My Mom's Basement - FRIDAY BONUS EPISODE 16 - LYNYRD SKYNYRD/NATALYA

Episode Date: November 8, 2019

We've got a JAM PACKED basement this week! Robbie is joined by Johnny Van Zant and Rickey Medlocke of Lynyrd Skynyrd (and Skynyrd superfan Glenny Balls) to kick things off, talking about the band's final tour, their legacy, and more! Afterwards, Natalya Neidhart comes in and discusses her historic match with Lacey Evans at WWE Crown Jewel, her relationship with Vince McMahon, and what has changed in the locker room in her 11 years on the main roster!You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey, My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. It's a really good episode. I'm really happy with the way both of these interviews turned out. I hope you enjoy. I will be back on Monday with a sit-down with Israel, the last stylebender Adesanya, the UFC middleweight champion. Enjoy. Yep. You guys all ready to go? Oh, yeah, man. We're nodding out already. All right. Welcome back to the show. We are joined in studio now. I'm with my friend, Glennie Balls, a giant Leonard Skinner fan. Yeah, big Skinner. Hey.

Happy to be here. In studio by both Johnny Van Zandt and Ricky Medlock. Hey, buddy. Hey, good afternoon. How are you? I'm fantastic. You guys are promoting the last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour movie that is going to be in theaters one night only, Fathom Events, November 7th. You can go to fathomevents.com for tickets and all that. You can see if it's planned in your area.

I actually just went to one of these Fathom Events things. They are a blast because you go with – it's going to be all Skinner fans there that night. So you're going to be – I feel like it will probably be a concert. Ah, go you guys also just released another live album a farewell tour live album you guys have been doing live albums for so long we got about 20 of them i know what it is about the live performance that has that different energy that people love to listen to you know me i'll always listen to the live album over the studio album yeah well for us i mean the band was built on being a live band you know and to be able to capture that we did a really good job with this new thing you know we got coming out and uh you know what we can't wait for the fans to see it there you go stuff you're gonna be there yeah okay you better i'll clear my schedule i'll be there

i'll be watching for you yeah i'll be so but no it'll be it'll be cool to I'm clearing my schedule. I'll be there. I'll be watching for you. Yeah. But no, it'll be cool to see what the fans think of it. You know, and we did it down in Jacksonville, Florida, our hometown, where the band started at, at the TIAA Bank Field. Yeah. And where the Jags play at. And we had a bunch of our friends come down, rock jason aldean blackberry smoke charlie daniels they were all on the show yeah with us that day and start a lineup yeah so it was really a cool day for skinner and school cool day for jacksonville and you got to be glad that that's

the one that you have you know as maybe the last live concert that you guys are putting out together oh yeah it's such a big show a massive show, you guys have been touring for so long, since before I was born, way before I was born. Well, how dare you say that? How dare you say that? I'm sorry. Maybe that was a little overrun. Look to that. We're doing this.

I think I'm done. When did you guys know that it was time to call it a day and call it an end and start this farewell tour that I'm sure is going to last a long time? Well, in 2017, at the end of the year, you know, Gary had succumbed to quite a few problems with his heart. And it was pretty well publicized, you know, that people knew that. And at the end of 2017, we just kind of knew that he had gotten to the point where he just didn't want to do the 80 to 90 hundred shows a year. And so came up with the idea of going ahead and announcing the farewell tour. Well, in doing that, you can't do every place. Like Johnny said, we wanted to play every place that we'd played in our career and even some that we hadn't played.

That included Europe and South America, maybe New Zealand, Australia, Canada. So in undertaking it, it's going to be about a three-year run. I mean, we started in 2018 in West Palm Beach. Now it's 2019. We just finished up. And it's going to roll into 2020 yeah you know for me i've always wondered i said you know because you see bands do their farewell tour and you're like okay what's their last year and then you go the next year they're still out playing next year and you go wait a minute i thought that was their farewell tour but now that we've taken it on

we're like you know it takes a good good three years to do a farewell tour. So if you go to see all the fans. Have you guys repeated any places you've been to on the farewell tour yet? Texas we have. Texas. Dallas. Yeah, like my uncle's like a huge Elton John fan, and Elton John has been on a farewell tour since like 2003. Oh, really?

And so like he's announced the Madison Square Garden show On the farewell tour Like four times About four times He comes back Like every six months He's back I'm like Is this the last show No

He's coming back That's the only place That we've done twice And one of them Was for Jerry Jones And the guy who owns Yeah we played actually Virgin Airlines

So yeah We played in In Texas You know The new Texas stadium Yeah You know Where the new Texas Stadium. Yeah. You know, where the Dallas Cowboys play. Yeah.

