Speaker 1: So my family has had to make so many adjustments
Speaker 1: to our daily life since I have started season thirty
Speaker 1: four of Dancing with the Stars. I'm just not able
Speaker 1: to be there as often as I used to be.
Speaker 1: You know. I used to regularly pick both of them
Speaker 1: up from school, take them to karate, take them to baseball.
Speaker 1: On the weekends. I was always at their baseball games,
Speaker 1: and we could have playdates, and we would, you know,
Speaker 1: do movie nights. And now I just haven't really been
Speaker 1: able to be too present. I am if I'm not
Speaker 1: at rehearsal, I'm doing an interview for Dancing with the Stars,
Speaker 1: like our master interviews or our ot or I had
Speaker 1: high press, I'm doing one of the many podcasts that
Speaker 1: we do, and I you know, or I'm seeing the
Speaker 1: PT you know, or I'm in a wardrobe fitting, or
Speaker 1: I'm at a hair and makeup fitting, or we're in
Speaker 1: camera blocking, like there's always something to do. And my
Speaker 1: dad called maybe about two weeks ago, and he said,
Speaker 1: what I really want to know is how are the
Speaker 1: kids handling it? Because this is such a total change
Speaker 1: for them. And at the time, the very honest truth
Speaker 1: was they were thriving, like Jensen was doing.
Speaker 2: Great, Moody's get along fine.
Speaker 1: I mean, everyone was stoked, and like, I felt really
Speaker 1: good being able to be like, wow, it's such a
Speaker 1: relief to not have all of this, you know, day
Speaker 1: to day constant house pressure, like taking care of the
Speaker 1: house pressure, taking care of the kid's pressure. And I've
Speaker 1: really what a selfish but like selfish in a great
Speaker 1: way thing I've been able to do to just really like,
Speaker 1: what a gift. I've been able to focus on this
Speaker 1: and it's been just about me, and it's felt really good,
Speaker 1: and like everyone was doing really great. Jensen was loving it,
Speaker 1: even though it's been you know, we're all exhausted, but
Speaker 1: everyone seemed fine. And I'd come home from work and
Speaker 1: the kids would say, how is your dance and do
Speaker 1: you have a video? Let me see it, and they'd
Speaker 1: want me to walk them through what the dance was
Speaker 1: about or whatever. And then a couple of days pass
Speaker 1: after I have this conversation with my dad and we
Speaker 1: get a call from Adler's school and it's his teacher
Speaker 1: and she says, so, we had a little bit of
Speaker 1: an issue today with Adler, and I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: to you about it. And we're like Okay, what happened?
Speaker 1: And she said, well, he's been having a little bit
Speaker 1: of trouble self starting on some of his work.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the club, and she.
Speaker 1: Said, And so I started asking him, like what was
Speaker 1: going on? And he told us that he is feeling
Speaker 1: very stressed because his dad input it a lot of
Speaker 1: information on the computer wrong and then got fired. And
Speaker 1: he his dad is very nervous that he's never going
Speaker 1: to get another job. And none, none of this is true, a.
Speaker 3: Single a computer programming job we're unaware of.
Speaker 1: No, none of that's true. And the teacher was like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: that does sound stressful, and he said, yeah, my dad's
Speaker 1: very upset about it and he's very nervous. And then
Speaker 1: he said and also my mom died, and the teacher
Speaker 1: said I'm sorry, and he was like, yes, my mom.
Speaker 1: My mom is dead.
Speaker 2: And I just saw her last week.
Speaker 1: And the teacher was like, well, why don't you tell
Speaker 1: me more about that, because didn't want to shut him down,
Speaker 1: didn't want to be like oh she didn't, just like,
Speaker 1: why don't you tell me more about that? And he
Speaker 1: kept going, but then at some point just said, well,
Speaker 1: maybe that's not true, and then moved on and like wow,
Speaker 1: and she said, so, I just wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: you guys about it. So I get out of rehearsal
Speaker 1: that day at like two pm and was supposed to
Speaker 1: see the PT and was like, not going to go
Speaker 1: see the PT. I'm just going to go pick up
Speaker 1: Adler from school. And so I get to your school, right.
Speaker 1: So I get to the school and he sees me
Speaker 1: on campus and he comes running to me. He goes, Mom,
Speaker 1: what are you doing here? This is a Friday night,
Speaker 1: and what are you doing here? And I go, I
Speaker 1: got out of rehearsal and I just I missed you.
Speaker 1: I wanted to pick you up and so, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's go. And he goes, great, what are we doing tonight?
Speaker 1: And I said, you've got movie night with your friends?
Speaker 1: Remember you've you know, you were seeing you wanted to
Speaker 1: get together with these people and you're doing a movie night.
Speaker 1: And he goes, oh, yeah, I remember that, but that's okay.
Speaker 1: You know what, I just want to hang out with
Speaker 1: you tonight. I said, well, actually, while you are at
Speaker 1: movie and I I have to go back to rehearsal.
Speaker 1: And he bursts into tears and says, I hate this job.
Speaker 1: Why did you take this job? All you do is dance, dance, dance, dance,
Speaker 1: that's all you do. You never get to hang out
Speaker 1: with me and Keaton anymore. I want you to quit.
Speaker 1: Are you going to quit or not?
Speaker 3: God?
Speaker 1: And I said, I was like, oh, it seems like
Speaker 1: maybe you've been feeling this way for a while and
Speaker 1: maybe you just haven't been telling anybody. Yes, I have
Speaker 1: been feeling this way for a long time. And you
Speaker 1: even got hurt. Your leg was purple, and you and
Speaker 1: then all this just apparently everything just came out. And
Speaker 1: I like reached my hand into the back because you know,
Speaker 1: he's sitting behind me in his car seat, and I
Speaker 1: reached my hand into the back and he kicked my
Speaker 1: hand away, and I was like, okay, I like pulled
Speaker 1: my hand for it, and I said, I I can
Speaker 1: tell that this is really hurting you. And I said,
Speaker 1: and I'm sorry because I have obviously not done a
Speaker 1: good enough job of being able to connect with you
Speaker 1: when I have been able to see you. And I
Speaker 1: know that I haven't seen you as much as I
Speaker 1: was able to be with you before. But my love
Speaker 1: for you doesn't change when we're apart. And he was like,
Speaker 1: I just need to know if you're going to quit.
Speaker 1: And I said, Mommy is not going to quit her job.
Speaker 1: And he said, why why won't you quit your job?
Speaker 1: And I said, well, a couple of reasons. One mommy
Speaker 1: really loves her job, and two because this job is
Speaker 1: not forever, and i made a commitment to the job,
Speaker 1: so I'm not going to quit. And he was like,
Speaker 1: but you even got hurt, and I said, and you
Speaker 1: got hit with a baseball and baseball, but you still
Speaker 1: play baseball. And when you're in karate, you have heard
Speaker 1: you've rolled your angle in karate, and you still continue
Speaker 1: with karate. I said, I'm okay, and I'm and I'm
Speaker 1: going to continue the job. I said, but no matter what,
Speaker 1: this job is over by Thanksgiving and we've got you know,
Speaker 1: then things will go back to normal. And I said,
Speaker 1: and in the meantime, you and I will find special
Speaker 1: ways to connect when I am able to be with you.
Speaker 1: But for the next few weeks, it's still going to
Speaker 1: be really hard. And it's totally understandable that you're angry,
Speaker 1: and and I love you very much and I'm thankful,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for telling me, and you can
Speaker 1: always tell me when you're upset. And I said, and
Speaker 1: so do you think maybe that this is the reason
Speaker 1: why you told your teacher that daddy got fired and
Speaker 1: mommy died. And he was like yes, and I said okay.
Speaker 1: And then we get home and he walks in and
Speaker 1: as he walks in, he goes, one last chance, are
Speaker 1: you going to quit?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 1: And I said, mommy is not going to quit her job.
Speaker 1: And he walked in, slammed the door, went into the
Speaker 1: other room. Keaton's there, and so Keaton's like, mommy, and
Speaker 1: I grab Keaton. I talked to Keaton a couple of
Speaker 1: minutes past and the nather goes, mom I said, yeah,
Speaker 1: He's like, come in here, I need you. I said okay.
Speaker 1: So I go around the corner and he goes, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: I said, all of that's tough, all man.
Speaker 1: And I gave him a hug. And anyway, we're still
Speaker 1: we're still working through it.
Speaker 3: Yeah. A couple questions.
Speaker 4: One when he kicked your hand away, did he pull
Speaker 4: the kick back in a good snap.
