Today marked the release of the new book by WWE women’s wrestling legend Natalya.
Guinness Book of World Records’ favorite wrestler recently appeared as a guest on The Velvet Ropes with SoCal Val for an in-depth interview to promote the project.
During the discussion, Natalya revealed advice The Rock gave her that changed her original plans for the ending of the book, Bret Hart’s advice to her, what her father Jim Neidhart warned her about, TJ Wilson’s career-ending injury and the connection to Chris Bey’s scary injury from 2024.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where she touches on these topics with her thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
On the origin of her book title, “The Last Hart Beating”: “Booker T had done an interview… He was like, ‘Natty’s the best because she’s still standing… she’s like, the Tupac song… the last mother ever breathing.’ He said that in an interview, and I said to TJ, ‘That’s the name of my book.’ Booker T really did help name my book… When I think about my career, I’m like, Man, I’m the last Hart beating. I’m the last one doing this. I’m the last one in my family that is in WWE and competing.”
On Bret Hart’s advice about writing the book: “I was scared that what if nobody likes the book? What if nobody buys the book? What if people hate it? Bret Hart actually gave me the best advice… He said, ‘Write the book for you. Just write it for you… you won’t go wrong. If you write the book for you, you won’t go wrong… you can’t make everybody happy, but you can make yourself happy, and you got to write the book for you.’”
On her father Jim Neidhart’s warning about the wrestling business: “My dad said to me, he’s like, ‘Nobody in our family has ever beaten the house.’ And I didn’t understand exactly what he meant… The house is wrestling. He’s like, ‘Nobody has ever beaten the house from Stu to Owen to Bret to Davey… I don’t want you to get hurt, and I don’t want you to end up in this business broke or broken.’… In a family that’s done everything… I won’t be the first person in my family to win championships, but I can be someone in my family that is not broken.”
On how a question from The Rock shaped the book’s ending: “I wanted Dwayne to do the forward… When I asked him for his help, in true Dwayne fashion, he researched the part… He was, ‘What does legacy mean to you Natty?’… And because Dwayne had asked me that question about what does legacy mean to you, he helped me with the very ending of my book. He helped me close… It was because he asked me that question for his forward that I started writing. And I was like, ‘That’s the ending… now I got it.’”
On writing about TJ Wilson’s injury and his message to Chris Bey: “It was very therapeutic for me being able to write about TJ’s injury… Chris Bey… was finding a lot of inspiration in TJ’s story. And TJ told Chris, he’s like, ‘Just don’t give up. Just keep going. Don’t listen. Doctors might tell you this, but just keep pushing… redefine your story.’ TJ said, ‘These doctors… they don’t know how we’ve survived and thrived in pro wrestling. To survive in pro wrestling, you got to be the toughest person in the world.’”
On Rick Rude dressing as Big Bird and giving bunnies for Easter: “Rick Rude was one of my dad’s best friends… growing up Rick was at my birthday party, and he was dressed up as Big Bird. When we were kids… Rick was dressed as Big Bird. I remember one Easter, Rick had bought bunny rabbits for us. Imagine somebody for Easter giving you real bunnies. Rick bought us bunnies, and we had bunnies as a gift.”