So we couldn't turn that one down. We're like, hey, what a cool gig. You can't turn that one down. I got to see a little bit of this documentary and live concert as well. You were very transparent about the fact that there's some fans that might be excited about the fact that you're retiring. Well, there's some of the old ones that go, well, there's never – Skinner shouldn't have went on after the plane crashed. I'm interested in your take on like how do you tune that out and keep the band's legacy going? Because you go out in front of 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 people a night.

Is it just the fans that stick with you? The fans are still with us. So why would you walk away from that because of a few choice knuckleheads? I figured that maybe they would tune them out. I hope that they do because obviously those are, for me me like the true skinner fans that are still supporting you guys and still we have a song called skinner nation and it says three generations bold now we're four yeah so you know we turn into skinner i call it the skinner experience you know it's like you come to our show it's an experience you know and the new generations come in and they've

their old fans have kids and the kids generations come in and they've their old fans have kids and the kids have kids and what's it like seeing that seeing young generations young kids come to your shows oh it's great singing man like it makes me feel real old no it's a great feeling it is yeah great what are the songs that on your farewell tour you're still like god damn i love playing this what are those songs for you guys farewell tour you're still like, God damn, I love playing this on stage? What are the songs for you guys? I think all of them. All of them, really? Really?

Yeah, we wouldn't have one of them in the set list if we didn't. Nothing for you guys where you're like, I'm sick of this, I'm sick of that? No, not at all, man. You know what? Each night is different. Ricky can testify to that. Yeah, I tell you something. I can testify that every night, you know, everybody,

I've always been asked the question, don't you ever get tired of playing free bird you know what i mean and really to be honest with you every night in free bird there's a little something that's a little different that the audience don't know but we know yeah and we can hear it you know what i mean like at the ending lead you know there's a little little bit of a twist to it sometimes to where I know it, but the audience doesn't know it. Hey, you said you were a Skynyrd fan?

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so how old are you? 23. So see if our old butts went out here doing this, you'd never get to see the band. No, absolutely. I saw you in Forest Hills over the summer. Where did you see us at? Forest Hills. Oh, did you see us at Forest Hills? That was a good show. It was fantastic. That's a cool place.

It's very cool. I've never seen a venue like that. It really is. I was never there before, but the place is very cool. I was kind of like, what? We're playing there? Okay, that's kind of... It was really cool, man.

I didn't think of it as a typical Skinner venue, man, but what a great show it was. It's kind of like an odd coliseum. It was great. And you know what was really cool? The backstage area was really... Yeah, it was really neat. It was really kind of outdoors. They have like an old house back there yeah it's very that's like where the old tennis center you would think it would be like in north carolina or something you know this house it's in the middle

of queens too it's quite it's beautiful yeah like i was like i always had like on my playlist i always have like street home alabama free man uh free bird free man free bird little little remix i've never heard of it but uh like two years ago, I saw the Showtime documentary, which was fucking fantastic. And I was like, oh, these guys fuck. Then I got into it hard. Yeah. Good stuff. Oh, well, cool.

Thank you. Thank you very much. You guys turn that off and you guys fuck? Yeah. Leonard Skynard fucks. You guys definitely do fuck. We actually have a shirt that says Leonard F. and Skynard and all that. So that's pretty cool.

I have another one on the rest of the tour. It'll be on the merch stands. Leonard Skinner fucks. I love it. Make it. I'd wear it every day. If you know that, I would. So would I.

So would I. I promise you. What are you guys listening to on the road? What are you throwing on music wise? I assume you guys are constantly listening to music, right? Well, no, not really. I don't. Are you sick of it?

Well, no, I'm not sick of music. But when you're out playing and touring, you're kind of like, okay, I got to play tonight. I got to save the old years, you know, that kind of thing. But, you know, we listen to everything. You listen to old stuff, new stuff. Yeah, a lot of old stuff, too, for me, you know. What about you? We got, you know, for me personally, I don't listen to a lot of stuff while we're on the road, you know.

I wait. And then when I get home, when I mess around the house, I listen to a lot of new stuff. I tune into a lot of new, you know, stations that play new bands. New rock and roll and stuff like that. New rock and roll and, you know. And then I go back and I listen to old stuff i listen to uh r&b stuff like my my better half she you know she's a singer and she sings she's in the business and she listens to a lot of a lot of stuff she's got vinyl records she loves to play yeah so i get to i get to hear that too

you know all the time and listen to her sing with the record so it's i got an 18 year old daughter who i listen to her stuff all the time oh that's nice yeah so you know i'm like what is that oh yeah name's off some name but i can't remember and i got a and i got a 28 year old daughter that's good that goes crazy over you know all of us classic bands yeah but yet she'll all of a sudden facetime me from seeing green day you know what i mean yeah so it's like i i get experience all of it you know what music's generational you know what i mean and you guys have been around you've seen the industry change a few times over now. I saw you were just hanging out with Snoop Dogg.

