Trivia / Torrie Wilson

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • The pairing with Billy Gunn in 2003 was her idea. She claims that Vince asked for a list of people she wanted to work with - and Billy Gunn's name was at the top of the list.
  • They also were going to get an actor to play her dad in the Dawn Marie storyline. Torrie instead suggested her own father, since he had acting experience.
• Corpsing: One of the biggest examples in wrestling, and a perfect snapshot of the friction between "blood n' guts" 'rasslin and reality TV starlets of today. One episode of Nitro had the "Macho Man" Randy Savage on a rampage backstage. He ran across Torrie snickering in a doorway and boxed her ear — hard. Rather than ground Torrie in the moment, the sharp blow caused her to laugh out loud—which was clearly picked up by the mic. We fade to black real quick; the boys in the production truck probably weren't happy to see Savage manhandling two women on a PG show.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: When she returned for Raw 25 and the 2018 Royal Rumble, Michael Cole said that Torrie Wilson debuted in the Attitude Era. Torrie actually made her debut during the WCW/ECW invasion storyline, and stayed with the WWE during the Ruthless Aggression era.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Doesn't look back on her time in WCW too fondly, due the cruel treatment she and the Nitro Girls suffered at the hands of Madusa.
  • She hated the scaffold match she did, because Madusa had threatened to push her off the scaffold if she didn't do things right.
  • The puppy love storyline with Carlito was uncomfortable for her because they were good friends and she found kissing him awkward.
• Executive Meddling: Torrie and the other Smackdown Divas were constantly clashing with the agents, who wanted them to be more Fanservicey (as Raw had the Women's Championship). The girls would put in work at live events and dark matches, only to discover they'd be put in bikini contests and bra & panties matches when it came to TV tapings.
• Funny Character, Boring Actor: A self-admitted example. Torrie Wilson on screen is bubbly and playful with everyone. Off screen, Torrie describes herself as incredibly shy. She also admits to growing up with an eating disorder and feeling incredibly out of place even when she was one of WWE's favourite Ms Fanservices.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • She had a run-in with Kimberly Page during her WCW days but didn't elaborate on why - just saying that she "hated me".
  • In her shoot interview Torrie claims that she had clashes with the Undertaker's then-wife Sara - during Sara's brief program in 2001. Apparently Sara suspected her of trying to flirt with her husband. Ironically, she's great friends with his next wife Michelle McCool.
  • Around the same time as the above Debra Marshall treated her similarly. She was good friends with Sara and the two ganged up on Torrie - who admitted to being starstruck around Stone Cold, which Debra mistook for flirting. Debra confirmed in a shoot interview that Sara outright told her Torrie was flirting, and this led to her having a shouting match in the locker room over it.
  • The tension between her and Sable was very real in 2004 (see below). Dawn Marie says she witnessed Sable bragging "my Playboy sold more copies than yours" to Torrie in the locker room.
  • Mickie James has said that Torrie was often looked down on by some of the women that came in after the Ruthless Aggression Era - particularly when it came to multi-Diva tag matches or battle royals. Torrie says that Mickie often went to bat for her, saying "Torrie's been here longer than any of you; she's not going out first."
• Irony as She Is Cast: Due to the amount of times jealous wives thought Torrie was flirting with their husbands, the one time it happened in a storyline - Hiroko thinking Torrie was trying to steal Kenzo Suzuki - Torrie describes herself and Hiroko as very good friends.
• I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: With both Molly Holly and Trish Stratus when she was in the Alliance. Molly had actually trained her to wrestle when she was a valet in WCW. Torrie and Trish had also been in magazines together in their modelling days.
• No-Hit Wonder: Is certainly well-remembered but she never actually held any titles in WWE and only ever had one Women's Championship match, which was Molly Holly defeating her on the July 11 (taped July 9), 2002 SmackDown!. She also got shots against Trish Stratus, Mickie James and Lita at house shows (non-televised events) in 2005 and 2006. On the TLC podcast (with Lilian Garcia and Candice Michelle), she stated that the only accolade she got in her career was the Golden Thong Award from the 2002 Divas Undressed special. But she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019 due to her popularity in the 2000s (supported by the thunderous cheers she received when appearing in the 2018 Women's Royal Rumble).
