One thing I’ve learned from years of working in WWE is that the road to WrestleMania always starts at the Royal Rumble. That’s why it’s so important to win the Rumble because it’s your chance to secure a championship match at WWE’s biggest event of the year: WrestleMania.

This will be the second Royal Rumble to feature an all-female match with 30 women competing to toss each other out over the top rope and onto the floor. The woman who is the last standing in the ring wins and automatically gets a championship match of her choice at WrestleMania. I am one of many women who has already entered herself into this year’s Rumble match.

I think back to last year to the first all-women’s Rumble match and remember it being such a cool experience to be a part of. We saw women from the past, including WWE Hall of Famers, plus women from Raw, SmackDown Live and NXT compete to win. I never thought I’d look across the ring and see Sasha Banks facing off against Jacqueline. It was pretty cool to witness!

Not only did the women of WWE make history, but I got to share a ring with iconic women from the past whom I never thought I’d get to compete against — women like Trish Stratus, Torrie Wilson, Vickie Guerrero and Molly Holly. I remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world to put Trish Stratus in the Sharpshooter in front of a sold-out crowd, as I figured I’d break her down a bit before tossing her over the top rope. But as destiny would have it, it was only fitting that if the Queen of Harts was to be eliminated, it would be from a “Stratusfying” Chick Kick delivered to me by Trish herself! The fangirl inside of me was willing to accept that, as I fell off the apron and onto the floor in defeat. But in the words of Legion of Doom: “What a rush!”

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Jan. 2 was a sad day for the WWE Universe as we lost one of the most well-known backstage personalities of all time, WWE Hall of of Famer Gene Okerlund.

“Mean Gene,” as he was universally known, made every WWE Superstar he interacted with appear larger than life. He had the gift of gab as one of WWE’s most tenured personalities. Triple H tweeted that “Gene was a voice and soundtrack to an entire era of our industry. He was the star of some of WWE’s most memorable segments. Mean Gene was beloved by all who got to work with him.”

The day Gene passed away, I pulled up old footage of some of his most notorious interviews. There were so many hilarious interviews with the likes of Ric Flair, Bobby (The Brain) Heenan, Hulk Hogan and the British Bulldog. Of course, Gene’s “conversations” with the Hart Foundation had me cracking up! There was one interview during which Gene was talking with my dad, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, and Bret Hart, talking about how they were going to beat the Killer Bees in the ring once and for all!

They were talking in great detail and comparing them to bumblebees, saying they were going to “take their wings off.” Gene looked like he was about ready to burst out laughing and called my dad “one sick puppy!” Gene added during the interview, “Stu Hart would be ashamed of you!” Then Bret chimed to say, “Actually, Stu loves what we do!” My dad, Bret and Jimmy Hart looked like they were having the time of their lives and that had a lot to do with Gene. He made everyone feel comfortable to be themselves and have fun while still telling a story.

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It’s hard to believe 2019 is here and there’s so much to plan! I had a giant New Year’s Eve party at my house! Heck, we already had three Christmas dinners in the past two weeks because no one in my family could decide whose house we were going to go to. The Hart family loves to celebrate!

Undeniably, the last year in WWE has been awesome! I competed at WrestleMania, was in a Money in the Bank ladder match, got drafted to Monday Night Raw, performed in the first all-women’s pay-per-view, Evolution, had a tables match with Ruby Riott, performed in front of thousands of our troops and faced off against Ronda Rousey for the Raw Women’s Championship.

I got to do so many cool things this past year. It’s also been a year of so much personal growth for me. When my dad passed away, I was under a lot of stress with planning a funeral, trying to pick out just the right flowers and pictures and simply trying to find the right way to say goodbye. It just seemed like it was easier for me to not say goodbye at all. That was tough. I think I cried so hard there were times I didn’t feel like I had any tears left inside to cry.

There were moments last year in which I wasn’t sure how I’d get through but I did. In my championship match against Ronda Rousey, I felt overwhelming pressure to be the best. I used that pressure to rise up and have an awesome match with her. I thought about the hard times, and how I made it through those, so I could make it through this. I remember us both being super emotional when we got backstage because we felt like all of our training together had paid off and we finally got to tell a great story in the ring!

