Natalya Blogs About Her NXT Women’s Championship Match From NXT TakeOver With Charlotte Flair
Nattie reflects on her TakeOver match with Charlotte.
Since 2014, both Natalya and Charlotte Flair have gone on to have eventful careers in WWE with Natalya becoming a SmackDown Live Women’s Champion and adding on to her tenure as a veteran in WWE and Charlotte becoming a nine-time WWE Women’s Champion. Natalya and Charlotte first locked up in 2014 at the first NXT TakeOver event for the then-vacant NXT Women’s Championship. Natalya reflected on that match and blogged about it for her latest post for the Calgary Sun and here’s an excerpt from the post:
With the 25th NXT TakeOver having taken place a few weeks ago, it got me thinking about why we need to believe in ourselves and each other.
I was a part of the first NXT TakeOver that took place on May 29, 2014. When I was asked to be on that show, I remember being excited about working towards something great and wanting to create a masterpiece. NXT at the time was WWE’s developmental system, but since that time it has grown incredibly into a successful third brand for the company. I was asked to be in a match with an up and coming female superstar from NXT by the name of Charlotte Flair. Like myself, Charlotte is carrying on her family’s legacy as she the daughter of the legendary Ric Flair.
In 2014, Charlotte never had a match or a moment where the NXT fans could see what she was truly capable of. I remember my first encounter with her was backstage in the NXT locker room. We were talking about following in our families footsteps, how hard it is and how we both felt more pressure than others to be our best.
Charlotte said to me: “Sometimes I don’t know if I’m good enough or athletic enough. Everyone expects me to be as good as my dad and I’m just getting started.” I told her how funny it is that she mentioned this to me because it was exactly how I felt for many years of my early career. I also felt that I wasn’t “enough.” It’s so easy to feel that way in a world where everything is moving so fast.
NXT’s next live special is TakeOver: Toronto during SummerSlam weekend and to check out the matches that are slated for the show, head over to Fightful’s “events” page.