• Old Shame:
  • A general case. She says she regrets a lot of things she did on TV.
  "I can't believe I was in a thong bikini out there in front of all those kids".
  • When shown a video of her entrance with Lilian Garcia for the bikini contest against Sable, Torrie burst out laughing over how bad the dancing was.
  • Subverted with appearing in Playboy. She was happy to do it and knew it would be too good an opportunity to pass up.
• Playing Against Type: She was a face for most of her WWE career. She came in as a heel with the Alliance but turned face after a few months. Her 2005 heel turn was something she had been pitching for a while.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: A long standing rumor on the internet is that Torrie was supposed to be the first Divas' Champion. The rumor seems to be conflicting two different stories; the first is one Torrie gave in her shoot interview, where she stated that Vince okayed a storyline she pitched about becoming Women's Champion. The second is that allegedly, her and Krissy Vaine were going to feud over it (all Krissy knows is that her attack on Torrie was supposed to write her off TV for a while). When asked about the rumor in 2019, Torrie said she had no idea if that was the case (but also admits she has a poor memory). Lending credence to the rumor is the title not officially being introduced until Torrie announced her retirement - as she was in limbo for a while with her injury and opted to leave after WrestleMania 24 to pursue other things.
• Real-Life Relative: Her father Al Wilson, who kayfabe-married Torrie's rival Dawn Marie in late 2002. He left the angle via Out with a Bang.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Torrie was noticeably absent from the Fulfil Your Fantasy battle royal at Taboo Tuesday 2005, despite being advertised for it, due to reasons detailed below.
• Reality Subtext: In 2004 Sable and Torrie became friends and posed for Playboy together, but Sable turned heel on her months later when she was annoyed that Torrie was chosen to promote the Great American Bash and not her. This was a reflection of what happened backstage, according to Torrie. Sable was initially friendly to her but they fell out after the magazine came out, culminating in a big shouting match backstage where Sable accused her of trying to steal her spotlight.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Subverted closely in 2005. A family member of hers fell ill and she immediately had to leave to attend to them. This was right before a Raw and PPV that she was advertised for and - through sheer bad luck - she wasn't able to reach anyone from the office to notify them. She was fired and then hired back pretty soon. Torrie theorises that they would have looked very bad if they'd fired her for that reason. At the time, a few wrestling news sites picked up on her profile being removed from WWE.com, but the company claimed it was due to technical difficulties with the website (and Torrie herself made a joke online about whether they fired her and forgot to tell her). A similar situation happened with Emma in 2014 where she was fired for accidentally shoplifting an iPad case and then hired back two hours later.
• Romance on the Set:
  • With Billy Kidman, though they split up in 2008.
  • In kayfabe with Yoshihiro Tajiri.
• What Could Have Been:
  • She left WCW in the last six months of the company but she was supposed to stay on. According to her, they wanted to cut her pay but give her more work - so she opted to leave. Luckily for her, WWE came calling when the company folded.
  • For her bikini contest against Sable, they asked her if she would wear rhinestones covering her nipples - as a Call-Back to Sable wearing hand pasties in a contest once did. She refused and just wore a smaller bikini underneath.
  • There was also a planned program between herself and Krissy Vaine that was dropped after two weeks due to Krissy's departure from the company.
  • Back when she was in WCW she had previously known Trish Stratus from their fitness modelling days. So just before Trish had signed to a major company, Torrie claims she pulled some strings to get WCW to offer Trish a contract.
  • Trish has said that WWE once asked her to do a lesbian storyline with Torrie. She turned it down, feeling it didn't serve any purpose beyond Fanservice.
  • In her shoot interview she claims approaching Vince with a storyline idea that would have ended with her becoming Women's Champion. Vince apparently okayed the idea but it never happened.
  • When her back injury was discovered, WWE initially suggested having Torrie remain in a non-wrestling capacity - acting as a PR figure for the company. Torrie opted to leave altogether.