Any female who has come up in the WWE system likely credits Fit Finlay in some way for helping progress their training.
Finlay joined WWE as a trainer following his WCW run and then signed on to be a producer in 2012 and was assigned to work with the women's division. At the time, the women's division was largely short matches or eye candy gimmick matches. Finlay did the best he could, but frustration mounted.
Speaking to David Penzer on Sitting Ringside, Finlay discussed how he helped evolve the women's division in WWE.
"I was assigned to the girls and I was there when they had to do bra & panties matches and lingerie matches and pillow fights and Thanksgiving dinner matches. The whole thing. This really was not in my wheelhouse and was not who I am. I did it and tried my best at it. The girls were doing good, but I was getting embarrassed telling the girls how to strip each other off on a sunset flip. Eventually, I got the girls and sat most of them down and I was like, 'Hey, I don't know how you feel about this, but I'll tell you how I feel.' I told them I was embarrassed about, not the job, but about how to talk to a girl and tell them how to take their clothes off in a wrestling match. It was degrading to them. We all agreed, hugged, and had a plan to teach them how to wrestle. That's what we did. I got my wrist slapped and was told, 'This is not what we want, we don't want girls wrestling like guys. We want them pulling har and having catfights and wardrobe malfunctions.' I would back off for a day or two and then we'd go back to wrestling. Stubbornly, I kept plugging on. Then, of course, they decided that did want a women's wrestling division, and it's their idea, right? I sparked the flame, I guess," he said.
Finlay was furloughed by WWE in April 2020 as part of the company-wide cutbacks due to COVID-19, but was brought back in November.
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