Speaker 1: Give kick onration?
Speaker 4: I was wondering if the other call was going to be,
Speaker 4: you know, your school calls and they're like, we've had
Speaker 4: a problem with Adler. He got in a fight with
Speaker 4: another boy and he did an Argentine tango on his face.
Speaker 3: Oh man, well yeah, I mean again, you're you're busy
Speaker 3: rider and I have been wanting you to quit this job.
Speaker 3: And we had that whole crying thing with you too. Yeah.
Speaker 2: We announced on our other podcast that Danielle had died, right, yeah, Jason.
Speaker 3: Computer job. That's how moral people act out.
Speaker 1: That's what we do.
Speaker 3: We don't express that we miss you. We just make
Speaker 3: up lies for further attention him. And I'm Wilfredell and
Speaker 3: our partner just flew to the moon.
Speaker 5: So here it is.
Speaker 4: Your schedule is ridiculous, though, I mean it is. It
Speaker 4: is really ridiculous. And I know it's a finite schedule,
Speaker 4: but I mean, damn it's This has become basically a
Speaker 4: twenty four to seven job for you.
Speaker 1: Yes, literally. Well that's the other thing I forgot all
Speaker 1: about factoring in social media posts. We have to like
Speaker 1: twice a week, meet with meat, meet and spend an
Speaker 1: hour each time just coming up with posts.
Speaker 3: That's what makes jealous, that's what makes to get there.
Speaker 1: The party loves he's got up here.
Speaker 3: They just can't get out all up here.
Speaker 1: My next favorite thing that happened was yesterday. Adler. For
Speaker 1: the last couple of days, like right after the live show,
Speaker 1: Adler wants to watch Dancing with the Stars every morning.
Speaker 1: He wants to like rewatch all the performances. So we
Speaker 1: were watching it a couple of times in this last week.
Speaker 1: When Elaine was in the ambulance, Adler looked at me
Speaker 1: and he said, I want you to have to go
Speaker 1: in an ambulance so that you can come home.
Speaker 3: Please. Well, you basically would have gotten the same scores.
Speaker 1: So anyway, my kids want me injured.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 2: Well, the good news is if the if the worst
Speaker 2: happens and you get kicked off Dance with the Stars,
Speaker 2: they're going to be so happy.
Speaker 3: Homecoming when that.
Speaker 1: Happens, exactly like I know it is. It is very sweet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, just hang the mirror ball in their room.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna have to buy two mirror balls.
Speaker 3: So you actually have to keep a mirror ball if
Speaker 3: you win.
Speaker 1: Like that's oh yeah, I'm sure it is.
Speaker 3: It like a big disc, it's a trophy.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's got a big round bass and then
Speaker 1: it's got you know, like a stand and then a
Speaker 1: ball that sits on top of it, and it says
Speaker 1: dancing with the stars across it. It's like the logo
Speaker 1: all rhyin stoned out.
Speaker 3: Wow?
Speaker 4: Is it more opulent than when I was the UH
Speaker 4: in the parade and Christmas in Louisville, Kentucky in nineteen
Speaker 4: ninety three?
Speaker 3: I got this little plaque?
Speaker 4: Is it?
Speaker 3: Yours? Is probably better?
Speaker 2: It's not nearly as Film Award though, Wollhard our paper.
Speaker 2: Look at that it has a golden seal on it.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, Oh that's just your nomination though.
Speaker 3: This is just what I was nominated. It's an honor
Speaker 3: just to be nominated. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Really, that is.
Speaker 4: What I really want to do, is direct kids.
Speaker 1: Welcome to bond Reads World. I'm Danielle Fischl, right or Strong.
Speaker 3: And I'm Will Ferdell.
Speaker 1: To be considered a goat in your chosen profession is
Speaker 1: as much of a burden as it is a blessing,
Speaker 1: whether you're Michael Jordan in basketball, tiger Woods and golf
Speaker 1: me in ballroom dancing. Heavy is the head that wears
Speaker 1: the crown, And somehow this week's guest is not only
Speaker 1: a goat in her field, she continues to set the
Speaker 1: standard twenty five years later. She's a WWE Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer who holds the record for longest reign of any
Speaker 1: women's World champion in the twenty first century at four
Speaker 1: hundred forty eight days. Widely regarded as the greatest female
Speaker 1: wrestler of all time, she's a record seven time Women's
Speaker 1: champion who has returned to the WWE now mixing it
Speaker 1: up with the wrestlers she inspired, celebrating her twenty fifth
Speaker 1: year in the industry. She is an absolute icon who
Speaker 1: brings fans not only a sense of nostalgia, but an
Speaker 1: example of strength and perseverance that goes well beyond championship
Speaker 1: titles and pile drivers. And she's been on enough magazine
Speaker 1: covers to personally offend trees. Welcome to pod meets World.
Speaker 1: The quintessential WWE diva, Canada's greatest export, the Queen of
Speaker 1: Queen's and the best diva ever. It's Trish Stratus. Yeah, Hey, hi, Trish,
Speaker 1: how are you? This is awesome? Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for doing this.
Speaker 5: Of course I was like, I know this is gonna
Speaker 5: happ one of these.
Speaker 1: Days, right absolutely. I just as my first question to you,
Speaker 1: I just want to know, have you also been told
Speaker 1: somewhere around thirty thousand times that we look alike. It's
Speaker 1: a massive honor every time it happens. But I want
Speaker 1: to know if it happens to you too, I feel.
Speaker 5: Exactly the same way. I think maybe thirty three thousand
Speaker 5: times thirty three I remember.
Speaker 3: I don't see, I don't I was gonna say, glasses,
Speaker 3: I don't even know who she is. Clark Clark, that
Speaker 3: was John. I got the reference, I got the yes, will.
Speaker 1: I have been a fan for a very long time,
Speaker 1: but it was not until this very podcast during my research,
Speaker 1: did I realize that you went to the university in
Speaker 1: Toronto to become a doctor?
Speaker 5: Correct?
Speaker 1: Yes, Oh my gosh, what specific field were you interested in?
Speaker 5: So? I was always wanted to be a pediatrician. I
Speaker 5: studied by so first I was biology and chemistry double major,
Speaker 5: and then I like always was, you know, sports, grew
Speaker 5: up playing just total tomboy, and so then I kind
Speaker 5: of merged into some of my passion, which was kinesiology.
Speaker 5: So I was biologic kinesiology, and the idea was to
Speaker 5: become a doctor. I wanted to be a pediatrician, and
Speaker 5: that I mean, I really look back when I did.
Speaker 5: I did a documentary for Andy, and you know that's
Speaker 5: when you pull out all these everything when you're like, oh,
Speaker 5: I actually have stuff when I was a kid, so
Speaker 5: I like journals and I was like little pictures of
Speaker 5: me being like, I want to be a doctor since
Speaker 5: I was as like, you know, tiny as I could remember,
Speaker 5: so it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Wow, how did you then make a detour because you
Speaker 1: started modeling? So how did you make the detour from
Speaker 1: school and being becoming a doctor and and then incorporating
Speaker 1: modeling into that.
Speaker 5: So my university went on strike, so I was like,
Speaker 5: I'm like hyper focused everything I was doing from the time,
Speaker 5: even before you know, in high school. I was like
Speaker 5: I started volunteering at the hospital. I was prepping to
Speaker 5: become a doctor from a very young age. And then
Speaker 5: my university. I was three years in and my university
Speaker 5: went on strike. So the professors striked and everyone, like
Speaker 5: the kids just went and we literally just waited for
Speaker 5: school to come back in session. So a lot of
Speaker 5: the art students went back and just did their exams
Speaker 5: and things like that, but a lot of the science
Speaker 5: students had to go back and do you know, like
Speaker 5: the hands on practicums and stuff. So so during that time,
Speaker 5: though I got discovered, I was working at a gym.
Speaker 5: Just my thought was just to go work at a
Speaker 5: gym so that I could train for free and you know,
Speaker 5: keep ready for my sports because I was playing field
Speaker 5: hockey for university and I was playing soccer for my
Speaker 5: town and and so I was waiting for them to
Speaker 5: come back in session. And so fitness modeling everyone kind
Speaker 5: of knows it now, but back in yeah, it was
Speaker 5: not really a thing. It was sort of like there
Speaker 5: was women bodybuilding and not really fitness models. Nothing really
Speaker 5: like attainable or like achievable or healthy necessarily as well.
