Natalya continues to show why she's important to the WWE roster

WWE has a deep women’s division, with some of the most talented performers from around the world. Understandably, eyes are usually focused on stalwarts like Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, and Bayley. Newcomers like Tiffany Stratton and Zoey Stark are also generating buzz. But there’s one veteran role player that continues to deliver when she gets the opportunity and is Natalaya. 

Twenty-four years into her professional career, and Natalya continues to show just how valuable she is to professional wrestling. Not only can she be counted on to go out there and make a young performer look great, she can have a banger of a match against a veteran at any moment as well. Look no further than her two most recent WWE matches. On one hand, she and Iyo Sky have an excellent ten-minute affair in the first round of the Queen of the Ring tournament. Just a few days prior to that, she put over Lola Vice in what is easily the most important match in her young career. 

Natalaya is that roster member that WWE can count on when it needs a gritty match for any opponent in the women’s division. But what’s also interesting about her is that she continues to push for another run at the top of the division. She’s a two-time singles champion, holding the Divas Championship back in 2010/2011, and the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship (now the Women’s World’s Championship) back in 2017. In recent years, she hasn’t been mentioned as a potential champion, instead being leveraged as a building block for top names of the future. Could that change? Possibly. This new interaction of WWE Creative and fans seems to want to give stars the praise they long deserved. Take Sheamus as an example. He’s another individual that has been around for decades and fans are firmly behind finding a way to get him a run as a champion, especially if that comes with him finally getting a victory over GUNTHER. 

While Natalaya was put out of the Queen of the Ring tournament in the first round, it would be interesting to see how WWE could get her back into the title picture. She could work as a threat to someone like Liv Morgan as a champion, if Morgan picks up the belt in Saudi Arabia. What about the idea of sending Natalya back to NXT for a long term run, where she could get a championship run with that title like Dolph Ziggler or The New Day did just a few short years ago. Fans would get behind a Natalya run in NXT if it meant allowing her the space to help the rest of the division grow. 

Speaking of helping the division grow, Natalya’s contributions outside the ring also deserve praise. Her gym is frequented by many performers as a space to help them train for a return to the ring or building their skills, see Jade Cargill spending time with her as an example. Along with TJ Wilson, they do amazing work to help grow the future of WWE women’s division. 

Natalya is an important part of the wrestling community. Her contributions inside the ring deserve more praise, and she’s also giving more of herself outside the ring as well. Seeing her get a run at the top would be a great nod to what she means to this WWE roster.