Natalya addresses the “Nattie Neidfart” gimmick that was pitched by Vince McMahon
While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Natalya addressed the “Nattie Neidfart” gimmick that was pitched by Vince McMahon. Here is what Natalya said courtesy of ChrisVanVliet.com…
“I remember with that idea, when the writer came out of the production meeting, he pulled me aside, and he made it very clear this was not his idea. And I remember being like, what’s the idea? I thought 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 remember 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. Being a good girl pays off. You’ve been helping everybody Nattie, but this is your time now. 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 is that he liked to do things that were a lot about entertainment, and he wanted to do something, I think he saw me as being kind of a serious wrestler. 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 Neidfart character.”
“So that was what the idea was for me to morph into Nattie or Natalya Neidfart. 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, but it’s gonna lead to a big babyface moment.’ You 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 want to fart. I just don’t want to do that. But in true Natalya form, I smiled. I said, ‘Of course, I’ll do it. Not only will I do it, I’m going to make this amazing.’ I’m going to own it. I’m going to show Vince that I’m not going to be I’m not going to be difficult. I’m not going to be difficult like my dad. I’m going to go out there and I’m going to make it great. I’m going to do exactly what he wants and I’m gonna be professional.”
“[Could you hear the sound effects?] 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. 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. And so they stopped. I think enough people had spoken up and said, The fans don’t like this. So one of the writers came up to me again and was like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to do the Nattie Neidfart 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 want to 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, and that’s the thing about Vince, is that I would go to him very selectively about ideas that I would have creatively, and he would listen. He always listened. He always made time for me, always, always. There was never a moment where I knocked on his door and he said [no]. I could say, ‘Vince, I want to run an idea by you.’ He’s the boss. I mean, sometimes it would take a minute to get to him, but he would listen to the ideas. He didn’t like a lot of my ideas, but he did listen.”