No one said it was going to be easy to make it professional wrestling. It can be even tougher when it's part of your family heritage.

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Take, for example, WWE superstar Natalya, who is the daughter of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and the niece of Hall of Famer Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Some pretty high expectations come with that lineage. Add to that being a woman in what traditionally has been a man's sport.

Now, the 15-year veteran, along with the other women in WWE, are starting to get their due. The rise of the #DivasRevolution from NXT to WWE has had a big impact, with the company even ditching the term "diva" earlier this year at WrestleMania 32 and rebranding the Divas Championship to the more empowering Women's Championship.

WWE took another step forward by featuring Natalya and women's champion Charlotte in the main event slot on its flagship show "Monday Night Raw" leading into their championship match at Sunday's Extreme Rules pay-per-view airing on the WWE Network.

Plus, Natalya is helping WWE in its ongoing partnership with Susan G. Komen, which just launched the "Share Your Story" contest. Three winners — all breast cancer survivors — will receive an ultimate WWE fan experience at SummerSlam 2016 and will be featured in WWE and Komen public service announcements that will run in October. The contest runs from May 5-27 with the winners announced in June. Entries can be submitted at http://ww5.komen.org/WWE/.

Recently, Sporting News spoke with Natalya about the contest, her big moment on "Raw," and the rise of women in WWE.

SPORTING NEWS: Let's talk about "Raw" from Monday night. It was yourself and Charlotte in the final segment of the show, the main event segment. Tell me what the day was like earlier — how and when did you find out that the two of your were going to be in that slot?

NATALYA: It was shocking to find out. I got to the arena and then we were told that you guys are on last. We were like, "Oh, my God." Not only are we main-eventing "Raw" but we're closing "Raw." It was surreal. And it's still surreal. I was on my drive last night from Greensboro to Greenville and I was just processing it all, taking it all in and going, "Wow, I can't believe I did that." Just being able to hold up that women's championship and to think about wrestling for 15 years and after going through the highest of highs, the lowest of lows. Being in that ring with Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Ric Flair and Charlotte Flair. You have the McMahons, the Harts and the Flairs and it doesn't get any bigger than that in wrestling when you think about wrestling hierarchy and royalty. Our families have done so much over the years for this.

I hear certain, not a lot of girls, but some people are like, "Well, I'm sorry I wasn't born into this." But I was born into this and I'm not sorry about it. To me, it wasn't an easy ride to be born into a big, crazy world of wrestling. (Monday) night, holding up that championship on "Raw" and closing "Raw," it's a huge moment for myself, it was a huge moment for Charlotte, it was a huge moment for women in the WWE moving our division forward. It just shows that WWE is embracing their women with all their efforts.

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SN: If I told you a year ago that you were going to be in the main event segment on "Raw" leading into a huge championship match at a pay-per-view, would you have believed me?

NAT: I don't know. I don't think I would have believed you if you told me a week ago. It's surreal. I still get extreme stage fright before I go out to the ring, before anything. I realize, and it's something I talked to Arn Anderson about the other day, I really like that. I like getting really, really nervous before I go out because it keeps me so on my toes. It shows me that this all still really means so much to me. When you stop getting nervous and you don't care, it's bad. (Monday) night, I just couldn't believe it. I was pretty much hyperventilating before I went out. I was like "OK, here we go!" But once I walked through that curtain, it all changed. It's pretty surreal. I don't take it for granted by any means.

SN: How difficult was last year? There was the Divas Revolution, we were seeing some of the women move from NXT to WWE but we weren't seeing much of you. There were a lot of people that had your back and wondering where you were in that process.

NAT: Last year, 2015, was by far the hardest of my life. I was going through a lot personally. I had to take care of all that but I really wanted to be a part of the Divas Revolution because I had waited my whole career for something like that. I had waited my whole career to wrestle with girls like Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch and Charlotte. I wanted to be a part of that more than anything. Looking back on it now, I'm almost kind of glad that maybe it didn't work out that way because sometimes better things are ... Maybe if I had been a part of all that, I wouldn't have been main-eventing "Raw" (Monday) night. It brought me to a level of clarity. Going through that hard time, I'm kind of sitting on the sidelines and having to handle the things that I was going through and then having to rise up and rise above all of it.

Coming back from my broken ankle — that's why I was so devastated when I broke my ankle because I didn't want to believe, I didn't want to be hurt. I finally got back into the mix and I finally re-debuted after being out the whole summer and then I get hurt. Then I realized looking back on it now, all those things happened for a reason. Some of them I don't know the reasons for but everything that happened to me last year made me stronger. And it's going to help me come Sunday at Extreme Rules when I tap Charlotte Flair out. I will. I will beat her at Extreme Rules and I hope that she's going to be as prepared for it as I am.

SN: It's been two years since the two of you had the match for the NXT championship (at the first NXT: TakeOver special). Did you feel like things were going to be different for yourself and for the women following that match?

