WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus Reflects On 25 Years Since Her Debut

WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus debuted in 2000. Initially a fitness model and manager, the former T&A manager fought to be featured more heavily, and alongside rivals such as Victoria and Lita, helped shape modern women's wrestling through her career. In a new interview with "Busted Open Radio," Stratus looked back on her 25 years in the industry.

"It doesn't sink in that it's been 25 years since I debuted," Stratus said, chuckling that the company had low expectations for the fitness model at the time. Stratus thinks that the other women in the division at the time deserve as much praise as her, as they made a concerted effort to raise the level of women's competition in WWE. "If we hadn't fought hard for the storylines and the longer matches...We may not have been in the place where we're in now. We had to fight for that back then."

According to Stratus, it wasn't until later appearances in the company, where talent would be pitching dream matches featuring her or Lita, that she realized just how influential she had been to modern women's wrestling.

"Me and Lita were like 'Whoah, we've really made an impact,'" Stratus said, amazed at how many female talent credited her for inspiring them to become wrestlers.

Stratus will be competing this weekend at the Elimination Chamber event in her hometown of Toronto. She will team with WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton to take on the team of Nia Jax and WWE Women's Speed Champion Candice LeRae.