Natalya Recalls Going To Vince McMahon To Get Her Dad Into The WWE Hall Of Fame

The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony is coming up in a couple of weeks and three new inductees have been announced for the Celebrity and Legacy wings; Dennis Rodman, Sycho Sid, and Bad News Brown.

On a recent episode of "Busted Open", Natalya discussed the importance of the HOF and how she was the one who went to Vince McMahon to request that her dad, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, be inducted. Her dad went with her to a HOF ceremony and she revealed that "he was hurt that he wasn't in the Hall of Fame while he was alive." He told her that he'd love to go in with Bret Hart. After his death, it became Natalya's mission.

Two weeks after he died, Natalya waited outside McMahon's office. "Ironically, nobody was around. There's usually a lineup outside of Vince's office." When she knocked, McMahon told her to come in and they had a conversation. He thought Neidhart was already in. She explained that it was his one wish before he died and that it bothered him. McMahon immediately agreed and asked if she wanted it to be solo or with Hart. Since his favorite time in his whole career was teaming with Hart, Natalya wanted them to go together.

She reflected on the night they got inducted when a man attacked Hart during his acceptance speech. "All Bret wanted to do is give his love letter to my dad. He said, 'I just want to make your dad proud. I want Jim to be so proud of us and proud of what we did.'"

Natalya recalled that he worked on the speech for months. When he read it to her to practice his speech, she timed it and the speech was 46 minutes long. She was worried they'd get kicked off stage, but he was adamant that he read it in its entirety. Hart went into the speech planning to read all of it, even if it meant getting pulled off stage.

About four minutes into the speech is when the man attacked Hart. She held on to her uncle and "I ended up taking an armdrag over Bret. We got knocked down to the ground. All these wrestlers come swarming the ring." They were all trying to protect Hart while they were on the ground. Hart had to go to the hospital after. She told him she knew what happened sucked, but "that was in the most Jim Neidhart fashion ever. Chaos, craziness, mayhem. I feel like my dad was having a little laugh from heaven because 'f*** it, we're gonna go out big."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.