WWE's Trish Stratus Assesses Cage Match Performance, Explains Approach

WWE fans haven't heard a whole lot from WWE Hall Famer Trish Stratus in the days since her WWE Payback steel cage match against Becky Lynch. That has changed now as she recently appeared on "GAW TV" to speak with Mickie James, Victoria, and SoCal Val about her storyline with "The Man."

Stratus shared, "I spoke to Fit [Finlay] after the match as well, it was almost like repping our generation, you know what I mean? It was almost like, 'Ahem,' for our generation. I know my whole platform has been like, 'I did it, everyone look at me.' But obviously, there's a 'we' in there. So it's something that 'we' all did as a foundation we all laid. It felt like a giant nod to it. That's what I wanted it to be like."

On the subject of Stratus using Widow's Peak, Victoria revealed, "She called me a couple weeks before to ask if she could do the Widow's Peak, which a lot of people don't really do that anymore. I was like, 'Are you kidding me? Please, do it, do it, do it.' The only thing I have is she kicked out of it, damn it. [laughs]"

Stratus later added, "Lisa, it's so funny, I was like, 'I have to ask her,' and we kept playing phone tag forever. You were so excited. 'Of course!'"

Regarding her mindset going into the steel cage match, which was set to be the "finale" of the feud, Stratus was well aware of fans thinking the storyline was dragging.

"This was huge for me," Stratus said. "Knowing what we had dealt with as far as our storylines and people were going, 'This storyline's still going?' I'm like, 'Please.' It's funny, Mickie, because I think there was a bit of that, 'This story is dragging,' but booking is booking."

Stratus touched on how fans talk about how long her rivalry with Mickie James lasted going into WrestleMania 22. Back then, they didn't have the luxury (or "not-luxury") of reading opinions on social media.

"We didn't have to deal with that," Stratus noted. "And this was always my gauge — what's the fan engagement? What is the audience doing? How are they reacting? I just knew at the end of the day we had to deliver. This was going to be the end button, this was going to be it. This was going to sum up all of this work and all of this story, and we just wanted to kill it. Yeah, I would say we did. It felt like it. It felt good."

The seven-time women's champion revealed that she felt the most "dialed in" for the critically acclaimed steel cage match.

"It's funny because I've been back for six months. It's been since February that I came back, and I felt the most dialed in. That is such a great place to be where you're just home. And you guys know it, you're just home. I felt comfortable, I heard the audience, I saw the audience. I felt everything. It just felt so good and dialed in. I attribute that to the character development, and the storyline, and where we were in this story, and what it meant for fans to go on this journey with us."

Lastly, Stratus also addressed how she came up with the risky spot at the top of the cage.

"Let's just say I stepped into a cage at one point and I was like, 'Okay, what can we do,'" Stratus said. "I just knew as soon as I sat on the top, I knew that this was playground stuff. I knew I could hook my feet under and do a little thing, and so I did, and there was a large gasp around me. 'This was the reaction I was going for. Perfect.'"

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "GAW TV" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.