Speaker 5: And so one of the publishers of the bodybuilding magazine
Speaker 5: saw this sort of missing niche and he started Oxygen magazine.
Speaker 5: You guys might have known it, might know it, but
Speaker 5: Oxygen magazine. And so he was like, Okay, I'm going
Speaker 5: to start this thing. I think it's a niche. And
Speaker 5: he went out and like handpicked a bunch of women
Speaker 5: to basically be his his supermodels of you know, of
Speaker 5: the fitness modeling world, to launch this world of fitness modeling.
Speaker 5: So he basically slept us on the cover of magazines
Speaker 5: and said this is Tristratus. She's the newest and hottest
Speaker 5: fitness model. And I was somewhat and there he was,
Speaker 5: and I suddenly had a career, and then school came
Speaker 5: back in session and I was like on the cover
Speaker 5: of magazines. I was starting to do autograph signings at stores,
Speaker 5: like you know, it was just it was became this
Speaker 5: little uh, I had a career suddenly, So going back
Speaker 5: and like balancing the two, going back to full time
Speaker 5: school and like you know, I was doing and you know,
Speaker 5: the bodybuilding thing where you're carrying the lunch in the
Speaker 5: you know, rotine and chicken and broccoli three to six
Speaker 5: times a day, so you would be carrying that to class,
Speaker 5: and it just didn't work out. So I just at
Speaker 5: twenty two years old, I was like, I'm gonna I
Speaker 5: think I'm going to take advantage of this little opportunity
Speaker 5: have and then focused on fitness modeling. It did that
Speaker 5: for a couple of years and banged out half a
Speaker 5: dozen covers and then ended up from wrestling.
Speaker 1: Wow, how did that phone call from WWE come about?
Speaker 1: Because now there are tryouts and there are performance centers,
Speaker 1: but back then they had to contact you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Oh it was. It was such a different world.
Speaker 5: I mean it now it's I mean, as you know,
Speaker 5: it's a whole thing. It's they they're grooming their talent
Speaker 5: to become in the big leagues, right, so it's like
Speaker 5: the minor leagues. And back in the day it was
Speaker 5: like traditionally most people were sort of in the independent scene,
Speaker 5: wrestling and doing their things, and then they would get
Speaker 5: discovered or someone would see them or they you know,
Speaker 5: Internet would make them popular and then people they'd seek
Speaker 5: them out. Mine was a little different. I was on
Speaker 5: television show with one of my magazine covers to promote it,
Speaker 5: and so I don't know if you can, so in
Speaker 5: Canada we had this thing I'm in Canada. A yeah,
Speaker 5: in Canada we had this thing called slam Jams. Do
Speaker 5: you remember that? Did anybody? Okay, So Michael Days, he
Speaker 5: was basically to the Canadian audience, was like, Hey, Canada,
Speaker 5: we're coming to and it was like just for the
Speaker 5: Canadian broadcast, a little like little vignettes for them, right.
Speaker 5: And so they were filming it in the studio next
Speaker 5: to where I had filmed my interview for my for
Speaker 5: my magazine, and they're like they knew I loved wrestling.
Speaker 5: They're like, oh, they're doing And I mean when I
Speaker 5: say I love wrestling, like they used to come to me,
Speaker 5: used to come to at the time, used to come
Speaker 5: pay with gardens. I used to go when I was
Speaker 5: a kid. I grew up watching it. I was that
Speaker 5: that was my thing. And so they're like, we know
Speaker 5: you love wrestling. They're actually filming slam jams next door.
Speaker 5: If you want to go sit in the audience. It
Speaker 5: was like, oh my god. So I go in there
Speaker 5: and Michael Hayes, who's well known from back in the day.
Speaker 5: He he actually spotted me and said, oh, you're your
Speaker 5: true stretus from the Fitness Muscle mags. And I was like, oh, yes,
Speaker 5: I am cool. And he says, why did you send
Speaker 5: your stuff to us? And I was like like, there
Speaker 5: was no you know, this is like nice ninety No,
Speaker 5: this is nineteen nine nine. There's like not really a
Speaker 5: flourishing women's anything, right except for the women who walk
Speaker 5: the men to the ring. And so I was like,
Speaker 5: so what do I do there? I never thought that
Speaker 5: would be something I could do. I never saw wrestle,
Speaker 5: I never watched wrestling. Assaut like, oh, I can do
Speaker 5: that like they do now, right, and so I just said, okay, sure, yeah,
Speaker 5: I'll do that. So I prepared a press kit. I
Speaker 5: sent it to them and I didn't hear back initially.
Speaker 5: And when I didn't hear back for a couple months,
Speaker 5: I was like, well, let me prepare the best possible
Speaker 5: package AKA me and I went and found where Edge
Speaker 5: from Toronto as well, and I went found out where
Speaker 5: he trained and I knocked on the door and said, hi,
Speaker 5: I'd like to train, and they're like, oh, isn't she cute?
Speaker 5: What do you want to do, honey like? And I said, no, no,
Speaker 5: I want to be like I want to be treated
Speaker 5: like the boys. So I was thrown into this wrestling
Speaker 5: gym basically with all boys, and I wanted to be
Speaker 5: treated like the boys. And I learned to wrestle, and
Speaker 5: then they called a couple of months later, Jim Ross
Speaker 5: called me up to Connecticut and then I went and
Speaker 5: met with him, and then I went okay, I went
Speaker 5: home to Toronto. A couple of weeks later, I had
Speaker 5: a contract offer. So it was sht off. Oh that's
Speaker 5: my compre just meets opportunity, you know, Because there was
Speaker 5: a moment in the meeting where he was like all right,
Speaker 5: and it's like because it's like there wasn't women much, right,
Speaker 5: So he was like, I'm just like, you know, it's
Speaker 5: a very physical job. It's you know, you can get bumped.
Speaker 5: And it wasn't He wasn't even saying me wrestling. He
Speaker 5: was just saying, as the valet on the side, you
Speaker 5: might get bumped down and someone might throw a shoe
Speaker 5: at you, like something like that.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 5: So I was like, yeah, well I've been training for
Speaker 5: a few months now, and so I had that, and
Speaker 5: I really feel like he was like okay, you know,
Speaker 5: and kind of just took a note of that, and
Speaker 5: I feel like that made a big difference in the interview.
Speaker 3: Wow, were you already a fan of wrestling?
Speaker 5: Like, oh, yeah, grew up watching it. Yeah, Mayple Leaf
Speaker 5: Gardens was like a hotbed for wrestling. You know, a
Speaker 5: lot of their they came there quite often, and I
Speaker 5: saw them quite a bit. And uh yeah, I mean
Speaker 5: I had boy cousins. I tried my best to be
Speaker 5: hang with the boys even from a young age. And
Speaker 5: so yeah, I was a big fan of wrestling and
Speaker 5: so grew up watching it, and so again like but
Speaker 5: never saw myself in it. You know, everyone says, oh,
Speaker 5: did you grew up saying, you know when I grew
Speaker 5: up on O'll be arest. But the girls do that
Speaker 5: now thanks to what we've done. But back then, there
Speaker 5: was nothing really to watch to go okay, I want
Speaker 5: to do that.
Speaker 4: You know, at the time, was your family like okay, wait,
Speaker 4: hang on, You're going to give up being a doctor
Speaker 4: to be a professional wrestler and you're like yep, And
Speaker 4: were they I mean, were they supportive or look?
Speaker 5: Ultimately they so luckily the transition wasn't like overnight. It
Speaker 5: was like there was that holt in school where they
Speaker 5: saw me, you know, start training. Then I was like,
Speaker 5: oh my god, I got this opportunity to be on
Speaker 5: a cover, and then I was They saw me like hardcore,
Speaker 5: doing the training, the eating. It's a whole discipline, right
Speaker 5: that you have to endure in order to have that
Speaker 5: physique and then to do that that discipline. So they
Speaker 5: saw that. Then they saw the result of my hard
Speaker 5: work being on covers, getting suddenly being booked, making money
Speaker 5: suddenly with a job of a career. And so when
Speaker 5: I kind of transitioned, it was a little bit of
Speaker 5: a I'm going to give this a whirl. And they
Speaker 5: were like, I mean, look, they were just they I
Speaker 5: was a sports kid, I was a performance kid. So
Speaker 5: when I could join my two worlds and do this
Speaker 5: amazing thing, They're like, yeah, I mean, give it a shot.
Speaker 5: I was twenty two years old at the time, like
Speaker 5: twenty three, actually, you know, let's give it a roll.
