Review Of WWE Network “Table For 3” With Natalya, Tamina & Charlotte

The latest installment of “Table For 3” featured WWE’s three multi-generation women wrestlers Natalya, Tamina and Charlotte, hence the title “Divas Generation.” The episode centered around the role of their families and each other in their careers. The discussion ran just about 21 minutes over lunch in an empty restaurant.

Let’s begin with a recap of their discussion:

– Nattie starts the conversation by saying how happy she that the three of them are getting together today and Tamina and Charlotte agree. Nattie also joked that she wishes they had a bottle of wine but they’re at work so they can’t. Tamina chimes in, “Umm, we can have that.”

– Nattie says finding out the three of them would have lunch together was a dream come true. She said she feels such a connection between the three of them and their respective families.

– Tamina points out that Natalya was actually the first generational Diva to enter WWE, that she herself was the second and now Charlotte is the third.

– They discuss the Rock being the first third-generation Superstar and go over the other men that have followed such as Randy Orton, Curtis Axel, The Usos and Roman Reigns.

– Nattie mentions that there are a lot of multi-generation guys, but them being the first multi-generation women is something special. They have an opportunity to be trailblazers for their families, but also trailblazers for women’s wrestling.

– They discuss how none of them was a supermodel or a pretty girl growing up. Nattie says that was never what she wanted to be, she only wanted to be a wrestler.

– Charlotte says when she decided to be a wrestler she just wanted to be the best. She said that when she started out she struggled with her looks. She didn’t know how to do her makeup and no one liked her gear.

– She continued that she was unsure if it was okay to be “a strong, athletic female and still be what they want on the main roster.” She credits Nattie with being the one who told her to be herself.

– Echoing Charlotte’s statements, Nattie says that what gets you the most success is just being yourself. She said she used all of her worries, inadequacies and weaknesses to push herself.

– Tamina then points out that Nattie started at a very different time. It was the dawning of the PG era when all the women on the roster were models and not wrestlers.

– Nattie, surprisingly, says that she had a difficult time getting hired. She sent tapes and photos to WWE for five years. She talked her way into a tryout in Calgary and she basically harassed them for three months until they hired her, which is pretty funny.

– Charlotte says that when Nattie got hired, she was respected in developmental because of her prior wrestling experience as opposed to just being able to say she was a Hart. Nattie said that if anything, being a Hart caused her to put more pressure on herself.

– Nattie continued to say that when people think about what they truly love about wrestling, they think about the Harts, about “Superfly” Snuka and Ric Flair, that they are such iconic images to wrestling fans.

– In a hilarious moment, Nattie is talking about how legendary Ric Flair is, and how whether they are in the Carolinas or anywhere else people are “doing the woo.” She did the most bland “woo” I’ve ever heard which they all laughed about.

– Nattie mentioned her lineage, including her father, Jim Neidhart, Bret, Owen, Davey Boy Smith, which just blows you away to think about those guys. She said she often wondered how she could ever be that good.

– Charlotte responds that her struggle was never how to live up to her father, but always being compared to him. People complain, “Well she looks like her dad… Well yeah, he’s MY DAD!” Another funny moment from Charlotte, “Oh well she looks just like Ric Flair…No shit! He’s my dad. Do you look like your dad or do you look more like someone else’s dad?”

– Tamina asks Charlotte if her father being Ric Flair made her feel any pressure. She said she believes her father is the greatest of all time and that causes her to feel pressure from backstage politics. She thinks people feel she thinks she deserves more because of her father.

– Charlotte makes an interesting point that she was jealous of others because she was always going to be associated with her father. She said the three of them could never have a blank slate as a performer because of their lineage. No matter what they’d always be associated with their families.

– Nattie feels it was different for her, because she was told she should stay away from the “Hart stuff.” She said she learned that she needed to behappy with what she was doing, which is why she honors her family by doing the Sharpshooter.

– Charlotte says she was told not to “woo” or do the figure four by her head coach. She said she never did either until the night she won the NXT Women’s Title from Natalya. She also told Nattie that she probably wouldn’t be where she is today without her.

– Tamina makes a note that Natalya was her debut match as well. She said she was told that she couldn’t do the splash because girls don’t go off the top rope. She laughed and said, “Oh yeah? Watch me, bitch.” Another moment that cracked me up.

