Natalya reveals that she practically wrestled with one eye for years,
Natalya is one of the longest-tenured members of the WWE roster, and she has won multiple titles during her time with the company. Her WWE contract was coming up earlier in 2024, and she took some time away from the ring over the summer. In July, Fightful Select confirmed that Natalya re-signed with WWE. She then made her return on the September 9th episode of WWE Raw.
Speaking with The Takedown On SI, Natalya discussed how she had been dealing with astigmatism for most of her life, as she was legally blind in one eye.
"I don't think even really anybody in WWE knew about it because I kept it pretty secretive. I was born with astigmatism... I was legally blind in my left eye," Natalya said.
Natalya dealt with the issue for years and tried to prevent it from getting worse. However, for a long time, doctors did not have the technology needed to fully treat her left eye's worsening vision. Natalya recalled some of the obstacles that she faced.
"They didn't have the technology to fix it. (I) Didn't qualify for LASIK because of how my eye was shaped. At that time, the procedure that they had for (a) lens implant, because of the shape of my eye, I didn't qualify for it," Natalya said.
Initially, Natalya relied on a contact lens, but she noted that this was far from an ideal solution, as it caused her to nearly see double. Eventually, she opted against using the contact lens, so she wrestled while letting her right eye "do all the work." The veteran noted that she was essentially wrestling with one eye, but when she had time away from WWE in the summer of 2024, she finally decided to get surgery.
“I had a little time off this summer in between my contract re-signing. I was like, if I had this time off, I'm going to ask WWE if I can get this fixed because I went and found an eye doctor. Newsom Eye in Tampa. They had the technology that they didn't have before," Natalya said.
Specifically, Natalya had EVO ICL implant surgery, and she also had her right eye worked on so that both of her eyes would be in sync with each other. Moving forward, Natalya expressed her excitement about the future of her career, as she noted that her best match still had not happened.
Natalya previously said that she took some time off from WWE to work on some outside projects. Check out her comments here.
Click here to see what Natalya had to say about working for Triple H.