Speaker 5: So yeah, they're okay, what is.
Speaker 1: The learning curve of going from I don't know anything
Speaker 1: about wrestling to being very proficient in the ring. How
Speaker 1: how quickly did you feel you accomplish that.
Speaker 5: I was pretty crappy in the ring for a little while.
Speaker 5: Why even in front of thousands of people, Like it
Speaker 5: was like okay, yeah, no, I definitely had you know,
Speaker 5: in the business, we call you being green. I definitely
Speaker 5: had my green phase. But I'll tell you I think
Speaker 5: it's really that was what allowed the audience to have
Speaker 5: that special connection with me where they're like, oh, here's
Speaker 5: this chick who's like some fitness chick and she's in
Speaker 5: the restling world. But hey, I saw her like kind
Speaker 5: of do a move that's cool, and they saw me
Speaker 5: try and try. I said to myself, each week I
Speaker 5: go out, I just have to like improve. I have
Speaker 5: to do better than I did last week. And so
Speaker 5: they literally came on this journey where they saw me
Speaker 5: fall down, you know, stand up again, desk myself off,
Speaker 5: and like go at it again. And they saw me
Speaker 5: do really crappy matches and pretty awful moves at times,
Speaker 5: but they said, but they saw the improvement. They watched it.
Speaker 5: It was like a true underdog story. Like they literally
Speaker 5: watched me go from here to there and they were
Speaker 5: along for the journey. So when I eventually won the
Speaker 5: Women's Championship, which I was the greenest wrestler in that match.
Speaker 5: When I first and that Woman's Championship match the first time,
Speaker 5: I want it and people were like, oh, I did
Speaker 5: not expect that. Like it was like you can hear
Speaker 5: there's a palpable crowd reaction, like, oh I did not
Speaker 5: expect that, you know, not that one to it. But
Speaker 5: they were happy for me, you know, and then they
Speaker 5: got to see me grow into the role. So yeah,
Speaker 5: there was definitely a learning curve and it was tough
Speaker 5: for sure, because you know, not everyone was supportive and everything,
Speaker 5: but but I do my connection with the audience was
Speaker 5: definitely because of that really organic rise that I got
Speaker 5: to do.
Speaker 3: I'm so curious.
Speaker 4: But I mean, as somebody who grew up doing sports,
Speaker 4: you obviously know that there's a very big difference between
Speaker 4: being hurt and being injured. And it seems to me
Speaker 4: that every time I watch a wrestling match, I understand
Speaker 4: injuries can be rare, but I'm like, how do you
Speaker 4: not get hurt every single match?
Speaker 3: Do you get hurt every match? Essentially?
Speaker 5: You know, It's like, I know, it sounds weird. It's
Speaker 5: like a calloused body in a way. So the first
Speaker 5: time I went to that, I walked in. My trainer's
Speaker 5: name was Ron Hutchinson. I walked in. He's like, all right,
Speaker 5: hit the ropes and you're like, oh my, you think
Speaker 5: you know you see us bouncing off the ropes. When
Speaker 5: you hit the ropes for the first time, it's just like,
Speaker 5: don't out, Okay, it's not there's no bounce whatsoever. And
Speaker 5: people think, you know, the mac goes like it's a
Speaker 5: it's not a cushion. Yeah, it has a little bit
Speaker 5: of give, but that's so you don't biw your knees out.
Speaker 5: But it's not a cushion, you know. And especially I trained,
Speaker 5: there was a it wasn't even there wasn't a wrestling
Speaker 5: right at the time, I was in boxing ring, so
Speaker 5: it was even more you know, solid, but yeah, your body.
Speaker 5: So at first it was just like black and blue
Speaker 5: for weeks on end, and you're just like, okay, let's
Speaker 5: go keep going, and as long as you can keep
Speaker 5: them during it. It's just eventually you learn how to fall.
Speaker 5: Property of course, you learn how to you know, take up.
Speaker 5: It's like stunt stunts to a certain degree, right, you
Speaker 5: learn to properly fall into take the fall certain way.
Speaker 5: You know. We always say keep your neck to your chin,
Speaker 5: you know, so I'm sorry, next to your chin, that's
Speaker 5: that you'll be like a whole another level, you know.
Speaker 5: So it's like little things like that. So you don't snap.
Speaker 5: You're not getting whiplash every time you hit them.
Speaker 1: At like that.
Speaker 5: So you you know, you train and you learn and
Speaker 5: you get used to it, and it's kind of like
Speaker 5: a callous body sort of after a while, you don't
Speaker 5: get the bruises, you hit the ropes and it's kind
Speaker 5: of fine, and you know, and then don't don't get
Speaker 5: it wrong because when you take a break and you
Speaker 5: retire and then you go back you get the bruses again.
Speaker 1: So that's the physical part.
Speaker 2: But I want to hear about, like what about getting
Speaker 2: used to being a celebrity, being a performer, having to
Speaker 2: do interviews. Did that come naturally to you or is
Speaker 2: that likewise a learning curve.
Speaker 5: So I was very lucky that I had a little
Speaker 5: bit of training with the fitness modeling, right, So I
Speaker 5: was very quickly sort of thrust into the spotlight. I
Speaker 5: was like, you know, like I said, I went from
Speaker 5: like university student and like the most I mean was
Speaker 5: I was a little bit of a you know, I
Speaker 5: was a memorable player on my team, so I always
Speaker 5: kind of was like in the local paper and like
Speaker 5: things like that. So I would do little interviews and
Speaker 5: things like that. But when I got into the fitness modeling,
Speaker 5: it was like when I say it was a new industry,
Speaker 5: like there was only like we always equate it to
Speaker 5: like the supermodels back in the nineties, where there was
Speaker 5: Cindy and Naomi and Evangelista. So there was like me
Speaker 5: am badly Monica brand. There was like seven or eight
Speaker 5: of US and every magazine was US, and so very
Speaker 5: quickly they just turned this industry into a thing, right,
Speaker 5: He blew it up. Suddenly there was fitness magazine. Suddenly
Speaker 5: it was an industry, and so we were we had
Speaker 5: to go. We were the ones blowing it up. We
Speaker 5: are the ones doing the interviews. We were the ones
Speaker 5: on you know what was it Access Hollywood? I think
Speaker 5: it was back then, right, We were on the all
Speaker 5: those shows sort of like introducing this new industry and
Speaker 5: showing what fitness modeling was, and then all just doing
Speaker 5: all these interviews. I would do interviews for the magazines
Speaker 5: and things like that, and so I got those sort
Speaker 5: of media training. So I was lucky. And I think,
Speaker 5: you know, people kind of you sometimes you have it,
Speaker 5: you have it. Some people kind of are smart, right,
Speaker 5: So yeah, but I mean a different level when, of
Speaker 5: course you're walking through and there are crowds and there's
Speaker 5: thousands of people that you meet you at the airport,
Speaker 5: that was definitely a different level for sure.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean around the year two thousand, you become
Speaker 1: one of the most recognizable faces in the company, and
Speaker 1: not just for your beauty but for your in ring
Speaker 1: talents and your personality. But looking back, so much of
Speaker 1: that era involved these awkward, like horny storylines for men. Yes,
Speaker 1: and you were able to push so far beyond that.
Speaker 1: Was it hard though, to get people to see you
Speaker 1: as more than just the hot chick?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean it wasn't even that was
Speaker 5: so it was almost like you have to like reprogram
Speaker 5: the audience. They were used to chanting puppies. You know,
Speaker 5: I don't know if you guys like who I know,
Speaker 5: they don't know you are. I don't know if you
Speaker 5: guys like back in the day, it was like women
Speaker 5: would come out and they're like, we want puppies. That
Speaker 5: is what we were like that. So we went through
Speaker 5: a phase where we're like, we're gonna have wrestling match
Speaker 5: and they're.
Speaker 1: Changing and do you want to tell them what puppies is?
Speaker 1: They don't understand.
Speaker 3: I'm missing some of the puppies.
Speaker 1: Puppies they wanted. They wanted they were.
Speaker 3: Oh god, yes, can you imagine?
Speaker 5: And it's so funny cause it's almost like, you know,
Speaker 5: when you go back and watch a Disney movie like
Speaker 5: Pinocchio and you're like, is he okay?
Speaker 3: So my kid?
