Trish Stratus recently appeared on Ring Rust Radio, here are the highlights…
On Her Movie Gridlocked: My confidence was definitely helped by having someone like Dominic Purcell in my corner. You have seen him in Legends of Tomorrow and Prison Break. I think he looked at me when I first walked on set and thought, “Oh some wrestling chick that’s going to be in a movie, how cute.” Kind of liked when I walked into my first wrestling arena and I got the look like, “Oh some fitness chick thinks she’s going to be a wrestler.” I felt like I had to prove myself and work hard on this. I think Dominic saw how much care I took in my craft and he really took me under his wing and really helped me out. He helped me out with my lines, gave me a lot of tips and a few cinematic secrets. I always say I never could have done what I did in the wrestling world if I didn’t have people like The Rock or Fit Finlay in my corner and helping me. Having that on set really helped me out and boosted my confidence. Each time I got more comfortable on set and more confidence going into every day.
On Her Era on The WWE Women’s Division: We were given tons of opportunity and that’s why that era became so memorable. It’s something like when people bring up the Divas Era, some of them thought it was crap. I never would say it was crap because the performers in that era were so great. What they were missing, like you said, was opportunity. They were not given storylines back then. They had some great matches, but you don’t remember them because they didn’t have a chance to develop the characters and give the story to the audience. We were given so many chances from promos to different interactions with other characters. Storylines is the thing everybody loves about wrestling from when you were kids to now. To me it was exciting to see all the different outfits and hair colors like something out of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Even now during interviews, I get told that it’s not like it was during my time anymore. The only thing missing is character development and definition of characters. I would say the performance center is working on that and they are pumping out these seasoned performers. It’s not like back in the day when they would tell us to just try a move and see what happens. Here they work together, understand the psychology, they work on their promos, they get out in front of that crowd so this way it’s not their first rodeo. I think now they are getting a lot of opportunities and we are getting a great product from that.
On Her Feud With Lita: It allowed me and pushed me to elevate my game. Having to go to work knowing you are working directly with the Boss means you can’t suck basically. Working with him, I had the chance to learn a lot from him directly. The way he approached things, what worked and what didn’t work and knowing why that didn’t work so next time I can be better. That really helped me learn by leaps and bounds working side-by-side with him. Working with Stephanie was great because she was so high profile and her expectations honestly were low. We were able to blow people away because people didn’t expect much from us. If you go back and watch that match between us, it wasn’t great, but it was the storyline that brought us there. We watch wrestling because storylines bring us to the accumulation of a glorious match. To start off in that environment did a lot for me. I did make a really good bond with Vince and Stephanie. We actually just texted earlier and we are still all very close. It was a great experience to work with them like that.
On a One Off Comeback Match: The line I have always given people for the past ten years is, “Who would you guys like to see me fight?” For a while, people really didn’t know who they would want to see me fight and make it worth wile. Would it make sense for me to come back and fight Sasha? I will never close the door if there is something that will challenge me. It would have to be a challenge to me, it would have to elevate someone else on the show and it would need to be something exciting for the fans. What do they want to see? They always ask who I would go back to work for and one person is Nattie. She isn’t one of the top current girls, but I never got a chance to work with her and it would be kind of dream to be able to. If I could return and have some challenging and good matches, I would have no doubt in coming back. Just as long as I could keep up in the ring, I think I would be OK.
On Her Retirement: My retirement was one of the two top moments of my life. I remember walking into that arena that night and I still couldn’t believe that it was happening. It almost felt like a swerve because the whole situation seemed too good to be true. Everything was right from being in my hometown to the match itself was all perfect. Winning the title and making history was bittersweet because I won the world, but then I was going to be leaving it to go on to the next chapter of my life, but I will never forget it. I will always feel that in my mind that was one of my pivotal moments in my career. My match with Mickie James at WrestleMania 22 was my last WrestleMania before I retired. I felt like we got to that point where a women’s match wrestling wise could be better than a guy’s match. We didn’t want to be viewed as a women’s match, we wanted it viewed as just a wrestling match. The reviews came in the next day and they were very high on us. I remember it had about four to five months of storyline behind it which really got us there and that is rare nowadays for a women’s match. So much development of character and the storyline really made the match what it was. We then just left it up to the crowd and their reaction was awesome. It was fun for me to be a good baby face in the match and get booed because of a part of the storyline which I thought was really cool. Those were two moments that really stand out to me. My main event on Raw was obviously a highlight as well. Walking to the arena that day, we saw the board with all the matches listed and we thought it had to be a mistake to have us listed as the main event. When we finally realized it was us, it was such a great moment. They gave us that platform and told us to go do our thing and maximize our opportunity. Lita and I, and everyone that was helping us to get there, it really was a team effort. We really stepped up our game and made it successful.
100% DIRECT LINK (PHOTOS): Some **AMAZING** Trish Stratus BIKINI Pics!