On the latest episode of Something to Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard was asked about the infamous bra and panties matches of the Attitude Era. Below are some highlights (via 411Mania):
Prichard on if Vince Russo was the originator of bra and panties matches:
“Hmm. I don’t know, that’s a good question. He definitely liked to see them, but I’m pretty sure we had bra and panties matches before Vince Russo.”
On talking with the Women’s talent when they were booked in the bra and panties matches:
“Well, as far as that goes, you would usually try to let them know ahead of time. Because they would like to make sure that their body was exactly as they like it. Train even a little bit more. They might have had something that covered their body more so than they wrestled or whatever they did, so make sure they were tanned, and things like that. We always let the ladies know if there was going to be a bikini shoot, or a bra and panties match coming up, just so they could be as prepared as they possibly could. But you’d always ask them.”
On if anyone had issues with being in bra and panties matches:
“I don’t remember really — there might have been one or two down the line at some point for one reason or not that wasn’t comfortable doing it. But for the most part, they were comfortable doing it. It’s like guys that work out really hard and they want to show their body. And women who have a beautiful body, they want to show it. They want to show off their body, and show off their hard work.”
On a related note, Bruce spoke about the narrative that Vince McMahon sees Smackdown as the ‘B Show’. Here is what he said to say.