While Trish Stratus took part in several controversial storylines in WWE during the Attitude Era, she recently revealed that she did turn down “lots” of storylines. She was even punished for turning down one in particular.
Stratus discussed turning down a storyline involving kissing another girl in her appearance on “Pod Meets World”. Stratus recalled how she would deal with turning down storyline pitches.
She also recalled being punished for turning down a segment involving her. “Oh yeah, lots of ’em. I understood that if you were to say no, that it was like say “No, but…’ So I’d be like, ‘I’m not doing that, but how about we…?’”
“I wanted to make sure, ‘I can get there, but let’s do it this way.’ So I got away with a lot of stuff,” Stratus said (H/T to 411 Mania). “If I didn’t wanna do it, I said no to it and got away with my suggestion or alternative way of approaching the same sort of outcome.”
This strategy of offering an alternative helped her navigate the creative process for most of her career. However, she explained one instance where she had to flatly refuse an idea.
“But there was one time that I flat out said ‘No.’ It involved me kissing another girl. And I was like, ‘Hmm, I don’t understand. Why would– No, I don’t, nope. Just, nope.’”
“I’m like, ‘I don’t think my character would do that, or myself.’ So yeah, I didn’t do that,” she stated. Stratus claims the decision to refuse the angle led to an immediate and direct punishment from the company.
She said she was booked to lose her championship as a direct consequence. “But then I got stripped of the belt right away.”
“Like, literally was shown that this was, ‘You are being punished for your decision.’ Like, it was crazy. There was some crazy scenarios…”
Stratus continued, “I was told like, I was just like, ‘Oh, is this happening because–‘ ‘Yep, it sure is.’ And I was like, ‘All right, wow.’”
Stratus also noted that people backstage did not try to hide the fact that she was being punished. She confirmed that it was a direct response to her refusal.
“They were, but there would be people. There’s so many people backstage, there’s all these producers, there’s writers.”
“And it kind of like, I was like, ‘Is this happening because…’ “Yeah. ‘Oh, okay. Well, that’s okay. I still stand by my decision.’”
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Stratus’s last run with WWE saw her return for a feud with Becky Lynch in 2023. She also competed more recently at the “WWE Evolution” event on July 13, 2025, in an unsuccessful challenge against Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women’s Championship.
While she is not currently on WWE television, Stratus has not been idle. It was announced in June 2024 that she would not be returning as a judge for the 2025 season of “Canada’s Got Talent”.
She has also been making numerous media and convention appearances, including a recent stop at Fanatics Fest.
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