Nattie Reveals How Vince McMahon Came Up With Her Awful Farting Gimmick

Nattie Neidhart has opened up about the most horrifying gimmick of her career -- the farting gimmick. In a new chat with Chris Van Vliet, Nattie revealed how the idea was pitched to her and how she was determined to be a team player for Vince McMahon.

WWE was a bizarre place in the early 2010s. The promotion was somewhat of a creative wasteland minus the Summer of Punk and the formation of the Shield. Vince McMahon was deep into his PG ethos, stripping many 'serious' wrestlers of their grit and turning them into comedy acts. Nattie received the short end of that straw, and her character was made to have flatulence issues on national TV.

"When when the writer came out of the production meeting, he pulled me aside and he made it very clear this was not his idea," Nattie recalls. "I remember being like, 'What's the idea?' I was so excited because earlier in the day it was like, 'Hey, this head writer wants to talk to you after the production meeting. They have something they want to talk to you about creatively.'"

"I had butterflies in my stomach 'cause I was like, 'Finally, I'm going to like get this cool idea. They're going to have a plan for me and this is going to be what I need. This is going to be what's going to finally give me my turning point.' Being a good girl has paid off and you've been helping everybody, but this is your time now."

Nattie continues, "I think [Vince] saw me as being kind of a serious wrestler and so he's like, 'Let's do something that's going to make Nattie entertaining.' Eventually what I'm getting to is this 'Nattie Neid-fart' character. That was the idea, for me to morph into Natalya Neid-fart."

"I remember when the writer was explaining it to me he's like, 'You know, what you're going to do is you're going to be passing gas and it's going to lead to this big babyface moment where you have this crazy flatulence and it's going to lead to a big babyface moment."

Nattie tried to give the idea a positive spin, remembering the iconic WWE performers who succeeded with silly gimmicks.

"Think about Kurt Angle -- he’s an Olympic gold medalist but he’s done goofy stuff. The Rock did goofy stuff, Trish Stratus did goofy stuff. I didn’t think anybody was trying to bury me. I think it was just an outlandish, outrageous, kooky, crazy, wacky idea. But I was like, 'I don’t wanna fart. I just don’t wanna do that.' But in true Natalya form, I smiled. I said, 'Of course, I’ll do it.' Not only will I do it, I’m gonna make this amazing. I’m gonna own it. I’m going to show Vince that I’m not gonna be difficult. I’m not gonna be difficult like my dad. I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna make it great, I’m gonna do exactly what he wants, I’m gonna be a professional."

Nattie recalls about filming the short-lived segments, "They would play [the fart noises] off of an audio recorder. They’d play noises and stuff like that. We did it for about six weeks, pre-tapes. Fans didn't like it. Fans said, ‘This isn’t good.’ I think enough people had spoken up and said, ‘The fans don’t like this,’ and so one of the writers came up to me again and was like, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna do the Nattie Neid-fart character. There’s been a lot of negative feedback about it from fans. We’re just gonna drop it.'"

"I didn't have to tell Vince or the writers or anybody 'no.' The fans did it for me, they protected me. I was able to ask Vince, I pitched another idea... that's the thing about Vince, I would go to him very selectively about ideas that I'd have creatively and he would listen, he always listened. He always made time for me, always. He didn't like a lot of my ideas, but he did listen."

Nattie reflects on this gimmick along with her entire career in her new book, Last Hart Beating, which comes out October 28.