Trish Stratus recently looked back on one of the more controversial moments of WWE’s Diva era, sharing her honest reaction to Christy Hemme being promoted as a “champion” on the cover of Playboy.

Speaking with Inside The Ropes, the WWE Hall of Famer explained how the announcement landed backstage, especially with the women who were working hard to establish themselves as legitimate wrestlers.

“Can I tell you one interesting moment? I do remember one thing. When they did the Playboy cover, and there was like, what did it say at the top? It was like ‘Cover Champion’ or something.”

According to Stratus, the women in the locker room were far from pleased with the title. On camera they smiled and played along, but privately it struck a nerve.

“And so there, internally, just between us guys, when we saw the cover, the wrestling girls were like, ‘Oh hell no.’ You know? But we’re like, ‘Oh, I love your cover, I love your cover, it’s so nice, it’s cool.’”

That frustration eventually bubbled over into her work on WWE television. Trish revealed that when she got a live microphone, she slipped in a pointed line for her peers.

“So yeah, when I went out there, that was not planned. But it was almost like my wink to the girls, like, ‘Watch this, girls.’ So I’m like, ‘You ain’t no champion!’ I don’t know why I spoke in this weird southern… I don’t know. ‘You ain’t no champion, honey!’ I don’t know what that is.”

For Stratus, it was not about mocking Hemme personally, but about setting the record straight on what it meant to truly hold that status.

“So that was a little moment for the girls that I was like, ‘Yeah, right. She’s not. Because she’s not a champion.’”

“Why’d they call her champion? She’s not a champion. Must be clear. Just be clear. She was not a champ. She’s a champion of the Diva Search. But they didn’t imply that. They were saying ‘champion’, you know, like, as in what I was. I was the champion, sir.”