Snoop Dogg is the guy that— Snoop, we were? We can't remember. Snoop is the guy that came in— I wanted a slice of pizza after I hung out with him. Yeah. I'm sure you wanted a couple of them. Yeah.

Yeah. Snoop is the guy that came in and really, like, changed the game. He was part of this movement that changed the music industry. What do you think it was that brought rock and roll out of the mainstream? Well, he was the original OG. Snoopy. You know what I mean? He really was.

Yeah. And never stand around his shit, I'm telling you, man. Honestly, we had to play afterwards. Especially if you're going to play a show. Yeah, I know. We had to play afterwards. I was talking to the crowd, and I was like, yeah, that's good. Wait a minute, I forgot. We had to play afterwards. I was talking to the crowd, and I was like, yeah, that's good. Wait a minute. I forgot what I was saying.

And see, that's even left over because what was the original question? What do you think it was that brought rock and roll out of the mainstream? Oh, God. That's an interesting. Because obviously for me, I'm such a diehard old school rock and roll fan, classic rock and roll fan. But I never got to see a lot of my favorite bands. Sure. And I never get to see them now because people aren't interested in them now or whatever.

Right, right, right. Well, this is just for me, okay? Yeah. Not too many years ago, you know, for one night only, they had in theaters uh it was called the led zeppelin experience where they had the three guys had gotten back together for ahmed erdogan's birthday and they had jason bottom playing yep and my gal and i she saw it it was at a theater right there in our home around our hometown and we went over to watch it and when we walked in the theater we were expecting oh there might be 10 people in there what theater was packed yeah and not only

was it packed it was all younger generational people had on Led Zeppelin t-shirts and all that I think what happens sometimes and I really truly believe this for you guys like your generation you know you'll listen to the new stuff and kind of and appreciate it but you get to the point to where you kind of get bored with that yeah you know what i mean and you need something else and you go back and you dig into what used to be great stuff you know and it's still on classic rock radio and you discover wow that stuff is really great and all of a sudden you start following it we kind of did the same thing we do the same thing yeah you know i mean whenever we were kids where it was yeah when we were kids we went back and listened to humble pie and groups like that you know and

cream and you know it was like well i grew up in the days of hendrix hendrix yeah and cream like he said and zeppelin and all that stuff you know and i cut my teeth on elvis yeah and the beatles the king you know what i mean of course and i got got to see Elvis when I was right about, right before I was seven years old. Wow. Do you remember the show? In Jacksonville, Florida, in the Florida Theater. And what was it like? Was that like a biblical experience as a seven-year-old you?

Yeah. It was badass. Super inspiring? It was him and three musicians, and they were rocking. Wow. That was it. What a friggin' show to have on your record. I've been to an Elvis show.

What is your favorite cover you've ever heard of a Skinner song? Probably Metallica doing Tuesday's Gone. Wow, that's a great poll. I'm a huge Metallica fan myself. Not too many years ago, and pardon me, I can't remember who they were. You could probably look it up somebody did a rap hip-hop version that was conjoined with another song i remember of alabama of sweet home alabama and i heard it and i went whoa what is this yeah it made you rethink everything, right? It was back in the 90s, but I can't remember who it was.

I always said somebody should do a rap version of Give Me Three Steps. I was cutting the rug down in a place called The Jug with a girl named Lou. Yeah, give Snoop a call. You could probably smell him through the phone, right? Yeah. What's your favorite cover you've ever heard? It doesn't have to be a Skynyrd song. Just a cover that you feel maybe is lived up to the original you have one of those i don't know maybe a maybe a zeppelin song yeah yeah you know i gotta tell you though he was

talking about zeppelin we had jason bonham open up for us over in canada this year a monster and honestly the band that he put together it's called the led zeppelin experience yeah it's sound like zeppelin we pulled up and i was like holy crap i thought they were actually does it right yeah no it was really really good yeah yeah he definitely does how do you feel about freebird kind of transcending music and being the joke that people shout out at other people's shows when they're like, what do we got? It happens to us, too. Freebird!

They don't have to worry about it. It happens to us, as well. Do you guys kind of love that it's always going to be that, where it's always going to be a staple of the time, basically? I think it's, in a way, sometimes people are half joke and half serious. You know what I mean? I guarantee if whoever they're screaming it to broke out in Freebird, it would play hard. Oh, fuck, as Glennie says.