Speaker 5: You know, so back in the day when you watch
Speaker 5: that old school wrestling, you're kind of like, did your
Speaker 5: loller just say yeah, he's referring to breasts. Yeah, so
Speaker 5: we had to endure that. We had to like get
Speaker 5: through it, you know, we had to like yeah, and
Speaker 5: my well, the only way to do it was to
Speaker 5: prove that you deserve to be there more than just
Speaker 5: those chances you deserve to get. So I remember there's
Speaker 5: a turning point. I remember we started wrestling a little
Speaker 5: bit more so the audience was kind of like, you know,
Speaker 5: learning to see us wrestle now, and there was a
Speaker 5: it was Thanksgiving and so they approached us and we
Speaker 5: were we felt like we're kind of starting to move
Speaker 5: out of the the girly stuff like the cat fights
Speaker 5: and the things like paddle on a pole match like
Speaker 5: it crazy stuff that you're believe me, and back when
Speaker 5: we do when we're doing it, we were like, I
Speaker 5: think we have to like go through the motions fly crador,
Speaker 5: but start getting some real stuff in. Like we thought,
Speaker 5: we're gonna trade those the slaps and the hair pulls
Speaker 5: for like punches and for like chops, you know what
Speaker 5: I mean. And so slowly we started to do that,
Speaker 5: and like we were kind of like reprogramming the audience
Speaker 5: to like expect that from me, because they really weren't
Speaker 5: at first and believe me, even backstage there was producers going, yeah,
Speaker 5: we don't. People don't want to see women punch each other.
Speaker 5: They want to see hair pulling, they want to see
Speaker 5: cat fighting. They don't want to see that from the
Speaker 5: ash like we were told that were like and it
Speaker 5: was like literally like stop that, don't do that. We
Speaker 5: had to like anyone looking you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Like why not just give you pillows and call it
Speaker 3: a day.
Speaker 5: Honestly, that's what they for sure wanted. I mean there
Speaker 5: were many pillow fights.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like it was yeah, I mean there was I.
Speaker 5: Think wrestle media. There was like I can't remember. I
Speaker 5: think I was out there by them, but I think
Speaker 5: it was a wrestle media because pillow fire for the women,
Speaker 5: Like yeah, it was pretty bad for a while, but
Speaker 5: like so we just knew it was like if we
Speaker 5: just like keep sort of slipping it and be under
Speaker 5: the radar. So they're like, oh, the women's match, Like,
Speaker 5: don't worry, that's them. And for a while we were
Speaker 5: the popcorn match. We're the bathroom break. We were that
Speaker 5: until we started to just deliver and then when we
Speaker 5: went out there and I think the turning point was
Speaker 5: like you know a woman, her name is Jazz. It
Speaker 5: was Jazz Victoria. These are women that I worked with,
Speaker 5: and we were like, we need to change the narrative.
Speaker 5: We need to change the conversation, you know, and change
Speaker 5: the you know, what they expect from us in the ring.
Speaker 5: They expect us to just be hot. So like I
Speaker 5: even know, there was a point where I was dressing
Speaker 5: I was dressing down. I wasn't like wearing what they
Speaker 5: wanted to wear. I was like, don't notice what I'm wearing.
Speaker 5: I didn't wear shorts. I was like, I'm putting on
Speaker 5: full brigade wrestle, you know. And I was like. Then
Speaker 5: we had a guy, an agent who was working with
Speaker 5: his backstage and he was like, I want to see
Speaker 5: you guys punch as well. And he goes, just just
Speaker 5: do it, just go do it like what you can
Speaker 5: ask for forgiveness and permission at that point, right, So
Speaker 5: we just started to go do it, and like slowly
Speaker 5: but surely that we want puppies. Chance turned into I remember,
Speaker 5: so this gravy bul mat. There was a thanksgiving we
Speaker 5: had it. We we thought we were getting out of
Speaker 5: this you know, crappy little pillow fights and things like that.
Speaker 5: But they're like, Okay, we're gonna have a Gravy Bowl match.
Speaker 5: And we're like, oh, we thought we were passes. Okay,
Speaker 5: but you have to do it. It's your job, right,
Speaker 5: So I'm like, okay, we're gonna have a Gravya Bull match.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna start it really cool. So we come out
Speaker 5: on the stage the time they used to be the
Speaker 5: ramps to be really high back in the day, and
Speaker 5: so we had the top and I had Stacey just
Speaker 5: like she tossed me right off the top and I
Speaker 5: took a big bump from the top right and the
Speaker 5: fans were like holy and when we have a whole
Speaker 5: so you know, like that, we're just kind of slipping
Speaker 5: in the cool and the good action. And after a
Speaker 5: while they just started to become programmed to see us
Speaker 5: like that, and you know, started to come around, and
Speaker 5: the puppies chance went away, and the and the cheering
Speaker 5: for us and matches and false pan for our false
Speaker 5: finishes started to happen, and it was like We're like,
Speaker 5: we're doing it, like we were really doing it. So
Speaker 5: it's pretty cool.
Speaker 4: That's one of my favorite things I think about when
Speaker 4: when Danielle like brought us into this world. I love
Speaker 4: the kind of micro worlds where there's a whole language,
Speaker 4: there's an entire culture, there's a whole the music all
Speaker 4: means something. I mean, every there there'd be one note
Speaker 4: that would bang out and everyone would go nuts, and
Speaker 4: I turned to Gensen or Danielle'll be like, Okay, what's happening, Like,
Speaker 4: all right, here's what's going on. So, I mean, it's
Speaker 4: really cool to see that there is an entire culture
Speaker 4: based around this. Uh and the idea that you were
Speaker 4: kind of there at the beginning for the women's side
Speaker 4: of it is pretty spectacular because I again, I've only
Speaker 4: seen two matches, but especially in the.
Speaker 5: First one in preparation for the interview.
Speaker 3: Of course you saw mine, right, of course, of course,
Speaker 3: no I met live. I've only seen two matches.
Speaker 1: Live, and it was I watched many oh many.
Speaker 3: Tons, yes, but the smacked out.
Speaker 4: I mean, I said to Danielle, I thought that the
Speaker 4: women were frankly better than the guys. I mean, they
Speaker 4: just they were at the time. It seemed there was
Speaker 4: more athleticism at the time, and what I said was
Speaker 4: like there was just more exciting. So going in as
Speaker 4: a neophyte. I was like, these are just kind of
Speaker 4: more exciting matches. Frankly, so, yeah, but it is there
Speaker 4: that whole world. Getting into a whole new culture is
Speaker 4: such a cool kind of experience.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I feel like the same like with the
Speaker 5: with them, you know, everyone's like, how what's your what
Speaker 5: do you attribute your success to? You? And I have
Speaker 5: many things that I do attribute my success to. But
Speaker 5: I was very lucky that I did come into these
Speaker 5: at the beginning of these you know, the beginning of
Speaker 5: these industries, right, Like fitness one was very new, so
Speaker 5: I got to like explore before it became oversaturated, and
Speaker 5: say with wrestling, because before you know, it became like it,
Speaker 5: I just kind of gotten a chance to like get
Speaker 5: it to a point where it was like it was
Speaker 5: talked about and it was becoming mainstream and people were
Speaker 5: now demanding women's matches and we're getting equal time as
Speaker 5: the men and things like that. So it was cool
Speaker 5: to be a part of that sort of beginnings of things.
Speaker 1: One other thing that really maybe sets you apart from
Speaker 1: some of the other female wrestlers at the time was
Speaker 1: that you never posed for Playboy, which was almost like
Speaker 1: a guarantee if you were a female wrestler at the time,
Speaker 1: what made you make that decision and did you ever
Speaker 1: second guess yourself?
Speaker 5: No, Oh, my gosh, I it just it's just not
Speaker 5: for me. When I I'm like a tomboy, Like even
Speaker 5: though I'm known, I am known as a sex symbol.
Speaker 5: I suppose I heard that. Yeah, it was like, not me.
Speaker 5: It is my character you know here, you know, But
Speaker 5: I mean I pull it off, you know, but if
Speaker 5: I need to. But yeah, I know, it was not
Speaker 5: even an option. Like I was like, oh, that is
Speaker 5: just not me. Even when I had to do the
Speaker 5: pillow fights and I actually I didn't have a pillow
Speaker 5: fight one, but I had to do lu Ray stuff.
Speaker 5: It was just it wasn't me. It felt it was
Speaker 5: very put on. Even one time they had these annual magazines.
