Wrestling legend, Fit Finlay recently spoke with WWE’s The Bump where he opened up about his role in helping the women’s division improve.
Finlay has had a backstage role in WWE for a while now with his first producer opportunities coming back in 2001. During that period he has worked heavily with WWE’s women’s division and he has often been credited for the impact he has had.
“Well, it first started when I came to WWE in 2001-2002, as a producer. I was given the task of working with the girls,” Finlay noted on the latest episode of WWE’s The Bump. “As you know, during those years it was all bra and panties, lingerie matches. Whatever gimmick match it was, I had to work with the girls. It was sort of embarrassing to me. I knew I was not what the girls wanted. I started teaching them how to wrestle and got them all together and said ‘Hey, I don’t really like to do this. I don’t like to tell you how to strip yourselves off in a match. It’s alien to me for one, and it’s degrading to you.’ So, I came up with a plan to start putting on wrestling matches and teaching them all the ins and outs.
“I would get my wrists slapped here and again from people, who would say ‘We don’t want the girls wrestling like the guys. We want them pulling each other’s hair and all that kind of stuff.’ So, they would go back to pulling hair one day and wrestling the next. So, it stubbornly grew throughout the years, it started getting better. But, all the girls put everything into it. They started listening to me. I didn’t have any resistance towards them, so, they all pulled it out and it was a success.”
H/T to WrestlingInc.com for the transcriptions.