The Unexpected Note WWE Gave Torrie Wilson On Her Hall Of Fame Speech
Torrie Wilson's tenure with WWE was packed with memorable moments. After beginning her career in 1999 with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Wilson signed for the Stamford-based promotion in 2001, first appearing for the company in the midst of the "Invasion" storyline that saw WWE battle against the alliance between WCW and ECW. Once WWE's victory was confirmed and the first-ever brand split saw "Raw" and "SmackDown" break into separate rosters, Wilson became a key star on "SmackDown" and went onto to pose for Playboy twice — the second time alongside former WWE Women's Champion Sable. After a lengthy feud, the pair ultimately teamed up together and defeated Miss Jackie and Stacy Keibler at WrestleMania 20 in a "Playboy Evening Gown" match, which coincided with their appearance in the famous magazine.
Sable, who at one time was one of the most popular and famous stars in professional wrestling, left WWE in 2004, and apart from a brief stint in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, hasn't been seen in the ring since. Her last two matches, in fact, were against Wilson, who retired herself in 2008. Over a decade later, WWE approached Wilson about becoming part of the WWE Hall of Fame — an honor Sable has never received. In fact, Sable seems to have been largely removed from WWE's retellings of its own history, and when preparing for her Hall of Fame induction, Wilson found out the extent to which that was true.
'You're not even allowed to mention her name'
Wilson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in April 2019 during the weekend of WrestleMania 35 — the first time the celebrated annual supershow was headlined by a women's match. However, Wilson later revealed at a virtual signing hosted by The Asylum Wrestling Store that she received an unexpected note from the company prior to her official induction, informing her that she was not, under any circumstances, to bring up Sable in her speech. "You're not even allowed to mention her name ... I mentioned her name in my Hall of Fame speech, and right before, they told me, 'Oh, by the way, you're not allowed to mention her name,'" Wilson recalled. "Good luck seeing her. You're gonna have to go up to Timbuktu in Minnesota [to get Sable's autograph]."
It's unclear why this policy is in place. Sable initially left WWE in 1999 and filed a lawsuit against the company for sexual harassment, but she returned to the organization in 2003 and ended up leaving under better terms. She's even married to former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, who has been a major feature of WWE programming since his own return to the company in 2012. From Wilson's comments, the most likely explanation could be that Sable has chosen to remove herself from public life and has no interest in being part of the ongoing story of WWE.