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Why Trish Stratus Ditched Shorts In WWE

Trish Stratus WWE Face

Trish Stratus explained why she went from wearing shorts in WWE matches to wearing pants.

The WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus started her career in early 2000 as a former fitness model who managed the team of T&A – Test & Albert. In that first year, Stratus only wrestled a few times because she was still learning.

Eventually, she became a talented in-ring performer who went on to win the WWE Women’s Title 7 times, and is considered one of the greatest female superstars in company history.

While there were some early matches in her WWE career where she wore shorts, Trish Stratus wrestled in pants for most of her career because she wanted to be taken seriously as a wrestler. That’s what she told Stephanie McMahon on her “What’s Your Story?” podcast.

“Somebody made a comment like, ‘Well, she’s a lot more covered up than she used to be back in the day.’ But if you look at my gear, I was always, I went through this thing where I want people to look at my wrestling, not my ass. You know, so I was on purpose was like dressing where I wear the pants in most of my matches. I think I wore shorts three times in my whole thing.”

Stephanie interjected to mention they once had a Strap Match, and they would talk about it more later. Trish continued talking about her in-ring outfits.

“So my outfits were like good pants and tops, but my retirement match at Unforgiven (2006)…the pants were just falling off. I had plumber’s crack the entire time. My ass is showing right now… but that’s a live show for you.

You just have to leave it… You can’t take the audience out of the moment. If my hip was really hurting that much, I would not care that my ass was hanging out. You’re welcome.

[…] Wrestling is hard, guys, okay? But as a woman, we have a lot more to think about. We got things popping out. We got stuff.”

Trish Stratus Was Always “Tastefully Sexy,” According To Stephanie McMahon

For the past 25 years, WWE fans have seen Trish Stratus evolve into the 50-year-old married mother of two she is now, still putting out calendars and attending Comic Con events to meet her fans. Stratus also wrestled three times in 2025, so she could be doing more matches in the future, too.

During the discussion between the WWE Hall of Famers, Stephanie McMahon praised Trish Stratus for being sexy, but doing it in a tasteful way.

“And you have always been—just to say this—like, so sexy, but never like too much. You know what I mean? Like always, so… if there’s such a thing. Tastefully sexy. Yeah, but like super sexy.”

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