Trish Stratus Interview - Credit Cody Monk and the Dallas Morning News - Wrestling

During matches, Trish Stratus tries her best to be noticed. She yells. She complains. She uses outside objects - anything to help the T&A team. In reality, Stratus is not hard to miss, even when she's not causing a stir.

She's walk-into-a-pole gorgeous and she's proud of it. The 24-year old from Toronto is a former fitness model with a bubbly personality that is in sharp contrast to the back-stabbing, underhanded character she plays on television. Recently, Stratus, all 5-4 of her (and that's in platform tennis shoes), sat down with The Shakedown.

Q: A lot has happened in a short time for you. What kind of ride has the last few months been like?
A: You're right. It has been a ride. It's been kind of blur. It seems like we started T&A just a couple of days ago. And now here we are. The fans have responded great. I couldn't have asked for anything better. It's been amazing. I love working with Test (Andrew Martin) and Albert (Matt Bloom). Being from Toronto, I had run into Andrew before. It's nice to work with someone you know and someone with a similar background. He's a hockey fan like me and he has really helped ease my transition.

Q: When you came in, you immediately started getting involved physically. Is that something you knew would happen?
A: When I signed and came in, I was told T&A was being formed and that because all of us had athletic backgrounds, we would have a real physical style. And that included me.

Q: The things that have happened to you include being put through a table, getting whipped by Lita, etc. How much does the risk factor concern you considering your diminutive stature?
A: I think I'm in pretty good hands with whatever spot I do. There is always risk involved. You know that before you get involved. At least you better know that before you get involved. I like doing the physical stuff because of my athletic background. I didn't want to come in and just be a face walking around. I think you're seeing a new kind of woman in the WWF. With Lita and some of the other girls, you see all of us getting involved, doing physical stuff and doing it with a variety of people. That mixes it up for the fans. When you get a girl who is a villain and can take bumps, fans love that. Fans loved it when I went through the table at Backlash (in April) and they like it when I get into it with Lita or whomever. And, because we can get involved physically, it leads to other things we can do in the ring and in the storylines. We can do tag matches. We can do specialty matches. It gives you so many more options.

Q: You came to the WWF after doing fitness modeling. That would seem like quite a switch.
A: Actually, it wasn't. You should have seen all the fights we had on the sets! From a lifestyle standpoint, it hasn't been that much of a switch. I still travel a lot, which I enjoy, and I work with a variety of people. In wrestling, I've worked with a lot more genuine people. Vince has been great. Everybody I have worked with or come across has been really nice to me.

Q: So how did Trish Stratus come about?
A: I had a contract doing modeling for Muscle Magazine International. I was happy doing that and was doing pretty good. I also hosted a wrestling radio show in Toronto. I started forming a little following there in Toronto and on the Internet. I was backstage at a show in Toronto one night and I began talking with one of the road agents. He asked me if I ever thought about getting into wrestling. I told him I thought I might like to. One thing led to another and JR (Jim Ross) offered me a contract.

Q: Substantial time passed between when you signed your contract and when you actually debuted. What was going on there?
A: I had a lot of problems getting over here. My visa situation was terrible. Maybe they just don't like Canadians. Do you know how much paperwork is involved in filling out stuff for a visa? Oh, what a pain. I underestimated how long it was going to take.

Q: Now, why wouldn't the United States want someone like you working over here?
A: That's what I wanted to know. You'll have to ask the United States Immigration Service that question. I wondered that for about three months

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Page Updated Fri Sep 8, 2000 11:34pm EDT