Trish Stratus did an interview with Shakiel Mahjouri for ET Canada and here are the highlights that were passed along…
Fit Finlay is a backstage hero:
There would be no Trish Stratus without Fit Finlay, I can tell you that. Also no changing of the guard. He had a vested interest in the women… Seeing what I knew I could do but seeing what I was only able to do in the ring, my MO was to change the perception of what a woman could do in the ring in sports entertainment. He was on board for that and it took for someone to be on board and to see it too. Some of the old school people didn’t see that, they didn’t see that women could do this other side of things.
Working with Brian Gerwitz in WWE:
Brian Gerwitz is a writer who was with WWE. He was a huge part of a lot of my good, juicy work that I did. Working with my promos. He worked with The Rock a lot, that was kind of his guy, and I got the chance to work with him. He was really good about tapping into who you are and way overt amplifying your personality out there and keeping it real. I think the authentic superstars that people really resonate with.
Dream match vs. Sasha Banks:
I’ve heard that I’m running from her, which is absolutely untrue. At one point, she had done this promo saying that I wasn’t ready. I posted a photo of my six-pack and said, ‘I am ready, girl.’ These little moments. She and I had, maybe, a five-minute moment in the 2018 Royal Rumble and, to this day, people say that’s the match they want to see. Sometimes you just have this energy that is palpable. It’s like when Lita and I first faced off. People felt that. When The Rock and [“Stone Cold” Steve] Austin faced off, they felt that. When Sasha and I faced off, I felt it too. It was a good moment. Will we follow up on it? If there is an opportunity, perhaps. Did I wish this was a SmackDown tour? Yes, I did.
Hosting WWE live events in Toronto and Kitchener:
They gave me a call and of course, I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to host. What does that mean? What does a host do?’ Let’s work with the card and see what could be fun and different. For me, it’s a chance to come back and work with some superstars I haven’t yet interacted with. I went back in 2019 to work with Charlotte [Flair], but I didn’t get a chance to interact with somebody like Becky Lynch, for example, Bianca Belair had not debuted at the time. There’s a good chance to mix it up with some of the superstars of today… One person I’m very excited to mix it up with is Kevin Owens. I’d called him Canada’s favorite superstar.
If Trish will wrestle again:
I’m always ready. Did I pack a bag, did I put my boots in them? I did. Just in case, because I’m a professional.
Offers from WCW, ECW and TNA:
It’s funny because at the time, it wasn’t as if they were like, ‘Okay, we have this thriving women’s division, we want you to come in and win the women’s title.’ There was a time when TNA had reached out to me around the time they were introducing the new women’s championship. There was a storyline pitched like, ‘Hey, women are a viable part of the show and we would like you to be a part of it.’ Back then, it was like, ‘Hey, we use women as part of the show. Would you like to be a part of it?’ That’s what it was. I knew what I could do, I knew the training I’d done and what I could offer to the world of sports entertainment as an athlete, but I don’t know if they necessarily knew.
Lita’s match at Elimination Chamber, Steve Austin at WrestleMania:
She’s my bestie. I was at home. She is my son’s godmother. We were watching her, cheering her on. It was great. Believe me, I’m sure ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin is going through this right now, when you get back in the ring after being away for so long, it’s nerve-wracking. You also know that you’ve left an impression on the fans’ minds of who you are and what you bring to the ring. To be able to live up to that. Can I? You don’t know. Honestly, you don’t know until you get into the ring. For me, personally, when I faced Charlotte, I knew what I could do practicing. But the energy, the stamina, are the fans still into you, will they react, am I fast enough, do I have that innate ability to go the way I did before? Thankfully, I find that wrestling is like riding a bike. That’s what I discovered after my match with Charlotte. It’s exciting to see someone come back. It’s also a cool thing to step back into the mix and fans are still there for you right where you left off, which is really cool.
Judging Canada’s Got Talent, following in Nikki Bella and Cody Rhodes’ footsteps:
There is so much we learn as WWE superstars. The production value we bring is very high. Not to say we’re one-take wonders, but when you have to do stuff live, you need to do well… It’s amazing what we have learned and how we can take these skills we’ve learned as WWE performers and how it translates into different mediums. We have the personality, we know how to interact with a crowd, we can spot talent because we’ve been around it, we’ve developed it, and I think it translates really well.
