User blog:CEDJunior/Natalya: Face or Heel?

This week's latest "Face or Heel?" blog focuses on WWE's only third-generation Diva, the leader of the Total Divas, and a former WWE Divas Champion, Natalya Neidhart.

Face Natalya:  It was due to the feud between Vince McMahon and Nattie's uncle, Bret Hart, that Natalya was turned into a babyface back in 2010. It was under her first babyface stint that Natalya finally captured the Divas Championship; doing so, ironically, at Survivor Series by defeating LayCool in a handicap match. By some standards, Nattie's title run wasn't very memorable. She would engage in a very brief feud with the evil Melina, who turned heel by slapping Nattie on her face after becoming #1 Contender, and she would finally defeat her to retain on January 24, 2011. Natalya lost the title six days later to Eve Torres. It was in 2011 that Nattie became a mentor of sorts for The Chickbusters (AJ Lee and Kaitlyn), and the trio spent months feuding with a villainous triumvirate that included Alicia Fox, Tamina, and Rosa Mendes.

Natalya's second run as a babyface began without pomp and circumstance in the fall of 2012, but she really wouldn't become a relevant face until Total Divas began last year. Since the show's premiere, Natalya has been portrayed as the "den mother" of the cast, especially to the less experienced Divas. More on my thoughts on Face Natalya later.

Heel Natalya: I'll never forget the evening of April 4, 2008. It was on that evening's edition of SmackDown that Nattie debuted as a villainess and helped Victoria attack Michelle McCool and Cherry. She was officially introduced as Natalya to the crowd, which makes sense. We knew her as Nattie, but Natalya sounds more evil. Natalya cut her first promo and finished it off with an evil laugh, and I was taken right from that moment! Natalya spent several months aligned with Victoria until she was moved to ECW in 2009. During that year, she began managing her future husband, Tyson Kidd, and they would be joined by her first cousin, David Hart Smith, to form the villainous trio known as The Hart Dynasty.

As I stated earlier, Natalya served as a mentor for AJ and Kaitlyn for several months in 2011, but that tie would be severed on the August 5 edition of SmackDown. On that evening, Natalya defeated AJ in a "teacher vs student" singles match, but after the match ended, Natalya turned into a villainess and attacked AJ inside and outside the ring. Natalya's attack towards AJ was a show of solidarity to Beth Phoenix, who made her own villainous turn four days prior when she attacked then-Divas Champion Kelly Kelly. Natalya aligned with Beth to form The Divas of Doom, but from what I saw, Natalya was mostly a running buddy for Beth. Even worse, while Beth got the glory as Divas Champion, Natalya was reduced to losing several matches to Divas such as Kelly Kelly, Tamina, and even Aksana.

WWE attempted to make a tweener out of Natalya for a brief period in 2012, but it was on April 4 on NXT that Natalya brought back her evil persona during a match against Kaitlyn, which she won. What I loved the most about Natalya's feud with Kaitlyn on NXT was that she started making her entrances in what appeared to be a cape, which made her look like a true queen. After all, she is the Queen of Harts! Other than her elegant fashion statement, the evil Natalya displayed quite a lot of arrogance during her entrances, which really made me love her role. The only disappointing thing is that Natalya never shouted, "Off with her head!"

So bottom line, when it comes to the question of "Face or Heel?" regarding the Queen of Harts, I have to go with Heel Natalya. However, I am warming up to Natalya's current babyface role. I have stated in a few past blogs that I really want Natalya to become a villainess once again. Actually, with her husband as a heel in NXT, I was hoping that Natalya would turn heel so they could become NXT's power couple. However, I am willing to wait and hold off on a Natalya heel turn until after this great thing between the Bellas ends. Plus, as I've said before, even when Natalya's good, she can be evil at times.

Face Natalya or Heel Natalya? Which do you prefer?