I mean, I've done it before, and then if they do play Freebird, it's an exciting experience. Now, who was it? Didn't Dylan do Freebird? I think so. Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan did? I got one for you. We used to do these

rock and roll cruises called the Simple Man Cruise. And we did them for like nine years. So one year, I'm supposed to face off against a kid, whoever would win the contest up until then. And the winner of competing with all these other kids would face me on Guitar Hero. Oh, wow. Okay? Yeah. Now, believe it or not, I had a Guitar Hero set up at my house,

and I was kind of used to what was going on. Let me tell you something. This kid got up, man. He whipped him. He and I were battling it out, and a kid whooped me, right? But not only that, he said, I'd like to do one special for you. And I went, okay. He played Freebird, and he played the damn thing all the way through.

On Guitar Hero? On Guitar Hero. I went, you know what? That's great. Do you play guitar? He goes, no. I went, I'd who? That's great. Do you play guitar? He goes, no. I went, I'd whoop your ass on that one. Yeah, why are you putting all the time into the video game?

One last question for you guys. What are you actually looking forward to in retirement? There is no such thing. Yeah. You know, musicians never retire. I guess retiring from touring, I mean. Are you excited to get off the road? Yeah, probably.

I'm sure for a month. But you know what? We're probably going to do another studio album. We're probably going to do some kind of residency or something out in Vegas, do something like that. You'll never leave music. No, no. It will always be there. You still love making new music as well?

Oh, yeah. Still writing new stuff? Always remember, when you do what we've been doing for all this time, that's what we do. Yeah. And you never get away from it. It's just ingrained in you.

Oh, yeah. All right, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having us. Appreciate it. All right, welcome back to the show. I am joined in studio now by a very special guest, a guest from the WWE, Natalia, coming fresh off a very historic match at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.

Why don't you, you know, starting off the interview, talk a little bit about what that experience was like, that match against Lacey Evans. Gosh, I mean, that trip was by far one of the most impactful experiences of my life, not just in wrestling but in my life. The only thing I can even compare it to is in 2013, I went to Rwanda and visited two refugee camps with the United Nations. We visited with over 30,000 refugees. But this was just so different in the way that – I said prior the match, and I've been doing a few interviews about it. But I said this match was not about me. It was not about Lacey. It was not about WWE.

It was about changing the world and doing something that was transcending. A legitimate culture shock. A culture change. And it was so awesome because everybody was ready for it. We were ready. The girls were ready. Saudi it was so awesome because everybody was ready for it. We were ready. The girls were ready. Saudi Arabia was ready. The world was ready.

WWE was ready. Everybody was ready for this moment. It was like this perfect storm of readiness. When did you find out that the match would be taking place and you would be in it? I officially found out the moment Michael Cole announced it at the press conference. Get out. We were hearing rumblings. Hey, it looks like it's happening.

It looks like it's happening. It's looking good. And you knew that if it happens that you would be one of the competitors in the match? Yes. I knew that it would be me and Lacey because we were the only girls that they brought out on the trip. They brought Lana, but Lana was managing Bobby Lashley. So I knew that it would be myself and Lacey. But I just wasn't sure because we had been hearing that there was a chance.

It's been looking really good, but I wasn't holding my breath. And once Michael Cole announced it, what was your reaction? Were you thrilled? Were you like almost nervous? What was the emotions? I was so excited. And right as it was announced, TJ, my husband, had just left. He had like five minutes before it was announced. He just left to go to the gym. So I was in the hotel room and I was like, I want to call everyone.

But it was like three o'clock in the morning back home. But I called my mom anyway. I was like, my mom is so great. Like she literally picked up the phone. She's like, oh, I was up. I was just changing the cat litter box. And like, because my mom is so sweet. She just like she, my mom would get up in the middle of the night for me for anything. If my cat got a hairball or, you know, there was a lizard in the yard that I was afraid of. She's always My mom's the same way and would not admit that I woke her up. Yeah. My mom was like, no, no, no. I was up. I was watching Dateline. So my mom and I, I was like, I'm so excited.

My mom said to me, she thought my dad had a hand in it. She's like, I think because my dad has been, it's so crazy how much I feel like he's really with me in so many ways. I feel like from afar, he's with me more than ever. That's beautiful. Yeah. He's been just looking out for me so much. Like, I don't even feel scared anymore about anything. Wow. Like, I get nervous. Absolutely. I just feel like my dad's really got my back. Like,

nothing's gonna happen to me because he's going to look out for me. That's amazing. I'm sure he does. So take us through the experience itself. When you get to Saudi Arabia, what was it like? It was your first time there. Like you said, it was the only thing you could compare it to is 2013, that trip to Rwanda. What was it like before Crown Jewel actually took place? Well, when my very first trip to Saudi Arabia was in May with Alexa Bliss, we went to Jeddah. And that was a really, really cool experience as well. But, you know, we were, Alexa and I were thinking there was a chance that we might wrestle, but we weren't sure. Oh, even back in May?

