WWE veteran Natalya Neidhart is speaking out on the importance of breaking the silence around mental health in wrestling, inspired by recent emotional revelations from Randy Orton and Charlotte Flair. Appearing on Busted Open After Dark
Nattie was captivated by Randy Orton’s recent interview with Stephanie McMahon, where he discussed his battles with anxiety and depression. “You look at Randy Orton, he’s just so physically imposing… he looks like a Greek god,” she began. “And then you hear him talking about depression, and you hear him talking about anxiety, and he’s saying, like, ‘I’m waking up in the middle of the night and I can’t sleep’… it just like, hit me like a ton of bricks.”
She also praised Charlotte Flair’s recent essay in The Players’ Tribune
The conversation led Nattie to discuss her own career anxieties, which she referred to as the “black cloud of fear” of getting backstage heat. She confessed that her father, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, had a volatile career in WWE, and it made her determined to be the opposite. “I had this goal when I got finally got hired by WWE, that I was going to be the complete opposite of my dad,” she revealed. “Whatever Vince wanted me to do, I would do it… if they wanted me to lose in three seconds, I would do it. If they wanted me to pass gas, I would do it.”
However, Nattie feels the environment in WWE has changed, allowing for more honesty and authenticity. After getting positive feedback from Triple H after her recent Bloodsport match, she realized, “You do not have to be afraid anymore.” She believes the fear of getting heat is “stopping so many people from doing more,” and used a powerful example to make her point. “If Steve Austin was afraid of getting heat,” she said, “we may have never seen Steve Austin.”
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