Trish Stratus: Match Against Charlotte Has “A Bit Of That Rock vs. Hogan Essence”

Trish Stratus discusses her upcoming match against Charlotte.

In an interview with Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes which can be seen at the top of the page, Stratus spoke on why she wanted this match against Charlotte at SummerSlam and it is the right time to leave wrestling for good after this match. Stratus stated that the combination of the opponent, the event and it being in her hometown of Toronto is what makes it the perfect time to retire.

“It just feels right, the situation, I mean you have all the elements. You have Charlotte Flair, the best of her generation. You have Toronto and SummerSlam being the second biggest pay per-view for WWE and it just feels right. It just feels like this is the moment. You know, I’m getting up in age and so many years go by, but this is going to be such a special moment and I don’t think you can kind of recreate that. I feel like this is a good moment to be like, ‘Thank you and goodnight,'” Stratus said.

In addition to talking about her retirement, Stratus was asked whether or not Charlotte would be her personal pick for a final opponent and Stratus answered in the affirmative. She added that it is a bit surreal getting to face Charlotte in the ring after she has known her as just Ric Flair‘s daughter for a long time.

“100 percent. She’s an amazing athlete and an incredible performer and she is the representative of the current generation. I mean, watching her in the ring, seeing her come up, I knew her as Ric Flair’s daughter and saying, ‘Oh, you’re gonna get into this.’ So it’s surreal that now we’re facing off. I am looking forward to it and I thrive on challenge and I look forward to stepping in the ring with a performer at that level and just seeing what it can bring out in me. It’s caused me to go deep and find my fire and tap into whatever I need to tap into to make this a memorable match,” Stratus said.

Stratus added that she feels that this match, which pits two defining stars of their respective generations, has a similar atmosphere than that of the WrestleMania 18 match between The Rock and Hulk Hogan, which interestingly enough also took place in Toronto.

“The goal at the end of the match is to win, to show everyone and to put on an incredible match. I think to have the two generations come up, I feel like it’s a bit of that Rock vs. Hogan essence. I want to come back and I want to entertain and do it like I did. I want to come back and give a 110 percent and I feel like I can do that on Sunday. It’s going to be really special and memorable,” Stratus said.

Fightful will have live coverage of SummerSlam later today taking place at the Scotiabank Arena with a post-show podcast soon afterwards. Fightful did a post-NXT TakeOver: Toronto podcast hosted by Sean Ross Sapp and Jimmy Van which can be seen at this link.