Trish Stratus has opened up about the infamous barking angle with Vince McMahon.
Weeks before WrestleMania X7, Trish Stratus was subject to some terrible humiliation by Vince McMahon. On Raw, she was forced to bark like a dog by the WWE Chairman, before being made to strip in the ring.
This segment is an uncomfortable watch, although that was exactly what it was designed for. While she would get her revenge at WrestleMania by slapping McMahon, fans have long been disappointed by the segment.
Trish Stratus spoke with Kenny McIntosh for Inside The Ropes about the barking angle. She revealed that people are uncomfortable talking to her about it, which means the angle worked. It was meant to draw sympathy, and showed the character at her rock bottom.
However, she revealed she was such a hated heel that they needed to do something to gain sympathy and build up her character. In that way, the angle worked perfectly.
“People really do, they’re like, ‘Something we’re going to talk about is The Barking thing.’. I’m like, ‘It’s fine.’. I mean, I didn’t realize how… It should have negatively affected people! That’s what we were trying to do. That’s good, perfect, good reaction, you know? But it did make you be like, ‘I don’t want to see her in this situation any more.’ So, like, ‘Come on, Trish Stratus, get out of that situation.'”
“And so, yeah, but I was so hated. We had to be like, ‘How do you make them turn? How do you make them care about me and get behind me and rally for me?’ Sort of putting me to my lowest is a way to then have them be part of me building up as a character. Building the strength, building up the courage to take that next step.”
Trish Stratus On Seeing Women At The Shows And ‘Puppies’ Chants
Trish Stratus continued. She was asked about the women getting more TV time, and if there was one moment where things shifted for her in the WWE.
She noted that it was a gradual change that saw the women being taken more seriously. The Canadian said that women would gradually come to the shows, and the “puppies” chants ending marked a big change for her.
“There wasn’t one particular moment; there was a phase where we’d see it in the amount of females coming to the shows.” Trish Stratus said. “We would see it at autograph signings. It was all of a sudden like it was purely men for a long time, but then you started to see females coming. I know as a female growing up as a fan of wrestling, there weren’t many of us. So, when you found another female, you’re like, ‘Oh, you like wrestling too? Cool.’ But you were kind of a tomboy; you were part of the boys. There weren’t many girls watching or into wrestling.”
“To know that we were starting to get women interested and that the guy would bring his girlfriend now because she’s like, ‘Oh, I like what the girls are doing. I like to see what they’re doing,’ meant that we were offering something for them as well. We definitely saw and felt a bit of a shift in the demographic. That was really cool to know that we were kind of making a difference”.
“Maybe I can’t say there was one particular match where it shifted, but when the ‘We want puppies’ chants stopped. That’s because they weren’t only looking at that anymore; they were looking at our work. So, that was really cool for us to get there.”
