Trish Stratus Recalls Reaction When Vince McMahon Pitched “Bark Like A Dog” Angle
Seven-time WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus may go down in history as the greatest WWE Female talent of all time thus far. Recently, while appearing at the For The Love Of Wrestling convention in Liverpool, Stratus discussed perhaps one of the most controversial moments in her time in WWE.
During the build to WrestleMania X-7, there was a controversial angle where Vince McMahon, who was involved in an on-screen romance with Stratus at the time, humiliated her and made her bark like a dog while in her lingerie.
"Vince pitched the angle to me like this — 'so we're going to have this angle where you are barking like a dog and get really humiliated, and basically hit rock bottom.' And I was like, 'amazing!'" said Trish. "Because I knew a couple of weeks later, I would be getting my comeuppance on him and I would be slapping him on the grandest stage of them all, which is Wrestlemania, and turning on him. I was going on to stand up for myself, not needing a man to lean on and fighting for what I needed to fight for."
Stratus would then continue on in regards to how she saw this moment for her on-screen character, and how the moment stood the test of time.
"I get questioned about that a lot, and most people go, 'oh, remember you had to bark like a dog and you had to do that thing that was so degrading, right? For the character, it was, yeah, because that was what the character had to go through. We don't talk to Halle Barry when she had to get abused by so and so, you know, it's a character.
"That, for me, was integral for the character to be at that rock bottom, to have the foresight to say, 'I can break free from this. I won't let this happen to me again and let's move on.' And you know what? 22 years, we're still talking about it!".
Trish Stratus last competed at SummerSlam 2019, losing to Charlotte Flair by submission.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Monopoly Events with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.