Bruce Prichard on Trish Stratus: “She was not afraid of hard work”
Bruce Prichard looked back on Trish Stratus’ initial signing with WWE on a recent Something to Wrestle With. Stratus is now one of the most beloved WWE female superstars of all time, but when she signed with WWE in late 1999, she was best known as a fitness model in Canada. Prichard recalled Stratus’ intense interest in joining WWE and how she overcame several people’s expectations of her to become she star she eventually did.
Highlights from the discussion, and the full podcast, are below:
On bringing Trish Stratus into WWE: “Well, back in the day Trish was a fitness model, and Trish was a very big name in the fitness world. So in Toronto, and in Canada she was probably THE biggest name as far as fitness models go. So Trish worked out a lot. Trish loved the wrestling business, she worked out at the same places that the boys worked out in Toronto. She became friendly with people in the business, and it was what she wanted to do. She had a strong desire, she had gone through Carl DeMarco who was the head of the WWE in Canada. I had talked to Trish on several occasions. And Carl had made the big push. There were a lot of people that talked to Trish from Ron Simmons, Billy Gunn, Steve [Austin], just different guys that knew her from Toronto. And Carl DeMarco used to bring her around just be around the business and see if it’s something she really wanted.”
On Stratus’ desire to get into wrestling: “And Trish was one of those that — good God. You talk about driven? She had tunnel vision. And Trish saw herself in a certain way, and whatever it was that she had to do to get there, she was willing to do it. She was not afraid of hard work, and she put it in to get to where she eventually got as one of the top female athletes ever.”
On Stratus overcoming preconceived notions about her: “Hats off to her, she busted her ass to get in the business. Because everybody thought, ‘Aw, she’s a model.’ They left out the ‘fitness’ part of that. ‘Aw, she’s a model.’ Beautiful young lady that you think, ‘Is she gonna get in the ring and break a nail and cry?’ No, she got in the ring and busted her ass with everybody, and proved that she was tough and she was willing to put the hard work in to do what she had to do.”