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When it comes to gift giving, I always want to get everyone a little something. The problem is that every time I go holiday shopping for others, I come out of the stores with shoes for myself.  Maybe my New Year’s resolution should be to take it easy on the sneaker collection. But then I try to convince myself, “Well, there are 365 days in a year that I need to wear shoes!” But I digress.

I’ve had so much fun decorating my house, as well as my mom and sister’s homes. We all live within five minutes of each other and our homes all have the most beautiful Christmas trees! My mom is responsible for the tree decorating every year and it has become our favourite tradition.  We’re always extra prepared for the cats to knock them over or soil the tree skirt (Thank you, 2Pawz.) My mom makes the ornaments by hand and she uses dried flowers and tinsel to make the tree look extra decadent. Tinsel on our Christmas trees is a Hart family staple started by my grandmother, Helen Hart. We love decorating our trees while listening to old Christmas music, all while my sister Jenni handles the baking in the kitchen.

Speaking of baking, we take our holiday cooking very seriously.  We decided that for some of our gifts, we would bake cookies for our neighbours and friends who live close by. Now, these aren’t just any ordinary cookies, they are my aunt Georgia’s world famous chocolate chip cookies, and anyone who has eaten them has had a life-changing experience because they are so good.  Jenni knows I’m horrible in the kitchen, so she takes on the role of Martha Stewart. 2pawz and I happily sample the cookie dough and do the taste testing after the cookies come out of the oven. The cookies really make the best gifts. Besides, who needs dinner when you can just eat cookies

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For Natalie “Natalya” Neidhart, wrestling isn’t just her profession, it’s her life. Always has been, always will be.

The 36-year-old is part of one of the most beloved wrestling dynasties of all time, the legendary Hart family. A third-generation professional wrestler, Neidhart trained in Stu Hart’s infamous “dungeon,” wrestled across the globe, and has spent the past decade in WWE, all the while carrying on the legacy of not only her uncle, Bret “The Hitman” Hart, but also her father, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart.

Everything Neidhart does in WWE pays homage to her family. She wears the iconic pink and black ring attire, her entrance music starts with a guitar screech like her uncle Bret, and her submission finisher – the Sharpshooter – was made famous during the Hart Foundation’s heyday.

It’s that deep-rooted connection to her family and their legacy that has made her most recent storyline emotionally taxing for her while simultaneously captivating for WWE fans across the world. – Anthony Sulla-Heffinger – Yahoo Sports.

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Source – Sports.yahoo.com

December 5 was a somber day in the Hart family as Tom Billington, a.k.a. The Dynamite Kid — a former WWE Tag Team Champion as one-half of the British Bulldogs and arguably one of the greatest in-ring WWE Superstars of all time — passed away on what would have been his 60th birthday.

Bret Hart recalled that the second match of his career was against Dynamite Kid, saying, “I benefited from his greatness and through our matches in Stampede Wrestling, WWE, and everywhere in between. I became a better wrestler because of him. Dynamite truly was the best wrestler ever, pound-for-pound.”

I had a chance to talk to one of Dynamite Kid’s daughters, Bronwyne, about her dad’s legacy. I asked her what some of her fondest memories of her dad were.  “Growing up, my Dad was always on the road. I remember he’d be gone weeks at a time in Japan. He’d never come home empty-handed, different coloured Kimonos for my Mom, all kinds of Hello Kitty stuff for me. I was probably the first five-year-old in Canada with the latest Hello Kitty gear. When I turned five, I asked for a pony for my birthday. We lived on an acreage, and my Dad delivered! Problem was, none of us knew how to take care of a pony! It wasn’t that my Dad was making “big money” and I got whatever I wanted, it’s that he truly wanted to give me the world. We didn’t end up keeping the pony, but the lengths my dad went to make me happy are never forgotten.”

Many years passed during which Bronwyne didn’t see her dad. She described those years as being difficult.

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