WWE Hall-of-Famer Trish Stratus appeared on Northumberland 89.7 in Cobourg, Ontario to chat about her connection to the area, returning as a judge for the second season of Canada’s Got Talent which premieres Tuesday, March 21 at 8 p.m. on CityTV and, of course, wrestling.
Below are some of her wrestling-related comments, including gearing up for her Wrestlemania 39 match the weekend of April 1-2 where she’ll team up with women’s tag team champions Becky Lynch and Lita against Damage CTRL’s Bayley, Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky.
On returning to wrestling after previous retirement matches: “Man, it’s kind of crazy. It’s been 23 years since I debuted and it’s insane to me that I’m still doing it, that I’m going to be at this year’s Wrestlemania. It’s special…the draw of the match to me, having this generational faceoff where we have like the past, present and the future – you have Lita and I from the past, you have Becky and Bayley from the present and then you have Dakota and Iyo, the future of the business, you know, younger and up-and-coming talent.
It’s an interesting dynamic, it’s fun for the fans to see that, like dream match, fantasy booking, it kind of checks all the boxes. To come back with my bestie, Lita, to create a Wrestlemania moment together, have that together to do this again, to come back with each other when we ran our careers parallel from the very beginning. We’ve been in each other’s lives for the past 20-plus years to the point where she’s part of my family. She’s my son’s Godmother. It’s really nice to go back and be able to do this with her and have these moments – we’re travelling together and things like that.
To go back in this capacity and knowing the influence I guess you could say that we’ve had, like hearing a Bayley say ‘I watched you guys in the main event and that oh my god that’s something I want to do.’ To hear those stories and to be able to be in the ring with them, kind of like a passing of the torch moment, it’s very cool. It’s a unique experience and I’ve always said that since I retired, I would go back for something that checked all those boxes…and this Wrestlemania match definitely does that.”
On hosting live events in Kingston and London, Ontario last August and interacting with Damage CTRL: “Isn’t it crazy, looking back at these little planting of the seeds, not that it was on purpose. They asked me to host the live events that were in our home surroundings and I’m like of course – an opportunity to come back to WWE but also to be within driving distance, so that was very cool. I remember mixing it up with Bayley and thinking that was fun and the fans loved it, the fans really dug it and I don’t know if that’s eventually what WWE was like ‘hmm, that was good, maybe they like that chemistry,’ who knows. And we were on RAW that following Monday. You never know what seeds you can plant along the way and what beautiful flower can be blossomed from it.”
On the WWE Rivals episode featuring Trish and Lita airing on A&E on Sunday, March 19 at 10 p.m: “It’s really neat to have this episode playing right before Wrestlemania. The new fans, they get it…we’re Team Bestie. People get Trish and Lita – they’re from the past, they’re hall-of-famers – but if you watch this episode you will see the journey that we did to really overcome barriers and smash glass ceilings. We did all that together and we really just really changed the perception of what a female can do in the ring. We did that together and to see that in that document is very special and I think people are going to appreciate the fact that what we did during those years laid the groundwork for what they’re seeing today in the women so it’s going to make that (Wrestlemania 39) match even more special knowing that there’s that connection of what we did, you know to hear Bayley say ‘I grew up watching you guys and you inspired me to do what I do today’ and then have us facing off is pretty special so yeah that episode I’m very proud of it and I think it’s pretty inspiring.”
You can listen to Jeff’s Sports Spotlight podcast here.
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