At WWE Crown Jewel 2019, Natalya and Lacey Evans made history by becoming the first female professional wrestlers in history to compete in a match in Saudi Arabia. The bout paved the way for another historic women’s wrestling milestone a few months later at Super ShowDown 2020 which saw Bayley defend the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Naomi in the first-ever defence of a women’s championship to be held in the country.
Whilst appearing on the latest episode of Insight With Chris Van Vilet, Natalya revealed that that historic match with Evans has since become her favorite moment of her 15-year WWE career – tied with her NXT Women’s Championship match with Charlotte Flair at the inaugural NXT TakeOver back in 2014.
The former SmackDown Women’s Champion went on to recall pitching the match to Vince McMahon himself prior to the event, Lacey Evans’ emotional reaction to the bout backstage afterward, and how the historic bout went well beyond simply being a milestone in the wrestling history books.
“Working with Lacey Evans in Saudi Arabia,” Natalya recalled as one of her favorite WWE career moments. “I asked to be a part of that too and that was something that I went to Vince McMahon and I said, ‘If women are allowed to wrestle in Saudi Arabia, I want to be the first woman to wrestle in Saudi Arabia. I want to do that. I want to open up a door that’s never been opened for women before and I want to be a part of it.’
Vince gave me that chance. To be there with Lacey and to see how excited she was, after the match she called her daughter up and she was in tears and she’s like, ‘I’m doing this for you’. Just to see how she was so excited for her little daughter to see her making history for women, It wasn’t about a wrestling match. It was about something that transcended past a wrestling match, past a headlock or a dropkick or a storyline. It was giving women around the world hope.”
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If you use any quotes from this article, please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling and credit Insight With Chris Van Vilet