Natalya breaks character to praise rival ahead of WWE SmackDown

WWE veteran Natalya has broken character to praise her rival ahead of tonight's edition of SmackDown in Detroit, Michigan.

Tonight's show is the first episode of SmackDown following WrestleMania XL this past weekend. Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes and WWE Women's Champion Bayley are advertised to appear on tonight's show. Natalya also competed for a championship this week, and she broke character today to praise her opponent.

Roxanne Perez defeated Lyra Valkyria at Stand & Deliver over the weekend to become the new NXT Women's Champion. She successfully defended the title against Natalya on this past Wednesday's edition of NXT. The veteran took to her official X account today to respond to a fan who was praising the title match.

She noted that she was very proud of the match and praised Perez's passion, as seen in her post below.

"Very proud of that match with Roxanne. I respect her passion," she wrote.

WWE star Natalya wants to bring Gail Kim out of retirement

Natalya recently disclosed that she wants to battle Gail Kim and that the veteran is very underrated.

Gail Kim and Natalya have battled in multi-person matches back in the day but never got the opportunity to have a singles match against each other on WWE television. Kim hasn't competed in a match since last September, but Natalya is hoping to get her back inside the squared circle.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling, the former champion said she wants to bring Gail Kim out of retirement and praised her for inspiring many of today's superstars.

"I am dying to bring Gail Kim out of retirement. Gail is so underrated, she's so talented. To work with her or to work against her, she's amazing. But Gail Kim, her style, she was so ahead of her time, and when I think about IYO [SKY] and I think about Dakota [Kai], and I think about so many talented women, like Zoey Stark, I think about their styles and I'm like, 'Gail was an innovator of that style.' She's just somebody that always deserves their flowers," she said. [From 03:02 - 03:39]

You can check out the interview in the video below:

Roxanne Perez also made an appearance on this past Monday's edition of WWE RAW and defeated Indi Hartwell in a singles match. Only time will tell when the NXT Women's Champion appears on the main roster next.