Natalya on TJ Wilson’s Injury Being Hardest Topic Of Her Book To Write About, Wanted WWE’s Blessing & Support for Her Writing a New Book, & Her Past “Nattie Neid-fart” Character

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured Natalya as the guest to promote her upcoming new autobiography titled The Last Hart Beating. One of the topics discussed included Natalya’s thoughts about how her husband TJ Wilson’s career-ending neck injury was the most difficult topic to write about for her new book.

“I think the most difficult topic to cover was TJ’s injury. I had sleepless nights writing about those chapters. Those were the chapters that I just — they pulled at my heart… We think about the Hart family, you think about all the things. There’s been highs and lows. Owen’s death was very tragic. My dad and his struggles… My dad struggled his whole, entire adult life, and so I had so much instability that when I was a kid that I’ve never shared. I’ve never shared any of it, until writing this book that people were like, ‘Oh, I had no idea that –’ for two years, my sisters and my mom and I lived at my grandfather’s house and we shared a bed. We shared one bed, and we all four slept in that bed for two years, because my dad, he lost everything, and so, my mom was trying to create some stability for us and we were never, ever homeless. We lived at the Hart House, but there was only one available room, and so it really taught me about, like, I gotta sink or swim. Those were hard chapters to write about because I talk a lot about my dad’s addiction and the things that we went through and it was just those were hard, but they were nothing like writing about TJ’s chapters of his injury and what we went through.”

Natalya also gave her thoughts about Wilson being very angry after he was able to get up and move around despite his neck being broken. Natalya also gave her thoughts about being in the hospital with Wilson and his former tag team partner Claudio Castagnoli when Wilson was told by the doctor that he would never be able to wrestle again and Castagnoli having a tear rolling down his face.

“He was very angry, and it was because he was scared, and so that’s the thing is that people deal with trauma in different ways. So, for example, I had broken my ankle many years ago, 2016. Small, little injury but, I remember just being so scared, I wanted the whole match to just end right then and there. T.J. (Wilson), I think because of being paralyzed, it scared him. It scared him in a way that he was like, it went from fear to rage. So, once he was not paralyzed anymore, the fear turned into rage. So people really didn’t know that he had a broken neck, because he was walking around like normal. He was walking around, and he was just very, very angry and scared and all of it was just coming out all at once but, those were hard chapters to write about because I just knew once we found out from the doctors that T.J. had this type of injury — the one doctor was so blunt. He was like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re never, ever wrestling again. You’ll have to find another profession.’ He was very, very cold and blunt and I wrote about it in the book but like, I just looked at Cesaro, because Cesaro was with us at the hospital. Cesaro had a tear rolling down his face. Everybody that knows T.J. just knows that he loves this, and Cesaro just knew that that was like a death and losing something that you love so much, there was a grieving there too, and I also will say, just adding this, and I wrote about this in the book, my heart broke for Samoa Joe, because nobody wants to ever go through anything like that. That was the last thing in the world that he wanted. He is somebody that in the industry, Joe, I believe — and I have a pretty good pulse on the industry, not just in WWE — Joe is very respected. He’s a great guy. The guys love Joe. He’s got a great reputation, he’s a great person, he loves the industry, he’s very honorable. So it was the last thing in the world that Joe wanted. So my heart also broke for Joe, because I just always felt so bad that he had to carry that too. People say mean things all the time to all of us on social media but, that’s the last thing in the world that Joe wanted… I always had a little spot in my heart for him after that because I was like, he didn’t want that, and nobody wanted it. It was a sh*tty situation. Nobody across the board wanted that to happen but it happened, and it was something that we had to go through and I will say, and I’ve said this before on your show, TJ’s injury led him to, I think, the best chapter of his career because he has been able to reach so many more people in WWE and in wrestling and in the world by doing the stuff that he’s doing now. I think it was — unfortunately, it was part of his destiny… you can’t f*ck with your destiny. You gotta let it happen, and then you gotta let it help you grow.”

Natalya also gave her thoughts about her new contract with WWE and how she wanted their blessing and support to write a new book if they were going to continue to work together.

