Natalya is pulling no punches in her new book The Last Hart Beating—and what she reveals about how WWE handled her husband TJ Wilson’s career-ending injury is stunning.
Back in 2015, TJ Wilson (also known as Tyson Kidd) suffered a life-threatening neck injury after taking a Muscle Buster from Samoa Joe during a WWE match. The injury forced him into early retirement. What fans didn’t know—until now—is that WWE allegedly threatened to fire Natalya if she ever spoke publicly about it.
“Back home, TJ was still recovering from his surgery, and even though it had been nine months since he was injured, he still hadn’t heard anything from WWE or Vince about any kind of restitution for his injury.”
According to Natalya, TJ wasn’t looking for a lawsuit. He simply wanted Vince McMahon to acknowledge what happened to him inside a WWE ring.
“All I want is an apology,” TJ told his lawyer.
“That absolutely won’t happen,” his lawyer replied, “because that would be admitting fault.”
After waiting nearly a year, Wilson finally sent Vince a letter outlining the seriousness of his condition—including the fact that he could never wrestle again or even fully turn his head.
“TJ said he wasn’t okay with what had happened… he stated in the letter that he wanted to put it all in writing in case Vince wasn’t aware. He couldn’t even move his head, and Vince hadn’t reached out a single time to check if he was okay.”
The reply came a month later—not from Vince, but from WWE’s legal team. What Natalya and TJ received left them reeling.
“Their account of what happened was completely different than TJ’s. They denied everything and finished by saying that if I talked about TJ’s injury at work or disparaged the company, they would trigger a clause in my contract and let me go.”
Natalya described being shocked and emotionally wrecked by the letter. She still had to go to WrestleMania that year—alone—while pretending like nothing had happened.
“I smiled and pretended that we hadn’t just gotten a legal letter from the company denying TJ’s account… and threatening to fire me if I talked.”
The whole ordeal left her feeling alienated, despite being a loyal employee for years.
“I felt all of a sudden like I was walking around enemy territory… like I had to watch my every move and conversation. I felt scared to talk about TJ at all.”
Natalya and TJ eventually found peace. Wilson is now one of WWE’s top producers and has publicly said that producing matches helped him cope with retirement. But the way the company allegedly handled his injury left scars that don’t fade easily.
“This was the moment when TJ and I decided we’d had enough of being nice and being quiet.”
What do you think about how WWE handled TJ Wilson’s injury? Should more protections be in place for injured wrestlers and their families? Share your reactions in the comments below.
