Chris Van Vliet spoke with WWE Hall of Famer Torrie Wilson on the latest INSIGHT podcast/YouTube show. We have some highlights below. The full interview can be watched at the bottom of this article.
Torrie Wilson on being in bikini contests in WWE:
“They were all mortifying. People don’t realize. I went out there and owned it the best I could and pushed through the fear, but it was mortifying. There were times when, I remember specifically a house show that I was in this bikini showdown with Dawn Marie and Sable and someone else. I was standing in the corner watching one of the girls dance in the middle and literally fighting back tears. Like, I cannot believe I’m doing this right now because it got to like a raunchy point, and I’m like, I don’t want to be a part of this, but that was also my job.”
If she felt like she could say no:
“No. It was like twice that I could remember that I (said no). First of all, I’m a major people pleaser, so to say no to people is really hard, even if it’s someone you know. I’m recovering from that. There was one time when I had a thing with Sable where Vince wanted me to come out with the paint on my boobs like she did, and I was like, hard no, I can’t do that. I mean, it ended up being nearly nothing anyway. Another time was when I did Playboy, Vince wanted me to do a pay-per-view also, the video. That one was very hardcore pressed and it was really hard for me to say no, but I absolutely didn’t want that.”
If it was difficult for her to agree to do Playboy:
“That part, no because I thought it’s photos, I know it’s gonna look good, and it’s Playboy. To be honest, this is gonna sound real dumb, but I hadn’t really even thought about the fact that I was kind of gonna be nude because Playboy was such a popular magazine. I was like, this is gonna be awesome, right? Playboy parties and all that. Literally, it wasn’t until I was landing on the plane to go to the shoot that I was like, oh, sh*t, there’s going to actually be other people in the room, not just me and the photographer. It was kind of a closed set. So there wasn’t more than maybe six people and I always had a robe, but in between shots, I was always like, this is so weird.”
On what she is most proud of in her wrestling career:
“I’m really proud of the fact that I stayed true to my values. Even though on screen it got a little raunchy, I was never that girl that politicked my way. I never slept my way to the top trying to get a little extra attention, and to me, that goes a long way. I was never a backstabber. I was, you know, on the up and up, and to me that’s something that I’m most proud of.”
On if she followed wrestling after she left WWE:
“I didn’t watch wrestling. I didn’t want anything to do with wrestling for many years after I left mostly because I just had a certain amount of PTSD from being so vulnerable out there and feeling like I was put in this kind of, like, this raunchy role that wasn’t me. I felt judgment from people. I felt like people looked down on me for like, just stuff that I did, the bra and panty matches and all that, so like, I just wanted to shut that door. For many years, I didn’t watch. It wasn’t until they called me to do the Royal Rumble that I started to kind of catch up and then I got really into it, like more into it than I ever was when I was wrestling.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.
