Trish Stratus Talks Delivering First Heel Promo In 18 Years
The legendary Trish Stratus has opened up about how it felt to do a heel promo on WWE television for the first time in nearly two decades.
When Trish Stratus delivered a solo in-ring promo on the April 17th edition of WWE Monday Night Raw in Little Rock, Arkansas, it was something different for her. That’s because it was her first heel promo in 18 years.
In 2000, Trish debuted as a heel manager with the T&A tag team of Test & Albert. She became a babyface after WrestleMania 17 in 2001 when she turned on Vince McMahon. She was in that babyface role for about three years until the WrestleMania 20 heel turn siding with Christian against Chris Jericho. After an injury sidelined her in mid-2005, she came back as a babyface, had that memorable Mickie James storyline, and was a babyface until retiring as a full-timer at Unforgiven in September 2006. There have been a few comebacks since then with Trish always in babyface legend mode.
On the April 10th Raw, Trish Stratus replaced Lita as Becky Lynch’s tag team partner for their Women’s Tag Team Title match against Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan. Trish was pinned by Morgan in that match. After the match, Trish attacked Lynch with a forearm along with a Trish Kick to the head leading to Trish going to heel mode.
This week on Raw during her promo, Trish admitted that she was the one that mysteriously attacked her “best friend” Lita. Trish said that she is not a nostalgia act, she is not your childhood fantasy and she is not anybody’s sidekick. Trish said that she is the greatest of all time and she was there to make sure that none of you forget it.
During an interview with Busted Open Radio this week, Trish Stratus spoke about doing the heel promo on Raw.
“I had to get a point across so that’s what I did… I remember saying ‘God, I haven’t done a heel promo in 18 years. Like it’s been a long time, right? Was I apprehensive? I always am but that’s what’s exciting to me. I thrive on challenge, that’s part of why I’m even doing this.”
As far as being a heel goes, Trish Stratus explained that whenever she comes back to WWE, she always wants it to be intriguing for the fans and
“I’m constantly proving myself to myself, I think, and when I got the call to do WrestleMania, that is fun. It was fun to be in that capacity, to do it at that level, and at that stage on that stage, and then this is just an — I don’t know, I’m all about layers. I hadn’t dipped into this territory again, you know, for a long time. It was like, ‘Could I do this?'”
“When I did it, I loved it, this territory that we’re in now and so, to be able to go back in this capacity, it’s fun, and it’s a good story. I think it’s interesting. I always say, whatever went back, it was like, it has to check a few boxes. Is it interesting? Is it challenging for myself? Will the fans be intrigued by it? Will it tell something different than we’ve told before, a story that’s different than we’ve told before?”
Trish Stratus is also a celebrity judge on Canada’s Got Talent, which airs Tuesdays on CityTV. The early rounds of the show were taped months ago and are airing now. While doing CGT, Trish’s background in WWE really comes in handy for her.
“I speak to a theater of 5,000 people and one thing that’s interesting is when I do Canada’s Got Talent the producers always come to me and say, ‘God, you’re so good at getting the crowd.’”
In that same interview, Trish also revealed that she wrestled the tag team match at WrestleMania 39 with a partially torn hamstring.
On Twitter, Trish Stratus continues to have fun with her heel persona while reacting to a tweet of a teenage Roman Reigns having a Trish poster/standee in his room. As Trish noted, Roman Reigns clearly acknowledges her.
At least @WWERomanReigns acknowledges me https://t.co/oE000k1sjv
— Trish Stratus (@trishstratuscom) April 19, 2023