Trish Stratus Was Unsure About Taking Part In WWE Evolution 2025 Due To Her Mom’s Battle With Cancer

Trish Stratus was undecided about taking part in WWE Evolution.

The show featured a singles match where Stratus challenged Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women’s Championship. As it turns out, the WWE Hall Of Famer was close to turning down the bout, as she was focused on her mother’s battle with cancer.

“Somehow, Evolution comes up. I remember they proposed to me to fight Tiffany for the championship belt. Evolution, headlining this amazing pay-per-view, which they finally brought back. Fans were waiting for I think seven year. Remember when it first happened, everyone was like, ‘Oh, look at this annual event’ and then it never happened. I remember, what an opportunity but I can’t leave my mom. Ironically, my mom got diagnosed with cancer back when I retired in 2006 and she beat it. She fought that, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I remember that was one of the reasons I did retire because I was I know that I needed to step away because I wanted to be with her during treatment. So here I was now her doing treatment, we did radiation and now they’ve asked me to come back. I remember talking to Lita, I had to cancel one of my appearances, it started to happen where — I made the decision not to go to Wales for example. Just too far in case something happens, we’re starting to be in that sort of thing.” Stratus told Bill Apter in a new interview.

Despite the lack of build or promotion for the show, Stratus received encouragement from her mother to take part in the match. Stratus also stated that she’d be happy if the match with Stratton ended up being her final one.

“Fast forward the story, my mom said to me, ‘Do it.’ Not even a question. She was like, ‘Oh my god, do it.’ Of course, the wrestling people in us was like, ‘Yeah but mom, the storyline is not even there, they’ve barely promoted it.’ This is the fans, right, the fans are like, ‘They haven’t even promoted Evolution.’ I was saying the same thing. I’m like, ‘I don’t know, do people care?’ Luckily, Tiffany and I had a built-in storyline that have kind of been percolating and people were starting to see the friendship and people were like, ‘Oh, are they going to turn?’ Which we didn’t, which was kind of fun. I was like, ‘I don’t know, I don’t really have a big storyline. Maybe I’ll just do it another time’ and my mom’s like, ‘It’s the women’s pay-per-view, you have to be — you’re the evolution of it.’ I said this in my speech, it was, ‘Do it.’ She goes, ‘Do what you can while you can.’ Do what you can while you can because you never know what’s going to happen, you never know what’s going to change. Situations can change, health can change, anything can change in your life, right? Now I look at it like, what a great opportunity. I had a fantastic match with Tiffany. If that was my last time in the ring, I’d be happy if it was. If it isn’t, sure, there’s more story to be told. It just felt like she was right, I escaped.”

To cap off the topic, Trish Stratus revealed that her mother got to her wrestle for the last time at WWE Evolution.

Earlier this month, Stratus recalled times when Vince McMahon would “hound her” to do Playboy. Check out her full comments by clicking here.

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