Hart Family Conflict With WWE Stopped Natalya From Getting Signed For Five Years

It’s no secret that the relationship between WWE and The Hart family was ‘strained’ for a number of years due to the infamous ‘Montreal Screwjob’ in 1997. But relations between the two sides were so frosty at one point, that it prevented Hart family member Natalya from being signed by WWE for five years.

The former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion revealed as much during a conversation with WWE Deutschland, saying the following about her experience:

“When I was trying to get hired by WWE, it took me over five years to get hired. I was sending in tapes, I was sending in my promo pictures, I was doing whatever I could to make headway. I wish so much that I had somebody who could just make a phone call, that would have been so much easier than what I had to do. But I didn’t have anybody to make a phone call. My family, when I was trying to get hired by WWE, my family was estranged from WWE, meaning when you go back to the Montreal Screwjob, even though that happened in 1997, there was a lot of tension between WWE and the Hart family.

“I understand why, it was a really difficult and complicated situation, so I think it was challenging for the Hart family members, especially the younger ones, to get hired because there was all this conflict. But of course, that all passed and we managed to work through all that, but for me, I didn’t have my dad to make a phone call, I didn’t have my uncles to make a phone call, I didn’t really have anyone. I had to basically fight tooth and nail to turn every single no into a yes.”

Natalya eventually signed with WWE in 2007, and is the longest tenured female performer on WWE’s books.

H/T: Wrestling Inc.