Trish Stratus began her WWE career as a valet and eventually became one of the Divas Fit Finlay trained when he was assigned to represent the women’s division. Stratus, who had never been a fan of catfights, wanted to do more, and he and Finlay took it as a challenge to make the catfights more exciting than expected.

Stratus Fit Finlay, You’re A Backstage Hero

Trish Stratus talks about how Fit Finlay has helped shift the conversation around women's wrestling 2023 2

Stratus claimed on the “Getting Over” podcast, “So we were like, ‘Okay, they want us to have a catfight, maybe we won’t yank the hair and slap, maybe we’ll chop and punch instead.'”

Finlay was keen to make the ladies regarded as wrestlers and athletes as opposed to mere eye candy, which was believed to be a rib from a corporate employee.

“Fortunately, we were so beneath the radar at the time that no one was really paying attention to us,” Stratus remarked. Fans moved from yelling “We want puppies” to “oh s***, this is genuine action” as a result of our efforts.

According to Stratus, the turning point was a chat she had with Vince McMahon during a WWE live event. At the time, Stratus was collaborating with Jazz on a program, and the firm would ask the first several rows of fans to rank their greatest three matches. Stratus remembers McMahon drawing her aside and stating, “I’ve got a problem with you.” “You and Jazz have been ranked among the top three bouts for several consecutive weeks. Keep it up.”