Natalya has seen it all during her near-decade run with WWE, but earlier this month she experienced a first -- she lost her teeth!
The Canadian-born former WWE Divas Champion said she actually wasn't surprised it happened, and almost sounded like she predicted it when speaking to Channel Guide Magazine recently.
"I tend to have a lot of problems with those two teeth, because when I was younger I was in an accident on my bicycle and that impacted them. So they have always been really loose. It was their day. There is a dentist on every corner in Las Vegas, so basically I finished the match and worked through it. I had great girls I was in the ring with. I'm OK. I'm really tough. I'm not sure when I hurt anymore. I was back the next day. I just couldn't stop laughing after it happened. I was like, 'Oh my God! My two front teeth are out.' Of course I grabbed Renee Young and said, 'You're coming with me to the dentist to handle this," said Natalya.
Natalya's teeth aren't the only thing that have underwent a change of late. Her personality on-screen also shifted. Being a heel hasn't been as easy for Natayla.
"It's challenging. What feels comfortable to me is being good. What feels normal to Nattie is the way I've been portrayed. I was vulnerable on TV, sympathetic where I have had moments where I have felt overlooked and sometimes where I naturally slipped in the babyface role because that is who I am. I kind of realize that with the struggling to prove myself and prove what I can do, I feel it made the fans sympathetic, and they could relate to me. Now I'm on this other side of the coin as a bad girl. It's challenging because I'm still trying to convince the audience I'm bad and not to like me. When I come out, I want them to boo me. There are times when I come out they don't boo me. I don't want them to cheer me because then I feel like I'm not doing my job," she said.
Natalya's hope is that making the switch opens up things for her and others.
"I'm just excited if it leads to a storyline that drives my character to being more of a bad guy," said Natalya. "I think that is the opportunity I'm waiting for in the heel role. We saw it initially when I attacked Becky Lynch and turned on her. At this moment now we are waiting for the right opportunity because when that happened with Becky, we were all on the same show and there was one women's division. Then the draft came, and we introduced all these new girls. SmackDown is interesting because now you have all these new girls that are on this even playing field. I'm playing this new role, Nikki Bella is coming back from injury, Becky is still pretty new, Alexa Bliss and Carmella are still new, Eva Marie is just starting to get her feet wet with her role. We are all kind of starting out, even though I've been in the company for a while. It has been six years since I've been a heel, and I didn't last really long as a heel because the audience didn't buy it. So I'm really excited about the challenge. Hopefully I get a storyline I can bite into that is totally awesome and the fans can totally embrace it."
