Natalya Reveals Battle With Imposter Syndrome In WWE (Exclusive)

"I was so scared that people would be so disappointed when they saw me wrestle, that they would look at me and go, 'Oh, she's not like her uncle, she's such a disappointment,'" Neidhart said. "And I remember telling the first girl that I ever wrestled in Japan, Sumie Sakai, that I was so scared of disappointing the audience. And she was like, 'Don't worry, we'll just dance. She was so soothing and so comforting."

Coming from a wrestling family, Neidhart has always known eyes would be on her, believing there would always be an expectation for her to be the next Bret, Owen, or Stu Hart. Being the daughter of tag team legend Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart only resulted in her further putting pressure on herself, and in her head, she convinced herself that others would be judging her heavily.

"I was just so sure that people wouldn't like me because they would be so disappointed when they found out that I was not Bret Hart or not like Bret Hart," she said. "And it's at that point that I was only like three or four years into the business. So I was brand new. I was just getting my feet wet, and I just felt the overwhelming pressure of my family, my grandfather, my uncles, my dad, like, they're all these crazy, amazing legends, you know, that are legendary, iconic figures in WWE."

The Pressure Follows Neidhart to WWE

Neidhart, the first woman to formally train in the iconic Hart Dungeon, would go on to sign with WWE in January of 2007, being assigned to Deep South Wrestling. It was during an era where WWE prioritized sexuality and looks with its women's division, something that she struggled with for a while.

"So even when I first got to WWE developmental, I felt like, oh, I'm not like, I can't be like these girls. I'm just going to be such a disappointment. When they get to work with me, they're going to realize that I'm just like a big fraud," she said. "It just felt very inadequate. And I just felt like that for such a long time."

Make no mistake, Neidhart has found a large degree of success in the company. She is one of only a few wrestlers in WWE history to have held both the WWE Divas and Women's Championship, and is a former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion. Even so, the book goes into great detail about how she constantly struggled with a sense of earning her stay and being deserving of her accomplishments.

As she revealed to The Takedown on SI, some of this began to change when she decided to shift her mentality to wanting to elevate others, allowing her to find comfort in a role that would benefit everyone involved.

"I was like, I know how I can keep my job here: I'm going to keep my job at WWE by literally trying to make sure that I'm not going to be the star, but I'll be the star-maker, and I will make sure that every girl that they want to push and that they want to strap the rocket to, I will make sure that nobody does it better helping elevate these other girls than me," she said.

"And so that was a role that I slipped into. That was very comfortable for me, because I really do love and care about women's wrestling, and I care about the girls. But it also became a spot for me where I was really not putting myself at the forefront at all. I wasn't chasing for me, I was chasing for others."

The 43-year-old would eventually get another singles chance to shine in 2017, winning the SmackDown Women's Championship at SummerSlam from Naomi. It's a moment she proudly documents in the book, which, as noted, is available now.

If you use any quotes or transcriptions from this interview, please H/T and link to The Takedown on SI.