Why Natalya 'Jumped At' The Chance To Work With Charlotte Flair In WWE NXT

In April 2014, WWE was tasked with crowning a new women's champion for their developmental territory of "WWE NXT." As such, the company organized an eight-woman tournament, with Charlotte Flair and Natalya standing as the final two. At this point in time, Natalya was a regular fixture on the main roster, but when approached with the opportunity to wrestle Charlotte, she happily agreed to make a series of appearances in "NXT" as well.

"When Triple H asked me to be a part of that [finals] match, I jumped at the opportunity to work with Charlotte Flair because we do have a lot in common in the sense that we both have big boots to fill," Natalya said on "WWE's The Bump." "And a lot of people don't know, but before Charlotte was Charlotte and she was just a young, up-and-coming talent, she and I had a conversation where she kind of broke down and said to me, 'I don't know if I'm good enough. I don't know if I could ever be as good as my dad. I don't know if I can ever fill everybody's expectations of what they have for me.' This is way before she ever became a superstar in WWE, but she was just getting started at NXT, I remember saying, 'I've been through all those things and I've had that feeling before of not being enough. We have to blaze our own trail here as women.'"

As Natalya alluded to, both she and Charlotte are generational talent. For Charlotte, her journey in the ring succeeds that of her father, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Similarly, Natalya hails from the famous Hart family, who spent many decades carving their name in wrestling history. 

The aforementioned clash between Natalya and Charlotte took place at WWE's "NXT" TakeOver 2014 premium live event, and after 17-minutes of back-and-forth competition, Charlotte emerged as the new "NXT" Women's Champion.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "WWE's The Bump" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.