NAT: That match was so special for a lot of reasons. At NXT, now it has a cult following and is becoming the hottest thing around; when we did that match at the very first TakeOver, NXT was just getting off the ground. It was brand new. They were just starting to catch fire. Charlotte was new; she was so new and she was sort of, nobody really knew the potential that she had. I hadn't had the chance to showcase what I could do in a match of that caliber, given that platform. It didn't matter to me that it was only in front of a few hundred people. What mattered to me was that I was getting a story. I was getting the right opponent at the right place at the right time. It was like the perfect storm of everything falling into place. I realized that night at TakeOver 2014 — May 29, I remember it all — that Charlotte is one of my soulmates in wrestling. She and I will always be connected because of the work that we've done and we've raised the bar in the women's division.

Just like Sasha Banks and Bayley have raised the bar for the women's division, just like Becky Lynch has raised the bar for the women's division. In a lot of ways, if you look at even the feud that Brie Bella had with Stephanie McMahon, these are steps that are raising the bar in the women's division. Nikki Bella being the longest-reigning champion in the women's division. These girls that I work with, they're soldiers. We go down and work 300 days. I say down in the trenches but sometimes it is a battle. It's an uphill battle just doing what we do every day because we all are so competitive and want to be so good. I work with a strong bunch of amazing women but Charlotte, I feel like she's my soulmate in wrestling. People thought looking back on that match in 2014, they didn't know she could do any of that. It was the greatest honor in my career to bring out the best in someone. And to go not only am I going to be a shining star in this match but I'm going to make Charlotte a shining star in this match and I'm going to make her believe in herself in a way that she never knew she could. To watch her confidence grow, I love that. I love that aspect of it to watch someone shine. In return, it's an art to make yourself shine at the same time. That was when people really started to take notice.

SN: On Monday, we saw the two of you in the main event spot on "Raw." How far away do you think we are from women in a main event match on a WWE pay-per-view?

NAT: I don't think we're far away from that at all. It's crazy because Vince McMahon is a man of his word. He promised there would be change with the women and the women's division and we got change. Triple H has spearheaded a lot of these changes for the women in the WWE starting in NXT. Triple H gave me my, I feel like, my WrestleMania moment at that NXT: TakeOver on May 29, 2014, to really show the world what I could do. Before I had that match with Charlotte, I probably shouldn't be saying this, Triple H told me that I didn't even have a time limit. He just said do whatever you want. Just do whatever you want, I'm just leaving this all in your hands. He just believed in me so much and it made me ... I didn't want to let him down but I also knew I was getting a huge responsibility and I was ready to bite it off and bite off more than I could chew in every way because I knew that I could nail it.

You look at Triple H and Vince McMahon really collaborating and coming together on this. It's huge. Say what you want but all the divas on the main roster, we were chomping at the bit waiting for this for so long. In a lot of ways, I would be talking with other girls in the locker room like the Bella Twins and say I wish we could do that because they were getting 20-minute matches. Then I finally got to have that and I was like, "Wow, you have no idea how great that felt, to get that story." That's why NXT is such a success today because they get stories, characters are built. It's just a fun product to watch. Charlotte and I main-evented "Raw" (Monday) night and we closed the show. That is a huge step for women in wrestling, women in WWE and women everywhere.

SN: We see how much NXT has done for Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and so many other performers. You were someone who had already been on the main roster and then you spent some time in NXT. What did NXT do for you and your career, especially at that time?

NAT: My husband and I — TJ WIlson, aka Tyson Kidd — we love NXT. And we loved performing in NXT. It really was and is our favorite show. It just helped us find ourselves again because sometimes when you're in the hustle and bustle of this fast-paced world that we are in with the WWE. It's a moving machine and everything is moving so fast. For TJ, he connected with Dusty Rhodes in a way that people have no idea. TJ never had a dad. He never knew his father and Dusty kind of became a dad to TJ. TJ would drive two hours there and two hours back to do a one-minute promo with Dusty. That's the thing about NXT, you have those resources and Dusty was one of those resources. Obviously, we all miss him today.

NXT has changed people's lives that love this business because it helps them rediscover themselves and really shine. To be unafraid and color outside the lines. That was the same thing for me. Triple H believed in me. He gave me the opportunity with Charlotte. He didn't really give me any boundaries because he believed in me and gave me this surge of confidence that, as a woman, is a priceless feeling when someone believes in you. There's so many resources down there in NXT. Sara Del Rey, that's somebody I worked with in Japan and now she's working with the women and she loves wrestling. I collaborate with her still to this day on ideas for matches. I go down there and train and she helps me. I always want to get better. I actually heard Sasha Banks say that in an interview a couple of weeks ago. She said (she) never (wants) to stop training and learning and growing. I've been wrestling for 15 years and I just love moving forward and growing. And I love helping other people find that in themselves too. NXT just embodies that in every way.

SN: WWE has an ongoing partnership with Susan G. Komen helping with breast cancer awareness. They launched the "Share Your Story" contest with the winners getting an ultimate WWE fan experience at SummerSlam this August. How are you involved?

NAT: WWE's partnership with Susan G. Komen is very special to WWE. Basically we're running a contest and we are picking three people who have to write an essay. There's going to be three winners and whoever's essay is the best, and I'm not sure the particulars on how we pick the best essay, if I could be involved in that it would be great. There's going to be three contest winners for the best essay and it's another way that people are partnering with Susan G. Komen. It's another way to raise money for breast cancer awareness and research. It's another way to say that we care. It's very special. It's awesome to be a part of it. I'm excited to see who is going to win.

Brian Fritz can be reached at btrfritz@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.