Terri Runnels Says She Begged Vince McMahon Not to Make Her Wrestle in WWE

Terri Runnels didn’t sign up to be a wrestler—and according to her, WWE didn’t care.

The former WWE manager opened up in a recent interview with Ring The Belle, revealing she was thrown into televised matches with barely any preparation, despite making it clear she never wanted to wrestle. Runnels, who worked a number of matches between 1999 and 2003, said the experience was anything but enjoyable.

She described the moment she learned she would be wrestling on live TV with almost no notice.

“Imagine getting to TVs. You love managing, you love everything about what you do, and then all of the sudden, one day they go, ‘Tonight, you’re going to wrestle in front of millions of people on live television.’ Not to mention the thousands and thousands in the arena that are packed here. We’re going to teach you what you’re going to do in about 10 minutes from now. Yeah, it was brutal. I begged Vince, please don’t make me wrestle. Yeah, it was pretty clear that I was going to wrestle.”

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While many in WWE spend years training just to earn a match, Runnels made it clear she was the opposite. What she did enjoy, however, was taking bumps from the male wrestlers—even if that meant being launched across the arena.

“All these women and people want to be wrestlers and train for years and years just to be able to wrestle and I didn’t want to. I loved taking bumps from the guys, Kane picked me up from the neck and tossed me to the front row chairs, Dudleys put me through the table, great. But I did not want to wrestle and the bad thing was, I had to memorize it as if it were a ballet, which god forbid when they needed to go home early or stretch that match out, they’re like, ‘Terri is in the match, we can’t do either.’”

Her final in-ring appearance came in 2003 when she teamed with Lita to take on Gail Kim and Molly Holly.

Terri’s story sheds light on a time when WWE expected non-wrestlers to jump into the deep end without question. For her, the pressure was real—and the passion for wrestling just wasn’t there.

What do you think about Terri being pushed into matches against her will? Should WWE have handled things differently back then? Drop your thoughts in the comments and share your take.

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