There was a chance. But of course, that obviously didn't happen because we didn't have the match. But we were still staying positive, staying optimistic, staying hopeful that if we made a good impression that things would change. And when I got to Riyadh, the people were so nice to me. The food was amazing. It was so clean. Everybody, even in the lobby of the hotel, people were running up to me. They knew who I was. And I didn't think anyone would know who I was because I wasn't sure if they had seen me on TV or how would they know me.

Men and women, especially men, were coming up to me saying that Bret Hart was their inspiration. Your uncle was my favorite wrestler. We get that a lot. But I was texting Bret and I said, I can't believe how many people here just love you. It's got to be surreal across the world in a completely different culture like that, that they do respect your uncle and they view him as a legend and all of that. And WWE has done over 40 shows in the Middle East. We've been going to the Middle East since the 90s. And so if you look back, even The Rock had posted this very iconic photo of himself and Owen Hart.

And they were both riding camels. And there's just been so many special times that my family has been to the Middle East. And now that I'm able to come here, I felt like it was just – like I keep on using the word transcending, but it's just like an experience that it was just so great for women, for girls and women everywhere that we are opening up new doors in a culture that this is all brand new for them. I'm so proud. There's something to be said about being a first in this sort of situation. The fact that I'm the first woman to do this with Lacey, it's something that's going to stay with us forever.

Historic. We know that we're part of history. Without a doubt. Again, transcending a culture and just being a part of something so know, even just hearing the reaction when we walked down to the ring. Yeah. And seeing – The reception you got after the match when you shared that hug. Like the crowd was really going crazy.

When we were hugging, we were both like shaking. And I work with a lot of very emotional women. Yeah. To do what we do in WWE, you have to be very – you know, you have to wear your heart on your sleeve. You have to be willing to go there emotionally. But like there was nothing like this like i i was just like there was a point where i felt like i couldn't even feel my feet underneath me like i just felt like it was just like an out of body experience and and we were going to get out of the ring we were going to walk up the ramp

together but we couldn't even get past the women and the kids and the little girls in the front row everybody wanted to be hugged and held and touched. And it was very, again, symbolic of like we were just changing the game. Yeah, and as much as it will be a moment you'll never forget, it will be the same thing for those little girls in the front row. That will be the first live time that they ever saw someone that maybe they could see themselves in wrestling and all of that. I think that's awesome. Do you ever look back as well and see – obviously this is such a big moment for women and women's wrestling, but on a personal level, like how far you've come? I remember, obviously, I've got an older sister, so I've been watching Total Divas

for a while now. I remember on the early seasons, you would always talk about how you felt like you never got the big moment. It always felt like you were the workhorse almost. And this was a really big moment for you. This is the biggest moment in women's wrestling ever. Yeah. And I'm not trying to take away from the girls main eventing WrestleMania, but this isn't about wrestling.

Yeah. This is about – It's something different. And I just contradicted myself. Go Natty. But when I – this is bigger than any moment we've ever had in the industry because it's world-changing. It is something that in Saudi Arabia they've never done anything like that in Saudi Arabia, they've never done anything like this. This is women have never done anything like this.

So to be the first ever women's wrestling match, they've never seen anything like this. Yeah. And so to be able to go there and to impact and influence and, you know, like I said, open up a door that's never been opened to me is just like incredible. It is so powerful, inspiring. I felt like, you know, just it felt like we were part of real, true change. And I couldn't be more proud of that. You know, I think you should be very proud of that. Yeah.

Thank you. Moving over a little bit, shifting to wrestling just as a general subject. Yes. I love wrestling. To pick the brain. And that's where I'm going with this. I've talked to a ton of people who all have the same thing to say about you. They say Natty loves wrestling, so genuinely loves this business.

What is it about wrestling that you think makes you love it so much? Obviously, you come from this historic royal wrestling family, but there's got to be something more to that, right, that keeps you sticking around still. I love the way it makes me feel. There's no feeling in the world like being – it's hard to explain unless you've done it. It's like an adrenaline – I've realized I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie. I love adrenaline. I love getting nervous before matches.

I love the way I feel when I'm performing in front of a crowd. I love the camaraderie with the girls. I love – even like on a 14-hour flight home from Saudi Arabia, we were all like a brotherhood and a sisterhood. It's a sisterhood. Yeah, that was crazy, right? You guys had like travel issues coming back and thank you for being here this morning because I would be sleeping in my bed right now. What's crazy about it is that we actually all had a lot of fun on the flight. Was it like a road trip type thing?