“Gosh, so many different reasons (why I felt now was the time to release a book). I had been thinking about writing a book for a long time, and so, when my contract was coming up last year, in like June of 2024, one of the things that I really wanted — I was like, ‘I got some new goals.’ One of them was I want to do a book, and so, that was one of the things I brought to WWE that I was like, ‘Listen, there’s a bunch of stuff that I wanna do, and I really, really wanna write a book and I really need the company, I need you guys to give me your blessing on it, if we’re gonna move forward and I’m gonna to continue to work here because I love working for WWE.’ It’s a huge part of my life. It’s a huge part of who I am. I’m closing in on almost two decades uninterrupted with WWE, and so, WWE is a big part of my life. They’re my family, but I also have new goals and I have new dreams and I’m just that type of person that throughout my whole life, I like to set new goals, and if I don’t have goals or dreams or something to look forward to or work towards, I feel like I’m stagnant… I just love working towards new stuff. So the book was like, listen, this is gonna be part of a new chapter. I’m starting this new deal with WWE, and I wanna be able to write the book. WWE was super supportive about the book. They gave me their blessing and then some, and I needed that. It’s not like I’m writing the book as a WWE book. This is my book, and they’re giving me their blessing, and so, getting their support, having them have my back on it… I wanted to have new goals. So, from the cover, I was like, ‘Hey, I wanna have the Women’s Championship on it and the Divas Championship.’ The second I asked WWE, they were like, ‘Yep, no problem.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re letting me put the –’ it’s their titles. I have to get permission to do that. Even though it’s not a WWE book, I have to still get permission to get all of that stuff. They gave me 16 photos to use, that have never been used or never been seen before by people. So, they’ve just been so supportive but, I finally felt ready to tell my story…”

Natalya also gave her thoughts about her past “Nattie Neid-fart” farting character in WWE.

“I remember with that idea, when the writer came out of the production meeting, he pulled me aside… It’s in the book but he made it very clear this was not his idea, and I remember being like, ‘What’s the idea?’ I was so excited because earlier in the day, it was like, ‘Hey, this head writer wants to talk to you after the production meeting. They have something they want to talk to you about creatively.’ I had butterflies in my stomach because I was like, finally, I’m gonna get this cool idea. They’re gonna have a plan for me and this is gonna be what I need, this is gonna be what’s gonna finally give me my turning point, and being a good girl has paid off and you’ve been helping everybody Nattie but this is your time now, and he came out of the production meeting and he just kept saying over and over and over again, ‘This is not my idea but, this is Vince’s idea and he really loves this idea.’ Well, the thing with Vince (McMahon) is that he liked to do things that were — it was a lot about entertainment… I think he saw me as being kind of a serious wrestler, and so he’s like, let’s do something that’s gonna make Nattie entertaining, and it was this character, you know, eventually what I’m getting to is this Nattie Neid-fart character… So that was what the idea was for me to morph into Nattie or Natalya Neid-fart, and I remember when the writer was explaining it to me, he’s like, ‘What you’re going to do is you’re going to be passing gas and it’s going to lead to this big babyface moment where you have this crazy flatulence. It’s gonna lead to a big babyface moment.’ Think about Kurt Angle. He’s an Olympic gold medalist but he’s done goofy stuff. The Rock did goofy stuff, Trish Stratus did goofy stuff. I didn’t think anybody was trying to bury me. I think it was just an outlandish, outrageous, kooky, crazy, wacky idea. But I was like, I don’t wanna fart. I just don’t wanna do that. But, but, in true Natalya form, I smiled. I said, ‘Of course, I’ll do it.’ Not only will I do it, I’m gonna make this amazing. I’m gonna own it. I’m going to show Vince that I’m not gonna be difficult. I’m not gonna be difficult like my dad. I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna make it great, I’m gonna do exactly what he wants, I’m gonna be a professional.

Yeah, they would play it off of an audio recorder. They’d play noises and stuff like that. We did it for about six weeks, pre-tapes. The thing with Vince and that whole thing was that he was so helpful… Because Vince, when I first started in WWE, he was in the rehearsals, he was in this, he was helping. He was very, very hands-on. He was a workaholic. He loved being involved in everything, and he was super hands-on with making sure everything was lit right. So he was very helpful with it. I was like, wow, this is so cool. Vince, this is his baby. He’s really getting involved. I think he initially cared about it, but, I think feedback from people that were watching the product and stuff, they didn’t like it. Fans didn’t like it. Fans said, ‘This isn’t good…’ I think enough people had spoken up and said, ‘The fans don’t like this,’ and so, one of the writers came up to me again and was like, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna do the Nattie Neid-fart character. There’s been a lot of negative feedback about it from fans and stuff like that. We’re just gonna drop it,’ and I go, you know what? In my mind, I was like, I’m so happy that I agreed to that, because now, I’m gonna ask for an idea that I wanna do… I didn’t have to tell Vince or the writers or anybody no. The fans did it for me. They protected me, and I was able to ask Vince. I pitched another idea…”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3