– Nattie and Tamina share a laugh about how awful their pictures were that they used to send in to WWE before they were hired. They said they were glad it took them as long as it did to get hired, because they were better for it and the timing was better once it did happen. They are both happy that the company is finally making women’s wrestling more of a focus.

– They discuss how Tamina and Charlotte were in a SummerSlam match together. Charlotte says the last time a Snuka and a Flair shared a ring was the 1992 Royal Rumble. How is that 23 years ago already??

– Tamina says that Nattie and Charlotte are the first women wrestlers from their families, but that as many Samoans as there have been, she is the first Polynesian woman to make it. Nattie and Charlotte say that’s something WWE needs to make mention of more because they never knew that.

– They discuss how Tamina was an athlete growing up but never intended to wrestle. She eventually realized later in life that she wanted to pursue it. Natalya mentions that Dwayne (The Rock, obviously) is such a big supporter of her.

– Charlotte and Tamina touch a little on body image as Tamina says she always had manly shoulders and Charlotte says the boys in middle school called her “beast.” She says even now on social media people tell her she looks like a man.

– Charlotte said growing up she never considered wrestling because of what the Divas were like then. She said she was in Miami for the Hall of Fame induction of The Four Horsemen when her brother Reid talked her into giving it a shot. Nattie says Reid would be proud of Charlotte for what she’s done.

– They talk about how Stephanie McMahon said Natalya and Charlotte’s NXT Women’s Title match was so inspirational to her and her daughter. Stephanie said that match made her daughter want to wrestle.

– They also talk about how Nattie has been left out of the Divas Revolution to that point. Charlotte says that Nattie played a huge role in developing the next generation of women and paving the way and that she’s as much a part of it as anyone.

– They say a match with the three of them would be a “Match Made In Heaven” which I still associate with the wedding of Macho Man and Elizabeth.

– They also talk about how their fathers are their biggest cheerleaders, even though they didn’t necessarily want them to wrestle in the first place. Nattie says her father is a mark for the Bella Twins and she sometimes has to remind him to put her over sometimes. I guess Vince isn’t the only one.

– They closed the show by hoping that they have a story together at some point in the future, and say they hope it culminates with a Triple Threat at WrestleMania.

MY THOUGHTS

First things first, I sincerely love the “Table For 3” show and I think it is a real gem for the WWE Network. It’s insightful and funny and it allows you to see these performers as people with real lives and stories and relationships.

I guess it was fitting for my first review to be about three members of the women’s division. This episode didn’t disappoint. They were engaging and funny and really talked a lot about the wrestling aspect of their lives.

Natalya was really the backbone of the conversation, which didn’t surprise me at all. She has always seemed like someone who had everyone’s respect, almost like the captain of a hockey team. She steered the conversation and kept the other two involved throughout.

One thing I found especially interesting was that the three of them share an obvious bond and friendship, even though all three came in at different times and took different paths. It was a nice light for the women to be shown in since so much of the WWE storytelling is about nothing but catty behavior.

I appreciated hearing some of the negatives of following a legendary family member. I think a lot of people view that as such a huge advantage but in some ways it really isn’t. Some of the keys to getting over as a pro wrestler is creativity, originality and uniqueness. Following a legend kind of takes some of that out of your hands, which I never really considered.

I did appreciate them touching on some of the body image issues. We have it so ingrained in our heads that beauty is a very specific thing. It’s to the point where so many young girls make themselves sick or take their own lives because they don’t fit into that small window of beauty. These three particular women break that mold and carry themselves with a confidence that can’t be denied. It is nice to see some role models for girls and women that represent something new and powerful.

Another thought that crossed my mind watching this episode was that two of these three women are being completely wasted on the roster. Natalya is a true leader for the women’s division and Tamina has a lot more to offer than she has been allowed to display. It actually made me think that once the teams break up, they may be close to having enough talent to do a women’s-specific wrestling show, but that is a topic for another day.

All in all, this was a fun and interesting episode of “Table For 3” with a lot of insight into these three women and their friendship. I actually enjoyed that Tamina and Charlotte had no plans of being wrestlers until later in life. It shows that some aspect of the business is clearly in the DNA. It also shows the amount of work they must have put in once they chose this path.

I will be reviewing some past episodes of the show that haven’t been discussed on TJRWrestling yet, along with a weekly recap of future episodes. If you haven’t been watching this show, I strongly suggest you take the time to do so. They are typically between 20-25 minutes and they really are fun to watch. Any fan of wrestling will gain some enjoyment from this series.