Apparently – gosh, I'm giving you breaking news. Apparently there was a strobe light on the plane. A strobe light? I think it was Mojo's strobe light that he pulled out. He was like making it into like a dance party on the plane. And it's like the opposite of the plane ride from hell. It's like it was like a plane ride from heaven. We had so much fun on the flight back. I was like, just like hearing Rey Mysterio tell old stories and like, just, you know, everybody like we were dancing and like just everybody was just having fun. But that's what I love about wrestling. I love I love the camaraderie, the brotherhood, the sisterhood, the, you know, like being in it together and the way you feel when the audience is screaming, they're cheering,

they're booing, they're feeling something. And like going back to that moment that we had in Saudi Arabia and that first ever women's match, knowing that little girls and women were in the crowd and they kept panning to them like crying and cheering and like there was just they were so hopeful yeah it was like it just was like you really can change the world even though even though sometimes you feel like you're only one little person and what can we do you know and even if you're changing just one person's life in the front row, there you go. You did it. And even the men, like it's not – like it's just that the men are only used to seeing men wrestle.

Yeah. So to see the women – Hopefully open their minds up. I couldn't have been more embraced by the Saudi Arabian men. Like backstage, everybody was polite and friendly and asking if they could get us anything and wanting us to take pictures with their kids. And I was just so embraced in a way that like I want to go back to Saudi Arabia and I want to have the first ever women's championship match in Saudi Arabia. I want there to be the first ever women's tag team championship match in Saudi Arabia.

I want there to be the first ever women's Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. Throw a hell in a cell in there. Let's do it all. Let's do a hell in a cell match. I want to be able to continue to introduce our matches and our work to that culture because- It lit a fire in you, it sounds like. It lit a fire in the reception that we got. They want more of it. And so let's give them more. And Lacey and I made, I feel like we made such a good impression, but there's so much more work to be done. And I'm so excited for that.

Going back to the camaraderie you were just talking about in wrestling that you love, how has the locker room changed in the years that you've been at WWE? If it's changed at all. I'm not sure. I'm not back there obviously. But you've been with the WWE a while now and you've seen people come and go. I've seen – I've been with the WWE on the main roster in the locker room since 2008. And I – it has changed a lot. There's a lot more – everybody's a lot more open and more – a little bit more friendly.

Not to say that they weren't friendly when I first debuted but … Is it that wrestling almost like the shake hands mentality and all of that has that kind of I'm very old school because I did come from an old school wrestling background but I'm also very new school as well like I I don't I just believe in one thing as far as locker rooms go respect it's all about respect to me and not everybody has to go around the room and shake everybody's hand but you you it – it's just an unwritten rule in a locker room is just respect. And I'm not really big on the little teeny rules like you got to pick up every single cup in the locker room if you're brand new or – I drove myself crazy with that. Like I said, when I thought I was going to be a wrestler, I would go to WrestlePro shows and I'd help set up the ring and I'd help bring the planks in.

Just trying to think back to like all the documentaries I had seen. Like how do you get your break in the business? You start setting up rings. Yeah. Well, and I – yeah, set up rings too. So I started doing that and then I would do the like shake your hands with everyone. But I was like looking into like how hard are you supposed to shake their hand? I don't want to have a grip too firm and all that.

So like did you ever drive yourself crazy with that early on? Well, yeah, because there's all – if you sit in someone's chair, they're going to get mad. If you don't watch the monitor long enough, will somebody be mad? If you don't stay until the end of the show, like the world has changed. We've changed. Everybody has evolved. But what matters is that you work your ass off and that you show respect. And as long as anybody – I think it's fair enough to say that I've been in the locker room long enough to say that I'm one of the locker room leaders.

Definitely. And I take a lot of pride in that. But one of the girls that I feel like if there's somebody new that comes in, they talk to me. But like – at least on my brand. But like you don't tell somebody that you're a leader. You command that from being there and being kind of like – You show it. Beth Phoenix actually called me the gatekeeper.

Oh, wow. Beth has to be another one kind of, right? She's a gatekeeper herself. But I was like, well, thank you, Beth. I really appreciate that. But we've been around the business so long and, of course, Beth is a Hall of Famer, married to a Hall of Famer and one of the most incredible women's wrestlers in wwe history but it's it's about just treating each other nice and and with respect and being treated how you want to be treated whether you're talking to vince mcmahon or you're talking to the person that's making your

meal and catering or you're talking to somebody that's handling your car or somebody that like to me i just want to treat everybody the way i want to be treated across the board and then i never have to worry about pissing anyone off yeah Yeah. What is your relationship with Vince like? I love Vince. I know it's taboo. I know everyone has different stories with him. Yeah, it's taboo to talk about it because we never – you know what?

Nobody has ever really asked me that on air. So you're getting another natty exclusive. Oh, wow, yeah. I just have a really great relationship with Vince. I can talk to him when I need to. It's like where else in the world can you go at a job where you're – the owner of the company is a billionaire who runs the entire company, who comes to work every week. He's like – Vince is like a workaholic. That guy.

