Torrie Wilson reflects on her era as a WWE Superstar and what it felt like to compete in Bikini Contests and Bra and Panties Matches.
Women's wrestling has evolved beyond the exploitation prevalent in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Now, women are dependent upon to compete inside Hell in a Cell, Money in the Bank Matches, Elimination Chamber Matches, and more. This is a far cry from what Torrie Wilson was doing during her time as one of WWE's top Divas.
Torrie Wilson was a veteran of many fan-voted Bikini Contests on WWE television and several Bra and Panties Matches in her era. During an interview with The Gautham Show, she explains that she never felt comfortable in those matches, nor would she expect anyone else to. While she does have moments where she appreciates that time in professional wrestling for what it was, she also says it was an uncomfortable way to ensure that TV time was maximized for the women of that era.
"Reflecting on the Bra and Panties Matches vs. the Women's Revolution, I was uncomfortable doing Bra and Panties Matches," she admits. "I mean, let's be real. Who really is comfortable ripping people's clothes off or having their clothes ripped off in front of a crowd to win a match? We used to have nightmares over this in grade school about going to school in our underwear. I lived that, and I have moments where I'm just like, 'It what is what it was.' It was all in fun. I definitely have a lot of those moments. I can appreciate it for what it was, but it was also really hard, too.
"We really wanted to be athletic and show that we could do things in the ring, and it's kind of like tying your hands behind your back when you're asking someone to wrestle and rip their pants or their top off and then continue to wrestle like an athlete and very skimpy bras and underwear," she continued. "It's stacking the odds against you for having anything super, but we sure tried."
Continuing, Wilson says that the women of her era didn't necessarily have a blueprint. Even the really good wrestlers didn't always know how to approach their roles in the company because it was never known how much time they would be given on a nightly basis or how quickly a lot of time would be cut short.
"I don't know that I feel like a pioneer. I guess in some sense I was because I was a part of that evolution," she said. "I feel like the evolution really showed up right after my departure. We had no blueprint when I was in wrestling. We didn't know really what our role was. Even the wrestler-wrestlers didn't really know what their role was always because there was never always room for us on the show, and if there was, our time would be quickly taken from us. So we just did whatever we could in the few minutes that we had to hopefully win over the fans and do something that would make the powers that be want to give us more time on the show. For me, that meant a lot of Bikini Contests and Bra and Panties Matches."
Gail Kim has also reflected on her time having to compete in those types of matchups. Read about her experience at this link.
Alexa Bliss has also given credit to the women who competed in that kind of match in the past. Learn more here.
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