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There’s been a lot of talk of brass rings in the WWE lockerroom of late, admits WWE Diva Natalya when we speak on the phone.

In a slightly perplexing move the company’s chairman Vince McMahon seemingly took a shot at his own roster recently, claiming the current crop of “millennials” are less ambitious than trailblazers that came before them - like the public face of WWE, John Cena.

Cena, McMahon feels, is the last WWE Superstar to grab the brass ring and make himself a household name.

But as one of the stars of WWE reality show Total Divas on E!, Natalya respectfully disagrees with her boss. She feels that the Divas, the company’s female talent, exposing their lives, heartbreaks and interpersonal drama on a world stage is just as bold as anything Cena has done.

She says adamantly: “I think the Divas are reaching the brass ring in ways nobody can describe.”

Total Divas, now heading into its third season in the UK and season four in the US, has been a breakout hit for E! on Sunday nights. The upcoming season sees Natalya, or Nattie as she’s known in real life, struggle to keep her marriage to fellow WWE star Tyson Kidd, aka TJ Smith, alive just a year after tying the knot.

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“I thought before I did Total Divas that I had a perfect relationship with TJ and I realised wait a minute, if I have to ask my husband to give me a hug, that’s not normal and that’s not OK,” says the third-generation star.

Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Nattie responds to McMahon’s brass ring comments, opens up about her marriage troubles and why she’s content with not being Divas Champion.

Total Divas season three kicks off on January 4. There’s some marital issues this season…

I never really thought I had marriage problems, I thought I had a perfect relationship with TJ, then I started doing Total Divas and I realised, wait a minute, my relationship’s not perfect at all. I watched the show back and it’s been very therapeutic for me. My mum watched it, and TJ’s mum watched it and she was like, ‘I don’t like this, I don’t like the D-word.’ Nobody, including us, knew how bad our relationship was until we did the show, filmed it and watched it back. It’s been very therapeutic for me to do it and address it.

How real is this, though? Is it just scripted?

I’m glad you asked that question. There was some speculation from people, and I took it as a compliment because people didn’t really want to think TJ and I had problems because they liked us as a couple. Some people were saying, ‘Oh, it’s all fake, Nattie and TJ aren’t fighting.’ I thought it was touching. I wish that was the case, you don’t realise how real things are until you go through it.

I realised doing the show we’re really disconnected. I’ve known him for 17 years. Our relationship started going up in flames and it was hard to watch it and experience it in front of the entire world, and have people go, ‘Oh, it’s not real’ and have my mum say, ‘I know you’re crying over something, those are tears are real, I know my daughter.’ I’m still working through it with TJ.

It’s been four years since you’ve been Divas Champion. Is that disappointing? Many fans feel you are underappreciated.

It’s been a long time, it’s been four years since I’ve been Divas Champion, but WWE is entertainment, I can’t control what happens in the show - I can only control how hard I work.

I’ve learned that while other people may feel I’m underappreciated or not treated right, it’s them getting behind me and saying, ‘Nattie should be treated better.’ While they may feel that way, I’ve found happiness in so many other things. Maybe me finding happiness in other things is a defence mechanism, because I do feel I’ve earned everything I’ve had in WWE and more. But who am I to whine and complain when I’m driving a luxury vehicle, and I own my house, I have a beautiful family and nine Louis Vuitton purses? I’m not one to complain.

The most powerful things I’ve done in WWE have not involved the championship. Going to Rwanda, I visited refugee camps with over 30,000 refugees through United Nations - that was powerful. Last week, I was in Cleveland, Ohio, I visited a children's hospital for kids with cancer - that was powerful. We went there and made them feel happy even if it was for a few minutes. Being able to help my parents in their hour of need, or give someone advice, or elevate somebody like [WWE NXT Diva] Charlotte Flair. Charlotte Flair, a couple of years ago went through something tragic in her family - she lost her brother - and my heart went out to her, and still goes out to her and her family. For me to be able to have a match with her at NXT Takeover in May, being able to make her feel happiness, and for her and her father Ric Flair to reconnect, it was just powerful. It was more powerful than winning the Divas Championship.

(Image: WWE)

Your NXT Women’s Championship match with Charlotte was really well received. How proud are you of that moment?

It was my WrestleMania moment. It brought my uncle Bret Hart and Ric Flair together, they’d been very estranged, they didn’t get along for a long time, so it was that moment that brought them together again. It united two families.

The way Charlotte and her dad connected before the match, after the match, during the match - I get goosebumps talking about it because I know what they’ve been through. I don’t know exactly, but I can understand and sympathise with what they’ve been through.

