Natalya Shows Up Unannounced On WWE NXT 2.0

What did the long-tenured superstar want from WWE's developmental territory?

by Scott Carlson
Natalya NXT
WWE.com

Natalya made an unscheduled appearance on NXT 2.0 last night, surprising everyone in attendance.

The SmackDown superstar interrupted Cora Jade, who was in the middle of a promo talking about how becoming a champion was her dream since she was 8 years old. Jade listed several superstars she idolized, including Nattie, so when the BOAT walked out, Cora understandably freaked out.

Nattie got a tremendous reaction from NXT fans and spoke emotionally about realizing that she had inspired a 10-year-old Jade. She then called Cora "the future of the NXT women's division" before dropping the hammer and concluding, "but the future is bleak" and laid out Jade. Natalya then put Cora in the Sharpshooter, leaving her clutching her leg in the ring.

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Later, Natalya walked through the backstage area as the NXT women's division looked on. Tatum Paxley stepped up to challenge her, claiming that she's tried unsuccessfully to make her mark in NXT, so she'd take a swing at the main roster superstar.

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Having Nattie show up unannounced is a great way to give an aura of "anything can happen" in NXT, and possibly encourage WWE fans who don't watch the technicolor brand to tune in to see who might show up next. And of course, having Natalya wrestle a few developmental superstars will only help them grow.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.