Natalya Praises Maxxine Dupri for Competing While Sick on WWE Raw

Natalya was recently a guest on the Joe Vulpis podcast, where she brought up that Dupri pushed through even though she lost her voice and was feeling lousy, but she didn’t want to waste her opportunity. She said:

"She had a match against Becky on Raw, their most recent match, it was their second match together, but her most recent match with Becky, she lost her voice. She was feeling really sick and she didn't tell anyone. She was pushing through.But she sent me a little voice note during the day and she's like, 'I'm doing great, everything's going great, I just lost my voice, I can't talk.' She had the match of her career that night. I was like, “'You pushed through even when you were sick.'”(h/t: WrestlePurists)

The match Nattie is referring to was last week, on Monday, October 20. Dupri won because of a DQ. Lynch had snapped and hit Dupri with the Women’s Intercontinental Title. Of course, the cocky Lynch blamed Dupri for being disqualified, and she also blamed the referee, Jessika Carr. Anyway, in the post-match interview, it was pretty noticeable that Dupri wasn't feeling her best. Her voice was hoarse.

Nattie Explains Why Wrestlers Can’t Just Take A Sick Day

Nattie noted that while it may sound cold, wrestlers don’t want to lose their opportunities because they never know when they will have those big moments again.

"Because here's the thing, and I say this all the time in our ring, and I know it sounds cold, I know it sounds insensitive, but to be at this level, to do the stuff that we do - not just in wrestling but in our case it is wrestling - if you're sick and you're getting an opportunity to wrestle Becky Lynch, a woman who's main evented WrestleMania, on Monday Night Raw, on Netflix, Maxxine can't go up to our bosses, she can't go up to Triple H and go, 'Hey, I don't feel good today, I've got laryngitis and…’ Now listen, the company's very forward now, so they're like, 'No problem, we'll get you the best (care), we'll get you home,' they're great, but she doesn't wanna do that because she knows that opportunity might not be there again. Next week, something might change. Who knows?”

While Maxxine has been busy with Becky, Natalya, on the other hand, hasn't had a WWE match in a bit. She's instead been wrestling in different places, including for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, Game Changer Wrestling, and Reality of Wrestling. One of her last televised WWE matches was on the August 18, 2025 episode of Raw.