Natalya Reveals Why She Did Not Want Sami Zayn As Her WWE MMC Partner

We previously noted that when WWE released all of the videos featuring superstars reacting to the reveal of their WWE Mixed Match Challenge partners, many of the superstar reactions were genuine, as the talents did not know in advance who they would be paired with.

This was especially true of Natalya, who when she found out in her video that she would be teaming with Shinsuke Nakamura, exclaimed how happy she was that she did not get Sami Zayn.

In a new interview conducted for NBC Sports, Natalya reveals why she did not want Zayn as her partner for the WWE MMC, and had the former Women’s Champion had the following to say:

“What’s so funny about this is that I actually forgot I said that because I have such spontaneous reactions. The WWE producers were like we need to film a video for you because soon you’re going to find out who your partner is, but it’s not today. So I was doing this interview and then all of a sudden they were like do you want to take a selfie because you’re going to need a selfie for the Mixed Match Challenge and all of a sudden I see these red teeth behind me and it was Nakamura wearing a mouthguard and I was like oh my God, Nakamura is my partner! Like it just clicked to me that this was the reveal.

I was so excited, but I had this feeling that I was going to get Sami because he and I were both bad guys on TV. I was like I’m going to get Sami and I don’t know if I have chemistry with Sami, I don’t know if it’s there. It wasn’t that I don’t like Sami, I just couldn’t see us gelling together in the ring. In order to have really compelling and great matches, you need to be able to gel with your partner.

So my first reaction was to jump up and down and yell ‘I didn’t get Sami!’ And then later on that day Sami walks up to me and goes ‘are you and I OK?’ And I go yeah, why? And he goes, ‘because you jumped up and down and said you were so happy that I wasn’t your partner and WWE aired that on Twitter to like 12 million people.’ I was like, ‘I don’t recall doing that (laughs).’ Of course it was like the first thing I did (laughs).

It was so funny because Sami thought I was mad at him. He was like I love you and TJ so much that I didn’t know if I ticked you off and I was like, ‘No!’ I just wanted Nakamura.”