Speaker 5: It was called the Divas magazines. It was like star
Speaker 5: swimsy illustrated magazine where we'd go down to some exotic
Speaker 5: location shoot that well. I don't know if those budget
Speaker 5: cuts or whatever it was, or maybe like you said,
Speaker 5: the horny writers or storylines, but suddenly instead of the
Speaker 5: annual bikini issue, they wanted a lingerie issue. And I
Speaker 5: was like, oh, like I didn't want to do it,
Speaker 5: and I just like it felt so silly to me,
Speaker 5: so like I made this like whole look it was
Speaker 5: like sports like it was like sports lingerie where I
Speaker 5: did like you know, I like I like did the
Speaker 5: socks and like made it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: I made it like athletics sexy, like I just said,
Speaker 5: I just I don't know, so the sexy thing did comfort.
Speaker 5: So when Playwood came on, I was like absolutely not interested. Vince,
Speaker 5: Oh my god, how did me like like crazy, Like
Speaker 5: He's like, it's great opportunity. And I was shown also
Speaker 5: during that time that but look at the opportunity if
Speaker 5: you turned this down. So we're going to give your
Speaker 5: opportunities to her. So and I'm like, no, I still
Speaker 5: don't want to do it, thank you. And it came
Speaker 5: to me for years and years and I just was
Speaker 5: like no, and I do not regret it and never.
Speaker 5: It's just it's just not my thing. And now, my god,
Speaker 5: now that a kids and everything, like I couldn't even imagine,
Speaker 5: to be honest, So I know that is my decision
Speaker 5: to stand by it.
Speaker 1: Wow, was there ever a storyline you remember?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 1: Just flat out saying no, too.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, lots lots of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was.
Speaker 5: I had this. I understood that if you were to
Speaker 5: say no, it was like say no, but so like
Speaker 5: I'd be like, I'm not doing that, but how about
Speaker 5: we you know, I wanted to make sure I can
Speaker 5: get there, but let's do it this way, you know.
Speaker 5: So I most I got away with a lot of
Speaker 5: stuff if I didn't want to do it, I said
Speaker 5: no to it and got away with like my suggestion
Speaker 5: or alternative way of approaching the same sort of outcome.
Speaker 5: But there was one time that I flat it said
Speaker 5: no it would involve me kissing another girl, and I
Speaker 5: was like, I don't understand why you would no. I
Speaker 5: don't know just how.
Speaker 1: Does this play into how does this play into my
Speaker 1: rest of the story.
Speaker 5: I don't think my character would do that or myself.
Speaker 5: So yeah, I didn't do that, But then I was
Speaker 5: I got stripped about right away, like literally was shown
Speaker 5: that this was you were being punished for your decision,
Speaker 5: like it was crazy. There was some crazy scenarios where
Speaker 5: you yeah, they were you know. Anyway, I was told
Speaker 5: like you're like, I was like, oh is this happening,
Speaker 5: because yep, it sure is. And I was like, all right,
Speaker 5: so they didn't even try it.
Speaker 3: They didn't even try to hide it. They didn't even
Speaker 3: try it.
Speaker 5: They were but they would be people. There's so many
Speaker 5: people backstages, all these producers, there's writers, there's you know,
Speaker 5: and it kind of like I was like, is this
Speaker 5: happening because yeah, oh okay, well that's okay. I still
Speaker 5: stand by my decision, you know, you know, yeah, I mean, look,
Speaker 5: eventually waited up at WrestleMania and Toronto, so they need
Speaker 5: to be back to promote it.
Speaker 1: So you know, we have talked about it so much
Speaker 1: on this show that like from the time you're a kid,
Speaker 1: if depending on whenever you start, you learn very quickly
Speaker 1: that being a team player means doing whatever is asked
Speaker 1: of you, no matter what the cost to your personal
Speaker 1: life is or what the cost is to anything. That
Speaker 1: if you have any sort of boundaries, there will usually
Speaker 1: be some negative repercussion for it. And yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not definitely not surprised.
Speaker 4: It's super interesting though, because what I'm hearing from from
Speaker 4: Trish and from things we heard growing up and stuff
Speaker 4: like that is it's usually always put to you as
Speaker 4: if you realize how good this would be for you?
Speaker 3: Correct? Ye, Like this is for you. I'm really doing
Speaker 3: this for you.
Speaker 4: And it's like, if you want to turn down that opportunity,
Speaker 4: you're just shooting yourself in the foot because exactly this
Speaker 4: is great for you, and it seems like that's kind
Speaker 4: of the way to go about it.
Speaker 3: Like no, I'm I'm good, Thanks.
Speaker 5: I'm good. Yeah, yeah, I missed this opportunity.
Speaker 3: I suppose yeah, I get yeah, exactly, yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Who do you think is the most underrated wrestler you've
Speaker 1: worked with? Male or female?
Speaker 5: Oh? Wow, uh, probably Natty Nightheart. I mean I feel
Speaker 5: like she's getting her her flowers now and but I
Speaker 5: mean I mean almost maybe not. I think if you
Speaker 5: look at her Instagram, like danm this girl's busy. So
Speaker 5: Nanny has been with this company for so long, I
Speaker 5: mean obviously born and bred to be in this business.
Speaker 5: She's she's elevated and helped so many people. She's had
Speaker 5: she's been the reason many people have had their best match.
Speaker 5: You know, she's contributed, she's given back, but she's never
Speaker 5: ever she's kind of like the bridesmaid always, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean. And she's happy, you know, she's one,
Speaker 5: she's been Woman's Champion, She's had her she's been she's
Speaker 5: had her moments for sure. But like even in the
Speaker 5: last little while, like it's really cool if you guys
Speaker 5: follow her, like if you go to her Instagram, like
Speaker 5: she kind of was like, I'm gonna go do my
Speaker 5: own thing, and she started like creating this new character
Speaker 5: that was like this bad like like one of those
Speaker 5: like underground fighting chicks because she can't and it was cool.
Speaker 5: Like so people are really resonant, and I'm like, I'm
Speaker 5: waiting for like WWB, Like, oh that is cool. That's
Speaker 5: resoning with people and it's real and authentic. And then
Speaker 5: bring it to WI and I hope they don't, you know,
Speaker 5: tarnish it by bringing it to like you know, sometimes
Speaker 5: the commercialize things and make it too shorty, you know,
Speaker 5: when she is like this raw thing she's doing and
Speaker 5: you know, she's just released a book right now, and
Speaker 5: so she's she's everwearen and it's just it's great to
Speaker 5: see she's finally kind of getting out there. But I
Speaker 5: would say like in the last little while, she hasn't
Speaker 5: been the highlight with storylines and things like that, you
Speaker 5: know what I mean. Yeah, but she has been the helper,
Speaker 5: you know, the accessory and like, you know, people helping
Speaker 5: the talent, which she's happy to do and she loves that.
Speaker 5: She actually loves that as well. But she's amazing and
Speaker 5: uh man, her and I we were like two Canadians
Speaker 5: going at it. I mean, it's it would.
Speaker 4: Be no wait not to put you on the spot,
Speaker 4: but would you answer the opposite question, who's the most
Speaker 4: overrated wrestler?
Speaker 5: Oh? Oh gosh, that's that's don't have to be mean
Speaker 5: to some I think no, I know.
Speaker 3: That's why I'm saying, you don't have to answer. I'm
Speaker 3: just curious, just curious.
Speaker 5: Me. I think people talking about me waiting. You know,
Speaker 5: it's like, oh, she's still here, she's doing it for
Speaker 5: twenty five years and she's still amazing.
Speaker 1: Like, oh me, But it would be it would be
Speaker 1: nearly impossible to be a wrestler man or woman and
Speaker 1: not have found inspiration in you. I mean, dozens of
Speaker 1: superstars in twenty twenty five list you as a major inspiration.
Speaker 1: What is your biggest piece of advice for longevity in
Speaker 1: this industry for some of the young up and coming Allan, I.
Speaker 5: Think I always go so my new thing has been
Speaker 5: that this is just a quirky one. But I've always
Speaker 5: so now when people say like because now I'm still
Speaker 5: I mean I literally this was my twenty fifth anniversary
Speaker 5: this year and I read and we you know, I looked,
Speaker 5: I actually have this magazine coming out and they were
Speaker 5: just putting me on the cover and they're like, once
Speaker 5: I did the interview, They're like, way, this is a wait.
Speaker 5: We didn't realize, Like it's twenty five years and you
Speaker 5: still had three matches this year. Like that's insane, right,
Speaker 5: So they turn this issue now they're like celebrating the
Speaker 5: twenty five years and so then so the thing is
Speaker 5: when people are like, how are you still doing it?