Talk about not sleeping. I don't know how he sleeps. Vince's work ethic makes us all want to work harder because, I mean, he doesn't take vacations. He doesn't take days off. He works out at 3 o'clock in the morning. He's in such good shape and he has an incredible work ethic. But if I were to need something or need to – if it was an important situation, I know I could always count on my boss. And Vince has always been there even if I need to run an idea by him.

I can't tell you how many times I've knocked on Vince's door and this is during a raw when we're like hours away from or less than an hour away from going on live TV where I've had a question and said, hey, I just want to make sure or I wanted to ask about this and he always, always, always makes the time for us. Do you think he appreciates that almost? Like he sees that you're putting a little more effort in that you're putting a little more thought in?

I think you just have to pick and choose your spots because he is so busy. But I believe that Vince pays so much attention to detail that like he respects people that pay attention to detail too. Yeah. And so when it comes to like – that's why our shows are so – you look at the production quality. It's like everything is so well done because Vince pays such close attention to detail. And some people go – it's almost like Vince is like complete perfectionist. But you look at some of the most successful people in the world like Jennifer Lopez.

I've heard the same thing about her. She's like an absolute perfectionist. So I think we take pride in that. As a wrestler who loves the wrestling business, who loves watching wrestling, who do you love watching right now in the ring? I'll never, ever get sick of watching Rey Mysterio. He's better now than he's ever been. He's one of my favorites ever.

He was here last week sitting in this very room, and I can't get enough of him. There's no one, especially spanning across generations, because Rey, like myself, started wrestling when – Rey's still quite young. Yeah. But he's – He started when he was like 15. Yeah, he started – I started wrestling when Ray's still quite young. Yeah. But he started when he was like 15. Yeah, he started. I started wrestling when I was 18.

So I feel like I've been around forever. And I'm like, I've got some miles on me, but it's OK. It's because I've done it since I was young. But like Ray starting in his teens, I can totally relate to that because you see this progression, you know, you see where the seemingly like second win of his career he's gotten since he came back with the WWE, that series of matches he had with Andretti, – he's had so much longevity. And every time he's been in a match, he's been like Cesaro. Again, Cesaro, another guy that I've never seen him in a bad match.

He's a freak of nature as far as being strong. He's such a great company representative in the sense that he speaks five languages. He is very well-educated, classy, professional, awesome, totally driven athlete. He's like a super athlete. But when it comes to pro wrestling, I don't know who's better than Cesaro. I don't know. If you called him the greatest wrestler in the world, I would have a hard time arguing that. I don't know who's better than Cesaro right now. Because he is one of those guys where you put anyone in the world in there with him and he can give you a match of the year candidate at the snap of his finger.

He's so creative. That's why when Cesaro and my husband TJ were a team, they were just this explosiveness of creativity. Yes. And Cesaro – I think truly Cesaro – I'll go on the record saying this, Cesaro, I think, is the best wrestler in the world. I don't think that's too controversial to say to be complete. And wrestling fans are crazy. So maybe it is. Best pro wrestler, I think, in the world. And I think that when he actually gets his time to shine, he's going to blow everybody away. Man, I really hope so. I'm a big fan of Cesaro. One more question for you. Do you ever go back

and watch old school Hart Foundation matches? Or is that weird because it's family and it's like, yeah, I grew up with it. Or do you find enjoyment in going back and like watching even your uncles or your dad or anyone in the family? Do you like that? I actually, um, last year when I was tagging with Ronda Rousey, um, Sasha and Bailey came to the ring and we watched an old match of, it was the Heart Foundation versus the Rockers. And it was from 1988. And we were watching this match and it was Dash and Dawson that sent them the match.

And they were like, let's watch the match together. We found so much inspiration for that match, from that match, for our own match that was happening later on that night. And I told Ronda, I was like, I want to do the heart heart attack like this and then ronda kind of put her own spin on it and there was little things that my dad and brett did that were just like so ahead of their time and i love their matches against the bulldogs too i was gonna say do you have like a favorite that you go back to that you're like yeah that's the one that one's perfect gosh or maybe a couple there they had a really incredible match um with the brit Bulldogs. I want to say it was at Madison Square Garden.

But my dad said that the British Bulldogs were hands down his favorite wrestlers to compete with, hands down. Wow. He said that they were – and I hope this year, I hope that the British Bulldogs get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. I think that with seeing my dad and Brett going into the Hall of Fame, there's nobody more deserving than Davey Boy Smith. I think that like to me and not just because he's my uncle, but when you look at his body of work with Dynamite Kid as the British Bulldogs and you look at what my uncle did, even his match against Bret Hart in 1992 at Wembley Stadium, 83,000 people.

