Though Natalya's 2023 didn't start out the way she would have liked, as the third-generation professional wrestler came up short both in the Royal Rumble and the Elimination Chamber – the latter of which was run in her home country no less – as a whole, things are going fairly well for Nattie Neidhart. She's been featured prominently on television, has a fun feud with Shayna Baszler after the “Queen of Spades” broke her nose, and has even been afforded chances to work with younger talent in NXT,  as she made her way down to the developmental brand to work some matches around Spring Breakin'.

Asked about her short but sweet NXT run by Spencer Love on Love Wrestling show, Natalya put over Cora Jade for her in-ring efforts and willingness to learn.

“[She's] a bit more of a bad girl, Cora, but I think my favorite thing that I did in 2022 was that storyline with Cora,” Natalya said via Fightful. “It was so much fun. She wanted to soak up as much information as she could. She was really a pleasure to work with, and I loved our program together. It was so much fun, and I think that there's a lot of great things to come for her in the future, too. I think she's a student of the game. She is also somebody that I pointed to in the crowd! She has this photo of us that we took a selfie in the audience, and she like made it. So, it's really cool again, like Roxy, Cora's a fan. She's a fan, she loves this, and she's here. She made it. Cora and Roxy are a great message to little girls, and guys, everywhere, that you can have big dreams and you can accomplish them. You can achieve them. With hard work, dedication, and not ever taking no for an answer, you can achieve your dreams.”

Wow, those are some pretty kind worlds for the “Princess of Harts,” especially since Jade is sort of in a slump at the moment after finishing off her feud with Roxanne Perez, but wait, there's more. That's right, while working with Jade may have been Natalya's favorite storyline of 2022, she also sees big things in “Generation Jade's” biggest rival in NXT too.

Natalya is firmly on the Roxanne Perez bandwagon.

Elsewhere in her conversation with Love, Natalya gave some serious props to another one of NXT's finest, Roxanne Perez, the current NXT Women's Champion and a noted fan of the Divas-era of WWE. Asked about her overall aura, Natalya gave a ringing endorsement to the “hard-working” Superstar.

“Roxanne, it's funny, she was a fan! I was walking into a live event, and she was there, and she was just like, so cute,” Natalya said. “She just asked this question about ‘what do I need to do to be a Diva?' it was during the Divas Era, of course. That's when we were all called Divas. We weren't allowed to be called women wrestlers, even though now we're referred to as Superstars. In all honesty, as much as I love wrestling, I think when Vince McMahon wanted us to be called Superstars, he wanted us to feel bigger than just wrestling. He wanted to know that we were like all these big stars. I digress. Roxy is so sweet. I feel like she's very hard-working, and she genuinely loves wrestling. She genuinely loves WWE. She genuinely loves the industry. She also came from a really good upbringing. She worked with Booker T, and you can see her progress and her growth. Every time I see Roxy on NXT, I just see that she gets more and more confident. She's actually trained with us a little bit in The Dungeon, too! She's very hard-working, and she's a good person. I think that's one thing that the audience really can resonate with Roxy is that she's very genuine.”

Natalya's assessment of Perez is dead-on; a perennial babyface who is consistently lauded for her hard work and positive attitude, Perez has captured the hearts and imaginations of the NXT fanbase and really stepped up when things got very awkward following Mandy Rose's firing. If Perez can continue to build on her in-ring efforts, get more confident on the mic, and establish herself with major wins over talent from both WWE and NXT – maybe a match of her own versus Natalya? – it's safe to say the inaugural Ring of Honor Women's World Championship will be joining the second-generation Neidhart on the main roster in the not-too-distant future.