Natalya on headlining Raw this week: 'It was surreal'

The main event segment of this week's episode of Monday Night Raw featured Charlotte and Natalya signing the contract for their Submission match at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view (PPV) this Sun., May 22, 2016, in Newark, New Jersey. It also involved Shane and Stephanie McMahon, not to mention Ric Flair, who all took the lion's share of the attention with whatever they were setting up on their end, but a women's segment did, in fact, headline the show.

Natalya told Sporting News in a recent interview she sees it as a big deal:

"It was shocking to find out. I got to the arena and then we were told that you guys are on last. We were like, 'Oh, my God.' Not only are we main-eventing 'Raw' but we're closing 'Raw.' It was surreal. And it's still surreal. I was on my drive last night from Greensboro to Greenville and I was just processing it all, taking it all in and going, "Wow, I can't believe I did that." Just being able to hold up that women's championship and to think about wrestling for 15 years and after going through the highest of highs, the lowest of lows. Being in that ring with Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Ric Flair and Charlotte Flair. You have the McMahons, the Harts and the Flairs and it doesn't get any bigger than that in wrestling when you think about wrestling hierarchy and royalty. Our families have done so much over the years for this.

"I hear certain, not a lot of girls, but some people are like, "Well, I'm sorry I wasn't born into this." But I was born into this and I'm not sorry about it. To me, it wasn't an easy ride to be born into a big, crazy world of wrestling. (Monday) night, holding up that championship on 'Raw' and closing 'Raw,' it's a huge moment for myself, it was a huge moment for Charlotte, it was a huge moment for women in the WWE moving our division forward. It just shows that WWE is embracing their women with all their efforts."

While it's certainly noteworthy that women were chosen to close out WWE's flagship program, it's also worth pointing out that viewership patterns show are such that the main event segment is no longer the draw it used to be. Headlining Raw is no longer a clear indicator of interest and, in fact, the opposite may be true.

Still, Nattie is right to celebrate it like an achievement, if only because doing so brings it across like one.