WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus recently spoke to Ring Rust Radio to promote her new movie “Gridlocked” and more. You can check out a few quotes along with the interview below.
You had a starring role in the movie GRIDLOCKED as Gina, which will be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on Tuesday, June 14. As one of your first mainstream roles, what was your confidence level going into filming the movie and do you see yourself taking on more acting roles moving forward?
“My confidence was definitely helped by having someone like Dominic Purcell in my corner. You have seen him in Legends of Tomorrow and Prison Break. I think he looked at me when I first walked on set and thought, “Oh some wrestling chick that’s going to be in a movie, how cute.” Kind of liked when I walked into my first wrestling arena and I got the look like, “Oh some fitness chick thinks she’s going to be a wrestler.” I felt like I had to prove myself and work hard on this. I think Dominic saw how much care I took in my craft and he really took me under his wing and really helped me out. He helped me out with my lines, gave me a lot of tips and a few cinematic secrets. I always say I never could have done what I did in the wrestling world if I didn’t have people like The Rock or Fit Finlay in my corner and helping me. Having that on set really helped me out and boosted my confidence. Each time I got more comfortable on set and more confidence going into every day.”
With the recent strides made in women’s wrestling, have you ever thought about a return to the ring and would you ever consider having a one-off match at WrestleMania against one of the top stars in the division?
“The line I have always given people for the past ten years is, “Who would you guys like to see me fight?” For a while, people really didn’t know who they would want to see me fight and make it worthwhile. Would it make sense for me to come back and fight Sasha? I will never close the door if there is something that will challenge me. It would have to be a challenge to me, it would have to elevate someone else on the show and it would need to be something exciting for the fans. What do they want to see? They always ask who I would go back to work for and one person is Nattie. She isn’t one of the top current girls, but I never got a chance to work with her and it would be kind of dream to be able to. If I could return and have some challenging and good matches, I would have no doubt in coming back. Just as long as I could keep up in the ring, I think I would be OK.”
Your rivalry with Lita will always standout as your best, but another angle that is mentioned a lot is the work you did early in your career with Vince and Stephanie McMahon. What was it like to work with them, especially with Vince considering he runs the show? Was that an intimidating spot to be in and what type of input did you have in those segments?
“It allowed me and pushed me to elevate my game. Having to go to work knowing you are working directly with the Boss means you can’t suck basically. Working with him, I had the chance to learn a lot from him directly. The way he approached things, what worked and what didn’t work and knowing why that didn’t work so next time I can be better. That really helped me learn by leaps and bounds working side-by-side with him. Working with Stephanie was great because she was so high profile and her expectations honestly were low. We were able to blow people away because people didn’t expect much from us. If you go back and watch that match between us, it wasn’t great, but it was the storyline that brought us there. We watch wrestling because storylines bring us to the accumulation of a glorious match. To start off in that environment did a lot for me. I did make a really good bond with Vince and Stephanie. We actually just texted earlier and we are still all very close. It was a great experience to work with them like that.”
