Here are highlights from former WWE Diva and Hall of Famer Trish Stratus’ extensive interview with The Miami Herald:
Her rivalry with Lita: “We started a few weeks apart from each other. The focus was on us and our tag teams. I was with T&A (Test and Albert), and she was with the Hardys. We had a similar focus that was put on us as performers. Then of course we had that long-term rivalry. In order to have success, you need to trust each other and work with each other. There is this relationship that is necessary. The matches we had made us closer. We were just excited all the time when we had a program together and making that the best program. The lead-up to a pay-per-view match we wanted to give the fans what they wanted.”
Her retirement match with Lita: “I think it really became more special during the end of my career when I had the retirement match with her. To me, it meant a lot. Did I hand pick her as my opponent? Yes, I did. I proposed that idea to Vince [McMahon], and he loved it. I thought, ‘Great, I can’t think of a better way to go out than with my best friend, a fellow co-worker who I had this rivalry with my entire career.’”
The NXT Women: “People are really talking about them. They are the next generation that will be something to talk about. We talk about the golden era that was my time. They may have the platinum era from what I have seen. They are doing amazing.”
Thoughts on Total Divas: “You tell someone who doesn’t watch wrestling what your day-to-day life was in wrestling they are like, what,” Stratus said. “I think to showcase it is pretty cool. ‘Total Divas’ used to be like check out these girl wrestlers and then also see their lives. Now it’s see their lives about girls who happen to be wrestlers. I think it has slowly turned into a reality show, not much of a wrestling show. It’s sort of the backdrop, which is fine. I still love the show. I think it would have been fun to do. Though a couple of months there was a lot of cat fights on the show where I was like, ‘Jeez, this would never work for our generation. We were really close. It would be boring TV to see.’ TV has an interesting way of making things happen. So I think it would be an interesting show for us back in the day for sure.”