I know what it’s like growing up in the wrestling business and Charlotte, her dad’s a 16-time World Champion, but you know there’s been darkness there too, they’ve been through a lot, so to see her and her dad come together and to share tears with them and know we put together this masterpiece, it was powerful. I could have cared less if there was a championship involved or not, it was about what we felt being in the ring together.

Some fans were critical of Charlotte losing to you in such a short amount of time on Raw recently…

We don’t control a lot of things in WWE, it’s live TV, you can’t control how long you’re going to get. Sometimes you’re going to get 20 minutes and sometimes you’re going to get 20 seconds, you just have to maximise those minutes and do the best you can.

I’m happy we got a couple of minutes to showcase something - it’s better than nothing. Would I loved to have had the same kind of match we had at Takeover on Raw? Yes. But I don’t control that. It was a way for Takeover to be promoted a little bit. They’d done that with the pay per view prior to this.

In a perfect world, I’d take 25 minutes with Charlotte, but it turned out to be two and guess what? Because I beat Charlotte in two minutes, it’s only meaningful we’d have a rematch - and we better have a rematch because I plan on evening out the odds and beating her and taking her championship from her!

It seems the NXT Divas get a lot more ring time than the main roster Divas on Raw and SmackDown. Why do you think there’s such a disparity?

That’s why I go to NXT, any chance I get, I go to NXT. I want to be on Raw, I want to be on SmackDown, and NXT, and Total Divas, and Main Event, and Superstars, and I want to be on the WWE app - because I want to take any moment I can to get TV time and I want to tell stories.

The girls and the guys in NXT are extremely fortunate because Triple H has taken NXT under his wing. I tell Triple H this, I look around the room and make sure no one’s looking, and I tell him it’s my favourite show. It’s my favourite show because the Superstars and Divas do get time and it’s a cool show because you get to watch these different characters grow and come to life.

With that said, who am I to complain? As far as grabbing brass rings, and there’s been a lot of talk of brass rings lately in WWE, Total Divas, when you look back to the original cast, the things we’ve done to elevate the Divas division and bring light and attention to the Divas division … who am I to complain? I’m on a hit show every week, one hour a week, that plays over and over again all over the world. Take advantage where you can get it. The Total Divas grabbed the brass ring and made people pay attention to the women in WWE.

(Image: E!)

It’s interesting you bring that up. What did you think of Vince McMahon’s recent comments?

When Vince McMahon made that brass ring comment, I think it was cool, it got everyone talking. It allowed us to analyse and say, this is what’s good, this isn’t working, maybe I’ll speak up, maybe I’ll be more aggressive.

But when I stop to look at it, I don’t think Vince McMahon meant every single solitary person that’s in the WWE right now. I think he meant that several people can grab the brass ring harder and I think when we look at Total Divas - I’ve done 40 episodes, I’ve put my life out there in ways I don’t think is even normal, and I’ve been willing to do this to help not only elevate the Divas division but show a human side to what we do. What we do in the ring is such a small part, we do so much - we work with different charities, we have anti-bullying campaigns, we work with sick kids.

For us girls, for the original cast members and the new cast members, for us to put our lives out there on blast for everybody, if that’s not grabbing the brass ring I don’t know what is. I don’t think just anybody could do a reality show and put their life out there and have no qualms about going, hey, I’m sharing something with you guys I’ve never shared with anybody and I’m doing it in front of the entire world. That, to me, is grabbing the brass ring.

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Speaking of Total Divas, season four is starting in the US in January but it looks like Naomi won’t be part of the cast. We loved her!

Naomi’s still active on the show, she’s still doing stuff on the show, and we’re doing a story together. She may not be one of the main cast members, but she’s still a huge part of the Divas division. Everything happens for a reason - and in WWE, the card is subject to change. She may not be a main cast member today, but you never know what can happen tomorrow.

CM Punk recently did an explosive interview about his departure from WWE and has since signed with UFC. What do you make of his decision?

It’s whatever makes you happy. Vince McMahon is one of those people that says ‘card is subject to change’. One day it could be headlining WrestleMania that makes a person happy, the next day it could be opening up a Persian cat factory. Who knows? If you’re not happy, you’re not doing something right. If he’s happy, great.

You’ve been in WWE for so long and seen many Divas come and go. Who do you miss?

On a personal level, I’m missing Beth Phoenix to this day. Next to my family, she taught me pretty much everything I know about wrestling, WWE, and staying alive in a Divas lockerroom. I’ll credit the Bellas with everything I know about style and being a Diva, because before I knew the Bella Twins, I didn’t have very good style or a sense of fashion, but they taught me about being a Diva and feeling confident. And Beth taught me about staying alive and keeping my head above water in the WWE.

Total Divas airs Sundays at 6pm on E! Season 3 premieres from Sunday 4th January.

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