Trish Stratus discusses her return to WWE.
Stratus returned to WWE on the February 27 episode of WWE Raw, where she helped Becky Lynch and Lita defeat Damaga CTRL (Dakota Kai & IYO SKY) to win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. Lynch, Stratus, and Lita subsequently challenged Bayley, Kai and SKY to a six-woman tag team match at WrestleMania 39, and Bayley accepted.
Speaking with Graham GSM Matthews of Bleacher Report, Stratus discussed her return and her upcoming WrestleMania match, which will mark her first time competing at the show since WrestleMania 27 in 2011. There, she teamed up with John Morrison and "Snooki" Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi to beat LayCool (Michelle McCool & Layla) and Dolph Ziggler. She last wrestled at SummerSlam 2019, where she lost to Charlotte Flair. The WWE Hall of Famer called her match against Flair a perfect ending to her in-ring career, and she made it clear that she was satisfied with it. However, Stratus noted that she was willing to return if it would allow her to have fun and influence the new generation, and this opportunity checks those boxes.
"I don't think it was a conscious choice to go back and say, 'I have more in me.' The Charlotte match was a perfect ending. It was a generational faceoff: The best of that generation against who they say is the best of my generation. It was in Toronto and absolutely perfect, and for that to bring closure, I was very satisfied with that. But then having these little interactions at live events, it was fun to have that generational mix-up. When I retired, I said I'd return if it was fun... and maybe not to pass the torch necessarily but to influence a new generation," Stratus said.
Stratus, 47, went on to note that she wants to prove that she can hang with some of the top stars of this generation, and this desire drove her when she faced Flair. Now, ahead of another high-profile match, she has a similar mindset, and she stated that she thrives on he challenge. Stratus also made it clear that she did a few "rounds" in the ring in order to ensure that she can still go.
"There's an element of proving yourself. You always feel like you have to prove yourself. I know with my Charlotte match, that was my driving force and proving to not only to the fans that I could still do this, but also to myself. I thrive on the challenge. Can I still hang with these girls? Trust me, before I accepted, I did a few rounds in the ring and had to make sure the question of whether I could still do this was rhetorical," Stratus said.
The WWE Hall of Famer also detailed the process of her return, as she described that she had been speaking with the company for some time. She recalled how she worked at some live events in 2022, and while ideas are often thrown at her, the way she mixed it up with Lynch and other stars during her previous appearances opened the door for her return.
"I've been speaking with WWE for a little while now about doing a little something because I did the live events. There's always ideas thrown at me. Once they saw me get in there with the girls, it becomes 'This could be something.' I have a great relationship with WWE, so we've always talked. 'Would you come back?' 'Yeah, if there's a right moment.' If the right moment is challenging and I can touch another generation and make a difference, that would be great, and those boxes would have to be checked," Stratus said.
Stratus discussed her return in a recent interview and noted that everything has been "pretty smooth." Click here to see what she had to say.
Stratus recently posted a cheeky response to a tweet from Bayley. More information is available here.
Lita recently looked back on her main-event match against Stratus. Check out her comments here.