Natalya claims SummerSlam.
WWE SummerSlam has been kind to the Hart family over the years. At the first-ever SummerSlam in 1988, The Hart Foundation (Jim Neidhart & Bret Hart) challenged for the WWF Tag Team Titles. While they were unsuccessful, the duo won the tag team titles at the 1990 event. Bret Hart put on classic matches in 1991, 1992, and 1994 with Mr. Perfect, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Owen Hart respectively while going on to win the WWF Title at the 1997 SummerSlam.
Fast forward to the modern era where Natalya has kept up the Hart family success at The Biggest Event of the Summer. In 2013, she defeated Brie Bella in singles competition. 2016 saw her team with Nikki Bella & Alexa Bliss to defeat Becky Lynch, Naomi, & Carmella. Her run of success was capped off in 2017 when she bested Naomi to win the SmackDown Women's Champion.
“I feel like SummerSlam is the Hart family pay-per-view,” Natalya told The Whig Standard. “(When I think of SummerSlam), I think of one of the greatest matches in the history of SummerSlam, the British Bulldog versus Bret (The Hitman) Hart, SummerSlam 1992, sold-out Wembley Stadium, in front of more than 83,000 people. For our family, it was just such a special moment. Obviously, most people know that my uncle Davey, the British Bulldog, is deceased, but for him that was one of the shining moments of his career and something that our family still talks about. His kids, they still go back to that match and just how special it was. It was one of the most special matches in Bret Hart’s career as well.”
Natalya has a chance to make more history at this year's SummerSlam when she challenges Becky Lynch for the Raw Women's Championship.
“I’m not going to be pushed around, even by Becky Lynch,” Natalya said passionately. “She wants to talk about how she is the women’s evolution. … No. The women’s evolution has been built on the backs of women like me. I wasn’t one of the Four Horsewomen in NXT. I wasn’t in the right place at the right time. I was part of WWE when there wasn’t the women’s evolution, when women weren’t being featured, when women weren’t at the forefront, when women were having 45-second matches. I was part of the company when we weren’t being highlighted. I stuck it out through dance contests and diva dance-offs and Santa’s Little Helper matches and 45-second matches with Alicia Fox on Raw, through some really hard times. If it wasn’t for women like me sticking it out and fighting tooth and nail and not giving up, we may never have seen a match like myself versus Charlotte Flair at Takeover. It’s that perseverance and that grit that brought us to where we are today.”
As with any Becky Lynch feud, the war of words between the two superstars spilled over to social media. You can view passionate promos cut by both ladies by clicking here.
You can take a look at the updated WWE SummerSlam card by clicking here.