Speaker 5: Like even you know, talk to someone like Naomi who
Speaker 5: just at Trinity, who you know, has just left. She
Speaker 5: was a woman's champion, finally got to the very very
Speaker 5: top of the you know, I mean, you know she
Speaker 5: she's been amazing and contributed so much and she's finally
Speaker 5: got the women's championship and then she's going to go
Speaker 5: have a baby, right so she you know, which is yay, amazing.
Speaker 5: So we got a chat, like, you know, I hope
Speaker 5: she's okay. I'm me telling this story. But we had
Speaker 5: a talk chat, you know, just literally months before that
Speaker 5: when I was back on the road, and she was like, dude,
Speaker 5: like it's so cool that, like, you know, showing that
Speaker 5: like I went out, I went, I had my career, right,
Speaker 5: So two thousand, two thousand and six had my career
Speaker 5: top of the line, left on top, left as champion,
Speaker 5: great went started, businesses, started, my family, lived life, travel,
Speaker 5: didn't wasn't bound to like three hundred days of the
Speaker 5: year schedule that this. You know, it's a crazy world.
Speaker 5: It's a crazy schedule. It's not fun. I mean it's fun,
Speaker 5: but you cannot like I missed a lot of my
Speaker 5: friend's weddings, babies been born, et cetera. Right, so I
Speaker 5: got to live my life and then lucky me, I
Speaker 5: got to go back. But like that's the cool thing.
Speaker 5: It used to be like a shelf life for the women.
Speaker 5: Now women are actually having their babies and then bring
Speaker 5: them on the road and then going and wrestling. You know.
Speaker 5: So Trinity was like, that's so cool. I love that.
Speaker 5: Like I'm like, you go have your babies, you there's
Speaker 5: always room to come back, like at this day and age.
Speaker 5: But so my point is I digress. So my number
Speaker 5: one thing is do yoga. Okay, you know, but if
Speaker 5: you want to be in the business for a long time,
Speaker 5: if you don't want injuries. I have been in this
Speaker 5: business for twenty five years and I barely know touch
Speaker 5: would but the injuries have been I know not. I
Speaker 5: haven't been had too many injuries that have sidelined. So
Speaker 5: yoga's number one. But I always tell people just find
Speaker 5: and stay as authentic as you can find that character.
Speaker 5: Of course, like, yes, it's over the top, it's it's
Speaker 5: very character driven. But when you find that that character
Speaker 5: that like is is you know, rings true with you
Speaker 5: because the fans, there's something about the fans, no, there's
Speaker 5: that when there's that authenticity to the character, it resonates
Speaker 5: with the fans. They can feel it when when they
Speaker 5: when somebody's coming from the heart, even if it's you know,
Speaker 5: amplified twenty five times, because we are characters and we're
Speaker 5: cricatures of ourselves out there. That's when people really feel it.
Speaker 5: And that's when people say there's a little Jenna sa
Speaker 5: Qua about it. There's like, I don't know what it
Speaker 5: is about the person, it's because it's coming from a
Speaker 5: true place. And that's often with actors too, like, you know,
Speaker 5: how do they pull that roll off? And then you
Speaker 5: hear about the story of like I drew from this,
Speaker 5: you know. So when when your character out there is
Speaker 5: drawing from a true place, it really really works. And
Speaker 5: I think that is what I mean. The novelty characters
Speaker 5: absolutely work as well, but not as not as much
Speaker 5: as the long term, right, Like the longevity of your
Speaker 5: personality and your person in the ring definitely true and
Speaker 5: a dick it goes the longest for sure.
Speaker 1: That's so great. I love that advice about yoga. I'm like, man, oh,
Speaker 1: you need to be not everyone.
Speaker 5: Like we should all have everybody. I don't know how
Speaker 5: old you guys, but I'm old, and yoga I'm keep
Speaker 5: it is keeping me young. I'm telling you, like it's
Speaker 5: I went back and wrestled. I remember the first match.
Speaker 5: I was like, like, okay, So twenty twenty three, I
Speaker 5: went back and wrestled for six months straight, did like.
Speaker 5: It ended up being a six month run which again
Speaker 5: had a wrestled in you know, one hundred years, and
Speaker 5: I had a cage match, which back in my day
Speaker 5: unheard of. Right, we don't we didn't. It wasn't an
Speaker 5: option for the girls. That's what the boys did. You
Speaker 5: guys can have a match, sure, but cool stuff and
Speaker 5: like the extreme stuff. I mean women would you would.
Speaker 1: Die surely if you had a cad of course you
Speaker 1: could never do it. Yeah, right, And so I had.
Speaker 5: A cage match. I was. It was through. It was
Speaker 5: like a bucket list because I know it sounds weird.
Speaker 5: I want to be tossed into like a metal uh
Speaker 5: you know, fence. But it was a time to come
Speaker 5: up and do one. Me and Danielle should have a
Speaker 5: cage match, but like maybe as teammate anyway. But I
Speaker 5: had the match. The next day, I woke up and
Speaker 5: I thought, oh my god, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 5: I feel okay, you know, like I it's the yoga,
Speaker 5: like the pliability of your body and all that.
Speaker 4: So I must need a better I must need a
Speaker 4: better yoga instructor, because every time I've tried yoga, it's
Speaker 4: just a very clever way of hiding fifty push ups.
Speaker 3: That's what it's like. Do down our dog again. Just
Speaker 3: tell me to do a push up. Just tell me
Speaker 3: to do a push up. That's all you need to
Speaker 3: tell me.
Speaker 5: Then you week biceps, so work on that and then class.
Speaker 4: Well, no, my tri SEPs are are weak, but then again,
Speaker 4: so is the rest of.
Speaker 3: My body or why? But that that leads me to
Speaker 3: a question, though, I have a question.
Speaker 4: So have you had to tailor your performance the older
Speaker 4: you get? I mean, can you do all the moves
Speaker 4: now that you were able to do twenty five years ago?
Speaker 5: So the crazy thing is is I can. So the
Speaker 5: first one I got called back was okay, so just
Speaker 5: fro the perspective. Two thousand and six is when I retired, okay,
Speaker 5: which is so long ago. And then twenty eighteen was
Speaker 5: the first time like they call me and they're like,
Speaker 5: we're doing an all women's roller rumble and it's the
Speaker 5: first ever, and we would love you to come back
Speaker 5: and be in it. And I was like, oh, well,
Speaker 5: it's been like eleven whatever the math is eleven years
Speaker 5: and I have birth two children. I was like, I
Speaker 5: don't think and I was like, I'm just gonna pull
Speaker 5: this off, Like I'm just going to be very minimal things.
Speaker 5: I'll do my greatest hits, you know, I'll do that
Speaker 5: one thing that I point and I do the thing
Speaker 5: and I practice those four moves. I did it. Who
Speaker 5: I did it? But then I was like, I kind
Speaker 5: of did it though, and it was like kind of
Speaker 5: like riding a bike actually. So then I went back
Speaker 5: had another match twenty eighteen, and then twenty three I
Speaker 5: went back into like a six month's run, and my
Speaker 5: body was like, yeah, this is fine. And then now
Speaker 5: I like to go back. I love to be like,
Speaker 5: let me do something that no one's seeing me do before.
Speaker 5: So now because my body can, I'm trying things that
Speaker 5: I have never done before, and I'm presenting a whole
Speaker 5: different repertoire, a whole new move set nowadays. And it's
Speaker 5: been fun to do that actually, because I like shocking
Speaker 5: the pep. I just I did a moon salt for
Speaker 5: the first time in my entire life. I don't know
Speaker 5: if you know what that is even, but it's just
Speaker 5: move that my rival had done, and I always took
Speaker 5: moon salts my whole life. It's a it's a move
Speaker 5: from the top rope and you go backwards, and she
Speaker 5: would always give it to me. It was like Lyda
Speaker 5: was my rival, which is my best die and my rival,
Speaker 5: and she would just That's how I died, every move,
Speaker 5: every match, and so I was like, I want to
Speaker 5: do it as like an homage to her, plus the
Speaker 5: partner that they're the person that I worked with did
Speaker 5: a moon salt, So I was doing it as like
Speaker 5: I know you kind of with the psychology. There was
Speaker 5: I know your moves. I'm going to try your move
Speaker 5: on you. And I hit my first moon salt in
Speaker 5: my entire life, and it was super fun and the
Speaker 5: fans were like, what the did she just do a
Speaker 5: moon salt? And so that was fun to just do
Speaker 5: things and I like those what the moments? Those are fun?
