Celebrations for WWE Superstar Natalya

WWE veteran Natalya celebrated a major career achievement on Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a historic accomplishment that has never happened before in pro wrestling.

The Cauliflower Alley Club is a prestigious organization founded in 1965 by Mike Mazurki, initially featuring pro wrestlers and boxers. It holds an annual reunion for its members, who are usually retired and current wrestlers, including WWE Superstars and Hall of Famers.

Natalya was named as the Lou Thesz Award recipient for 2025. She's the first female to ever receive the award, joining top names like Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, Ron Simmons, Kevin Von Erich, Arn Anderson, Michael Hayes and Mick Foley.

In a post on Instagram, the two-time women's champion celebrated her achievement and wrote an emotional message to explain what it meant to her.

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"To be the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Lou Thesz award means so much to me as Lou Thesz is held as a standard bearer in wrestling. Like everything worth spending a life chasing, the wrestling business has never been easy. It’s not easy today. It never gets easy, and if it ever does, I’ll know that’s when it’s time to hang them up. Thank you so much @caulifloweralleyclub for thinking of me," Natalya wrote.

As per the official statement by the Cauliflower Alley Club back in June, the Lou Thesz Award is given to pro wrestlers who "exemplify technical brilliance, leadership and multi-faceted contributions to the industry."

Natalya fails to win Women's Intercontinental Championship on RAW

It was a bittersweet week for Natalya, who lost to Becky Lynch last Monday on RAW. The match was for the Women's Intercontinental Championship, a title she hasn't won yet. Lynch tried to get the Nattie Neidhart character to WWE, but it didn't happen.

The Queen of Harts instead showed up as The Lowkey Legend, with The Man happily getting the win to retain her title. The Canadian icon has been tearing it up on the independent circuit in matches for promotions like Game Changer Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance and Reality of Wrestling.

After the match, Lynch continued her attack on the 43-year-old star before Nikki Bella returned to make the save.

About the author

Juan Paolo David has been covering all things WWE for Sportskeeda since 2020 and has eight years of experience in content writing. He holds a degree in Agriculture but has been a fan of pro wrestling since a kid. This love for the entertainment sport led him to write about it.

Juan writes well-researched articles, not only to ensure that he presents readers with correct facts and figures but also because he wants to learn as much as possible about the topics he writes about.

Edge is Juan’s all-time favorite wrestler. He grew up watching Edge and Christian and was a huge fan of their tag team. So much so, that if he could go back in time he would manage the duo. And let them know that he can play their entrance themes with a kazoo!

Besides wrestling, Juan loves to watch NBA or a Dortmund game. He also enjoys watching TV and movies during his free time. He works as a writer in SK’s basketball division.

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Edited by JP David