Natalya Details The Emotional Significance Behind The Gear She Wore At WWE Royal Rumble 2023

Natalya talks about paying tribute to her legacy through her wrestling gear. 

Gear is an important part of a professional wrestler’s persona and can sometimes play a pivotal role in the story they are telling. For the Hart family, wrestling gear has always boiled down to one color, pink. However, there are nuances to each individual member of the Hart family’s ring gear, such as Bret Hart’s custom ring jacket and the star on his boots. 

When making her return at the 2023 WWE Royal Rumble event, Natalya wanted to pay tribute to her family, specifically to her father, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart’s, ring gear. To do so, she went to the woman who made the original Hart Foundation gear, as she explained to Fightful’s Joel Pearl in an interview that was conducted prior to the WWE Elimination Chamber event.

“That costume, actually, I’d been working on for months. It was made by the woman who made the original Hart Foundation gear,” she explained. “It’s funny because I know sometimes generational kids try to stray away from what their parents do, and I don’t feel like I need to be exactly like the men who came before me because the thing is, they’re men. I’m a woman. But I’m also deeply, deeply proud of my roots. I wouldn’t have anything if it wasn’t for my dad, Bret, Owen, Davey, Dynamite Kid, my grandfather Stu Hart paving that way for me. Anytime I can pay tribute to them and let them know if it wasn’t for them, I would have nothing.” 

Specifically, the hat that she wore on the way to the ring at the Royal Rumble was made by the same woman who made the hat for her father. For Natlya, this was the completion of a Fresh coat of paint while also paying homage to her legacy and keeping her father close to her.

“The little hat that I wore was made by the same woman who made my dad’s little hat. For so much of my career, I was trying to find a little hat like that,” she said. “So I decided when I came back, when I made my return, I was like, ‘I want to come back feeling different. I don’t need to come back entirely different; I just need a fresh coat of paint.’ I cut my hair a little shorter. My gear isn’t entirely different, but it’s something a little different for me. I also lost twenty pounds. I just felt like I was in a huge growth period for myself where I just needed to be different and body change, and the hat was like the icing on the cake. It was my little way of keeping my dad with me.” 

These days, Natalya is also tapping into the training side of her family legacy by helping stars hone their craft in a new version of the Hart Family “Dungeon.” 

Fans can read what another family member, Davey Boy Smith Jr, says about the new Dungeon at this link. 

Fans can also read what Liv Morgan has to say about working out in the new Dungeon at this link.