Former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Natalya enjoyed a high-profile 2022 despite a long injury layoff. The Canadian Superstar competed for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship at Wrestlemania 38 alongside partner Shayna Baszler whilst also challenging ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the Money In The Bank premium live event in July. The veteran star, however, has listed her interactions with an NXT star as her favourite moment of 2022.
Natalya spotlights Cora Jade interactions as favourite of 2022
Natalya returned to NXT in May 2022 for a brief run and looks back fondly on her battles with rising Superstar Cora Jade. Speaking to Spencer Love of Love Wrestling recently, she praised the NXT star following their programme together:
She’s a bit more of a bad girl, Cora, but I think my favorite thing that I did in 2022 was that storyline with Cora. It was so much fun. She wanted to soak up as much information as she could. She was really a pleasure to work with, and I loved our program together. It was so much fun, and I think that there’s a lot of great things to come for her in the future, too. I think she’s a student of the game. She made it!
Natalya also took the time to praise Roxanne Perez and remembered a previous interaction with Perez on reality show Total Divas many years prior:
Roxanne, it’s funny, she was a fan! I was walking into a live event, and she was there and she was just like, so cute. She just asked this question about ‘what do I need to do to be a Diva?’
It was during the Divas Era, of course. Roxy is so sweet. I feel like she’s very hard-working, and she genuinely loves wrestling. She genuinely loves WWE. She worked with Booker T, and you can see her progress and her growth.
Every time I see Roxy on NXT, I just see that she gets more and more confident. She’s actually trained with us a little bit in The Dungeon, too! I think that’s one thing that the audience really can resonate with Roxy is that she’s very genuine
The Calgary-born Superstar competed in the Womens Elimination Chamber match recently, a contest that was ulimately won by ‘The Empress Of Tomorrow’ Asuka.
H/T: Fightful for the above transcription