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: If you could go back in time and tell that
Speaker 1: med school student but eventual international superstar one thing, what
Speaker 1: would you tell her?
Speaker 5: Oh? Okay, I think there's two things. I have to
Speaker 5: always say two things, because one is stay true to
Speaker 5: yourself always, and it's things like saying no to play Boy,
Speaker 5: being like just who you are, I'm being authentic like
Speaker 5: all that is so important and we'll give you the
Speaker 5: longevity you need for sure. Also is enjoy the moment,
Speaker 5: be in the moment, smell stop and smell the roses
Speaker 5: like that whole theory, because you know, I'm lucky that
Speaker 5: I got to go back and then see it from
Speaker 5: a different perspective. But back when I was you know,
Speaker 5: twenty to twenty four years old and you know, in it,
Speaker 5: I didn't I wasn't like realizing that, oh my god,
Speaker 5: I got to travel the world. I went to like
Speaker 5: I've been to every single state I've been to, all
Speaker 5: these countries, performed in front of you know, thousands and thousands.
Speaker 5: But I was in this like crazy, you know, three
Speaker 5: hundred days a year of goobo go. It was like
Speaker 5: a you know, it was like a frenetic pace where
Speaker 5: you just didn't stop and then really enjoy stuff. And
Speaker 5: it wasn't until I actually got injured towards the end
Speaker 5: of my career, which made me end up, you know,
Speaker 5: eventually why I retired. But I went back after I
Speaker 5: had an injury, and I went back knowing I was
Speaker 5: going to retire, and I that was like that last
Speaker 5: leg there was so great because I really got a
Speaker 5: chance to be like, you know, instead of being like,
Speaker 5: oh I got it, go on the red Like no,
Speaker 5: it's like, oh wow, you get to go to You're
Speaker 5: going to be in you know, Memphis, Go to Iceland,
Speaker 5: you know you're there. Go go see where Elvis lived,
Speaker 5: just like do things, enjoy things, and like stop and
Speaker 5: smell the roses and like go out and like when
Speaker 5: you're in the town, yoused be like airport's, arena's hotels
Speaker 5: and I was like, no about airport, Go check out
Speaker 5: the sites, then go to the hotel. Bend your show,
Speaker 5: you know what I mean. So just enjoying the process
Speaker 5: a lot more and just being present a lot more.
Speaker 5: And obviously that's something now is a mom that I'm
Speaker 5: you know, I carry over that just being it's something
Speaker 5: I'm just when I'm home. I'm home, when I'm with
Speaker 5: mom with my kids, when my mom my mom, and
Speaker 5: when i'm superstar superstars. So it's important.
Speaker 1: Well, you have a brand new magazine cover dropping and
Speaker 1: this marks your one hundred and thirteenth cover. I mean,
Speaker 1: Will is just stuck at one oh four. You know
Speaker 1: you can't get past it because the girth.
Speaker 4: That's well, but again, I was just going to say
Speaker 4: girth magazine and that's going to sound.
Speaker 5: Really odd, very very digital though maybe you could work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm big on the internet.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, at you.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 1: It's a Trisha twenty five special. You helped design it
Speaker 1: and it details all the year's big WWE Moments just
Speaker 1: in time for the anniversary, and you have a limited
Speaker 1: number of signed copies available now at Trish Stratus dot com.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's honestly, I look at that picture and I'm
Speaker 5: so like, Dana, Oh that's me. She leans up, good mama.
Speaker 5: Like it's funny. Like I even when you want to
Speaker 5: go back and wrestle, Like I'll wrestle and I'll be like, oh,
Speaker 5: it was terrible. Let me see the video. I'm like
Speaker 5: it's pretty good. Oh guys. And like when I do
Speaker 5: those pictures, I'm like, I don't know, is it good?
Speaker 5: And then I'm like, oh, that's really good, So you know,
Speaker 5: it's so funny.
Speaker 1: I have also been noticing that with dancing every week
Speaker 1: that like the way something feels yeah while you're doing
Speaker 1: it versus the way it actually looks on the outside
Speaker 1: can be two totally different things, both in a good
Speaker 1: way and a bad way. Sometimes you're like, Wow, I
Speaker 1: nailed it. Then watch a video and you're like oh no,
Speaker 1: And sometimes you're like, oh that was awful. And then
Speaker 1: you watch it and you're like, hey.
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, because somebody because you're in your head too
Speaker 5: much right Like.
Speaker 1: It's like would you ever be interested in doing dancing
Speaker 1: with the Star.
Speaker 5: I would love to do. You know why? I love challenges. Look,
Speaker 5: I went into wrestling and I'm like, I know, I'm
Speaker 5: throw a clothesline? Can I can I do this? And
Speaker 5: now I'm a seven time champion, you know what I mean? Like,
Speaker 5: I love challenge. I thrive on challenge. I'm also a
Speaker 5: really bad dancer, So I'm like, it's like that, you
Speaker 5: know under the journey journey thing.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, okay, well you dancer when you No, no, no,
Speaker 1: not at all.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 1: I had zero dance experience, but like you, I love
Speaker 1: I had, I have rhythm. I'm not like completely you know,
Speaker 1: it's not like I had too much.
Speaker 5: Okay you have no rhythm or and just girth all
Speaker 5: right exactly.
Speaker 1: He talks very highly of himself. I've never you self
Speaker 1: hating Will, but.
Speaker 4: I'll be honest with this entire podcast, Everybody just talking
Speaker 4: about my girth is not going to be a bad
Speaker 4: thing for my reputation.
Speaker 3: Let's be totally honest.
Speaker 5: You know that like Jersey guy who has like rhythm.
Speaker 3: It's so weird, so weird.
Speaker 1: Trish, thank you, thank you so much for being here
Speaker 1: with us. It's been an absolute pleasure to interview you.
Speaker 1: I hope to see you at a con again. We
Speaker 1: took a picture once together. I was like, I have
Speaker 1: to take a picture with you because you know, yes,
Speaker 1: let's beat again to wrestling. Yeah, we need we need
Speaker 1: to make it happen again.
Speaker 5: Is like, this is their childhood while we are childhood fantasies,
Speaker 5: which is kind of cool.
Speaker 1: That is very cool.
Speaker 5: And one picture, two first crushes A pictures.
Speaker 1: I love it so much so I hope to see
Speaker 1: you again soon. Thank you so much for spending your
Speaker 1: time with us. Congratulations on the cover and you on
Speaker 1: your anniversary twenty five years.
Speaker 5: Thank you about yours had been me. I'm excited about you.
Speaker 1: We're all we're all fans. Thank you again.
Speaker 3: Bye.
Speaker 1: She's truly one of the pioneers of especially women in wrestling,
Speaker 1: being able to do what they're able to do now.
Speaker 1: I mean she was, she paved the way. I mean,
Speaker 1: she's literally one of those people. It would be impossible
Speaker 1: to be a women's a women's wrestler and to not
Speaker 1: look back and say that Trish Stratus was not one
Speaker 1: of the reasons One you thought you could do this
Speaker 1: and two wanted to do it and laid the foundation
Speaker 1: for her.
Speaker 2: Category almost didn't even exist.
Speaker 1: It's exactly right, it didn't. They were, like she said,
Speaker 1: they were valets. They walked the men in, they paraded
Speaker 1: them around, they were involved in storylines about who was
Speaker 1: sleeping with who, but like they were not doing anything physical.
Speaker 2: It was like a battle of inches too, right, Like
Speaker 2: she just has to get like, okay, I'm not going
Speaker 2: to do the pillow fight. Okay, I'm not going to
Speaker 2: do and you know if that's bigger and bigger until
Speaker 2: you're finally like, oh wow, you're a champion, Like this
Speaker 2: is a real I.
Speaker 4: Didn't even want to ask what a what a gravy
Speaker 4: boat match was because I already know.
Speaker 3: I already just know by the title.
Speaker 4: Yeah what this So it's mud wrestling, it's old screen
Speaker 4: mud wrestling, Yeah, gravy Like really this is what this.
Speaker 3: Is what you're doing.
Speaker 4: But the I mean, people sometimes underestimate how important it
Speaker 4: is to be able to look at something and say
Speaker 4: I want to do that. Yeah, and it's the people
Speaker 4: nothing to look at first that are the ones that
Speaker 4: are the true pioneers where it's like, well I got
Speaker 4: to create the category.
Speaker 3: I mean that's crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Well, thank you all for listening to this
Speaker 1: episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow
Speaker 1: us on Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send
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