Since her debut on WWE’s main roster in 2008, Natalya has been a consistent performer in WWE’s women’s division, with singles and tag title reigns to her name. Now, the Hart Dungeon graduate has revealed that she spent much of her career legally blind in one eye, and how she overcame this disability.
Natalya was born with astigmatism and was legally blind in her left eye. The Canadian even discussed the issue during a 2015 taping of Total Divas, though her reveal was cut from the show’s broadcast. For years, Natalya tried to do what she could to correct her left eye, but to no avail.
“They didn’t have the technology to fix it,” she tells SI. “Didn’t qualify for LASIK because of how my eye was shaped. At that time, the procedure that they had for [a] lens implant, because of the shape of my eye, I didn’t qualify for it.”
The use of a contact lens in her eye left the veteran “see double” and she ultimately decided to take it out and “let my right eye do all the work.” This would be the case for years until this past summer when hope for her condition finally came about.
“I had a little time off this summer in between my contract re-signing. And I was like, if I had this time off, I’m going to ask WWE if I can get this fixed because I went and found an eye doctor.”
Natalya visited Newsom Eye in Tampa, which had cutting-edge technology that hadn’t been available previously. The procedure included an implant surgery which proved to be perfect for her damaged vision.
“They even strengthened my right eye. I had surgery in my right eye to get (it) even stronger so that my right eye (and) my left eye are totally in sync with each other.”
Three months after her previous match, Natalya returned to action on the September 9, Raw, fittingly in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. While the future remains unclear for the Queen of Harts, who has wrestled just twice since her emotional comeback, it’s a future that Natalya will see coming with perfect vision.