That moment, that iconic moment in Wembley Stadium, and you see this resurgence in European wrestling. The British Bulldog was one of the most iconic superstars in the history of WWE. So I'm excited and confident for when his time is coming. You're preaching to the choir. I think he definitely deserves to be in. Do you have an answer to that? Who's your favorite person you've ever been in the ring with? Would it be Beth?

I didn't have enough matches against Beth. As a partner, as a tag team partner, she's hands down my favorite partner. But we only really ever had one match together. We had one match that was only five minutes long in Buffalo, New York, her hometown. It was very short for a SmackDown TV taping. We walked in that day and like all of a sudden we were having this match. It was just like on the fly. Gosh.

I'm just trying to think. I've got a couple people who I love, love, love working with. I'll name three. I love working with Charlotte Flair. I feel like we have a magical chemistry together. Going all the way back to NXT. When we lock up, there's just something that happens. It's hard to explain.

It's just like Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair. You think about – it's just hard to explain. We just click. Is she one of those people where – I've heard people say you could go in and have a match without calling it. Is she one of those people for you? You think you could go out there and just call it in the ring? You know who I can do that with? As crazy as this sounds? Ronda. Wow.

I did that with Ronda. You think that's because you trained with her so much? Yes. Yeah. Ronda and I had that. Ronda needed to train a lot before her matches, but when I got in the ring with her we just, it was again again, magical, magical chemistry. That's got to be fun for you, right? Kind of an old school feel for the match.

That's when I started looking at Ronda in the ring on a different level because I was like, Ronda can go in there and go. She can go. I was blown away by her, by the progression she had. It was a Kurt Angle or Ken Shamrock. Yes. People can say whatever they want about Ronda. She's polarizing. Either you love Ronda or you hate her.

And that's her personality. She's polarizing. Some girls and some men and women in our industry are like that, but I could have a match with her without – we could just go in there and go because your body speaks a universal language to each other. So Charlotte, Becky Lynch, when I worked with Becky at SummerSlam, Becky deserves everything that she has right now. Everything, and not that I don't want to be women's champion because I plan on taking Becky's championship from her and I'm going to be the one to do it. And you'll deserve it when that happens. Becky, every single thing that Becky has right now, she deserves it. She works her ass off. She is a good girl. She works hard and she was so giving to me when

I needed it the most, when my career needed it the most. And I loved working with Becky. I had a magical chemistry with Becky and she's phenomenal. And then Trinity, Naomi. I call her Trinity because that's her real name. Naomi. There is such an untapped potential in Naomi. When I beat Naomi at SummerSlam in 2017 for the Women's Championship, it was one of my favorite matches I've ever had. She is so athletic. She can do things that I've never seen any women do before. And she can – it's just like – just with ease. She seems like another one that really enjoys the business too because she's like given random independent wrestlers credit for some moves that she's done at summer slam or something she'll tweet oh i learned this

from pwg this that the next thing she's like wow that's like really open and cool naomi's a student of the game she's she's really committed to her character as far as her entrance she created all of that she's super athletic and she's you know beck – now this past year, Becky has gotten a lot. We can't call Becky an underdog anymore. Charlotte, we can't call an underdog. Both Becky and Charlotte have worked very hard to get where they are. But I want to see girls like Naomi get a chance. So would I.

Remember she had that run leading up to WrestleMania in Orlando. Yeah. That the fans loved. Loved it. The fans really got behind her. Like in Orlando, she felt like such a big star. I would love to see that as well. A lot of it's about getting the right opponents and the right storyline and it's almost like the right stars and everything kind of just aligning.

But I also – there are some dark horses in our division that I think people need to look out for. Nikki Cross, someone like her. Nikki Cross, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan, Dana Brooke. Dana Brooke has impressed me so much in the last six months. Just some of the different stuff she can do. She's so athletic and she's just like – we have to be relentless to get what we want. And I've tried to instill that in the girls. Rome obviously wasn't built in a day.

But if this was easy, everyone would do it. There's a reason why this is so hard and there's a reason why only a handful of women on the planet can do what we do. And I see so much potential in somebody like Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Dana Brooke, Nikki Cross. I see so much potential in women coming up like obviously Shayna and Rhea and Tegan. Candice LeRae, one of my favorites. Candice LeRae. And if you look at NXT UK, Tony Storm. And there's so many good girls that I'm like, I want to work them. Yeah. And of course, of course, the one girl that I'm really dying to do a program with is Asuka.

That would be awesome. Asuka may be one of the best. Asuka may be the best woman wrestler in the world Wow, I would really love to see that program I think everyone listening would like to see it as well Asuka, I think she might be the best Alright, we're going to have to look out for that. Natalia, thank you so much

for joining the program. It was a pleasure. It was an honor