Natalya claims she's "proud" of 45-year-old former WWE Superstar
Natalya is known as one of the nicest WWE Superstars in the locker room and on social media. Her latest message of support goes out to a former co-worker.
Tyler Reks signed with WWE in January 2008 to work the FCW developmental territory, and stayed with the company until August 2012 as they wanted to retire to spend time with family. Reks did work some indie matches after that, but in February 2021 the former FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion came out as a transgender woman and changed her name to Gabbi Tuft.
Natalya took to X today and responded to Tuft's new interview with Scott Fishman, which pointed to how Tuft has received support from within the pro wrestling industry. The Queen of Harts sent another message of support, this time publicly.
"Love @GabbiTuft. Proud of her [red heart emoji]," Natalya wrote.
While Natalya obviously never wrestled Tuft, her husband Tyson Kidd did. They worked numerous multi-man matches from 2008-2012, but their first singles bout was won by Kidd at the non-televised FCW live event on December 16th, 2008. The current WWE Producer then defeated Tuft in their second and last singles match, which came on February 21st, 2012 at the NXT Redemption tapings.
Natalya on why Tyson Kidd won't wrestle for WWE again
One of pro wrestling's most popular couples are Natalya and Tyson Kidd, who represent the legendary Hart Family. They have teamed up in WWE, but not since March 2015 as Kidd suffered a career-ending spinal cord injury that June.
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Senior Editor Bill Apter, the Queen of Harts talked about her husband's injury and why it's not safe for him to wrestle again.
"He just can’t be cleared. He can never return because he could die in the ring. TJ broke his neck at the same place where Christopher Reeves broke his neck. The injury is called a Hangman fracture. TJ broke his neck at the base of his brain. Where they had to fuse his neck together, it took away about 50% of his range of motion. So, he doesn’t have the same range of motion as everyone else, so it wouldn’t allow him to take bumps safely. He could really endanger his life," she said. [0:29 onwards]
These days the three-time WWE tag team champion is one of the most respected producers the company has. Natalya also discussed the role and why she thinks he was destined for the role.
The last time the husband and wife teamed up came on the March 23rd, 2015 edition of RAW. They teamed with Cesaro for a loss to Primo, Epico, and El Torito.
Do you think Natalya deserves a strong title push in WWE? Where does she rank on your list of all-time great women's wrestlers? Sound off in the comments below!