Wednesday 6 March 2019 13:23, UK
Torrie Wilson has defended WWE's decision to induct her into their Hall of Fame as part of the 2019 class next month.
The company had faced some criticism for choosing to induct Wilson at the ceremony which takes place as part of WrestleMania weekend in April.
The 43-year-old, who moved to the then-WWF from WCW as part of the 2001 buy-out, never held a championship during her run and was often involved in matches which were deemed highly sexualised.
She also appeared in Playboy magazine and had a "kimono match" during a tour of Japan in which the object was the remove the opponent's kimono to secure victory.
But Wilson says the negative response to her Hall of Fame induction shows a lack of understanding about the nature of the sports entertainment business in the early 2000s.
"I think some of the people that are angry are the same people that are forgetting that this is an entertainment show," she said in an interview on Busted Open radio.
"And I was not calling the shots backstage going, 'Hey Vince, can I please wrestle in a bikini tonight?' I actually was out there with Fit Finlay going 'okay, what's the most athletic match I can put together with a bikini on?'"
Wilson added: "I don't know if it's human nature, I believe that it is. Fear kind of runs our world. Immediately when I hung up the phone I sat there and thought like, I basically started putting together this list of all the things I'm not. I was never a champion.
"But there are a lot of things that I am. I'm not Charlotte Flair, I'm not jumping off ladders, but I am Torrie Wilson and I did have something to bring to the table. I think for most people, we are just too quick to start looking at the negatives and losing focus on what we can bring to the table."
