Wrestling Royalty: Natalya, Charlotte…and Carmella?

One of the common misconceptions about royalty is that no king or queen actually earns their crown. The fact of the matter is that they have to bring something to the table. Royalty may start out as a reward for being born into the right family, but everyone who wears the crown must earn the respect of the people. Otherwise, they become irrelevant.

Natalya is wrestling royalty. As the daughter of Jim “The Anvil” Niedhart, granddaughter of Stu Hart & niece of Bret, Owen & the rest of the Hart wrestling family, she was born into the business. That gave her certain advantages getting into the business. It gave her an insight that her peers that didn’t grow up in the middle of it lacked.

It didn’t guarantee her success. She worked her way up the independent circuit. She got to WWE. She’s spent the last decade with the company, but she hasn’t been treated like a queen for most of it. She’s spent most of her tenure enhancing her competition, making others look good at her expense. It’s usually the job of the commoners to make royalty look good, but life has been the opposite for Natalya. At least until recently.

After years of building everybody else up, Natalya has taken her rightful spot on the throne. Now that she’s disposed of Naomi, Natalya finds a familiar face standing against her.

Charlotte is wrestling royalty. As the daughter of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, she was born into the business. That gave her certain advantages getting into the business. It gave her an insight that her peers that didn’t grow up in the middle of it lacked. It didn’t guarantee her success. Let’s be honest, the track record of Flairs other than Ric in pro wrestling wasn’t great. David never really got it & Reid was dead before he could.

Charlotte got into the Performance Center right away due to her connection, but she was surrounded by people with more experience working towards the same goal. Ric got her in the door, but Charlotte had to bust her way out of the Performance Center by working harder & being better than everybody else. Given the respect that Triple H & everybody else associated with WWE has for Ric Flair, they weren’t going to put his daughter on television and let her disgrace the family name by being anything less than great.

Expectations were sky high. Charlotte exceeded all of them. One could argue that she’s made a better transition to the WWE roster than anybody that came up through NXT. After dominating Raw’s women’s division she was expected to run through SmackDown’s like a knife through hot butter. It hasn’t quite happened that way, but now that she’s established herself & the Nature Boy is alive and well, Charlotte is ready to claim her throne.

Natalya & Charlotte met for the first time at the very first NXT TakeOver. Bret Hart & Ric Flair were at ringside. They won’t be there this Sunday, but they’ll certainly be watching from somewhere as the current generation tries to continue the proud legacy that each house established.

Somebody else will be looking on. They also have family ties to the business, but nobody would call them royalty. Well, almost nobody.

Carmella calls herself the Princess of Staten Island. While she claims royal blood, and she does has blood ties to the wrestling business, her family’s contributions don’t match that of Ric Flair or the various Hart/Neidhart wrestlers. Her father appeared infrequently on WWF television as enhancement talent. Sometimes he was Paul Vandello. Sometimes he was Paul Van Dow. Whoever he was, his job was to make Big Boss Man, Razor Ramon & others look good.

Carmella has a better job with WWE. She holds the Money in the Bank briefcase and is waiting for the right moment to take the SmackDown Women’s Championship. We’ve spent the last couple of months speculating when it’ll happen. Will it be on Sunday?

Royalty isn’t something you’re just born into. It has to be earned. Natalya & Charlotte have already earned theirs. It might be time for the Princess to earn hers.

Well, kind of earn hers. Best case scenario: she takes advantage of somebody weakened by a prior match. Worst case scenario: James Ellsworth hits the current champion with whatever he uses as a finisher and Carmella covers. Neither of these will earn the respect of the WWE Universe.

Royalty that doesn’t earn the respect of their subjects doesn’t last. Prince Charles never earned the respect of his subjects, and Queen Elizabeth II will live forever just so they can skip him in the succession. If Carmella doesn’t earn our respect, she’ll never really join Natalya & Charlotte as wrestling royalty.