years with how Triple H kind of molded women’s wrestling down there. We wouldn’t have had Becky Lynch, Bayley, Sasha, Bianca, so many girls, Charlotte Flair. We wouldn’t have had that without Triple H’s vision for women’s wrestling in NXT. So whenever I am asked to go down there, I really take it seriously. I felt like in this rivalry with Cora, maybe they wanted to play it a little safe with me and I was like, ‘No, I want to step outside some lines here. I want to ruffle a few feathers,’ and then it just started feeling really good to say what I feel. Even on Twitter, I got scared before I would tweet something and now I’m like, ‘Too bad. It’s out there. Let it breathe.’ Everyone’s going to get pissed off, but you know what, it’s getting everybody talking and I’m glad that it’s pissed Ronda off.”