STW - Trish Stratus [Show Notes] (Patreon)

On today’s Something to Wrestle...we’re here to talk about one of the founding members of T&A...Trish Stratus!

Patricia Anne Stratigeas is born on December 18, 1975 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada continuing the trend of very good wrestlers to come from Canada. Do you think it’s something in the water up there?

She’s said she was a long time wrestling fan and grew up a fan of Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage. Do you think that wrestling is such a big part of the Canadian culture you tend to get those people more invested up front?

The first mention of Trish Stratus in wrestling folklore is in the Observer from an interview she had on “Off the Record” with Michael Lansberg in January 1999. Trish is a fitness model at the time and when she’s interviewed she talks about how she’s in been in talks about joining the WWF as a valet. When does Trish first get on the WWF’s radar and your radar Bruce?

Was it a long recruitment? It seems from the time that interview happens to the time she actually comes to a deal it’s months. What was the hold up?

It’s reported in the Observer that throughout 1999 the WWF & WCW are both going after her. Did that play a part or do you think it was just a negotiation tacit?

From her first interview where she talks about being a valet to actually becoming a wrestler was that always the plan or did it evolve into that?

From the Observer in early December 1999:

“Fitness model Trish Stratus, who was backstage at WCW’s Mayhem PPV and worked on the LAW wrestling radio/internet show has been signed to a three-year developmental deal with the idea that she'd be an in-ring wrestler with the proviso that no nudity is involved. Stratus has been training for about six weeks in Toronto with Ron Hutchison but has been interested in doing wrestling for a lot longer than that”

The no nudity clause is a peculiar one. Although Playboy was a heavy part of the WWF product between Sable and Chyna for example Trish made it a point that that was too far. Was that a normal clause for women at that time?

Who encouraged Trish to go train with Ron Hutchinson? Was that the WWF encouraging her or maybe some other forces?

The next week it’s reported in the Observer that she had sprained her ankle in training. Is there a thought process when as soon as you sign somebody that they get hurt that it could be a sign of things to come?

How far in advance of Trish’s debut that the plans were moving forward? Was it always to pair her with Test & Albert as T&A as the rumor and innuendo was she was pitched to be a porn star and be with Val Venis.

She debuts on Sunday Night Heat on March 19th, 2000 scouting Test and Albert during their matches. The next night on Monday Night Raw T&A is formed with Trish leading them. From the Observer:

“Stratus announced her new T&A team. Her delivery of the interview all of a sudden made such lucid talkers as Sable, B.B. and Terri look like The Rock. Her lines she was given were lame to begin with but even with fair warning, no words can describe how bad her performance was.”

Trish’s first appearance was a little...stiff to say the least. Was there a worry about putting her in front of a crowd and a live TV audience to talk or do you think it was just first night jitters?

Trish’s PPV debut is at WrestleMania 2000 managing Test & Albert against the team of Head Cheese, Al Snow & Steve Blackman. It was important to get Trish going right out of the gate and no better way than to make a big splash at a WrestleMania right?

Was she put on TV too fast?

T&A begins a feud with the Dudleys and it’ll lead to Trish’s first bump on TV...a powerbomb through a table on the Backlash PPV.

From the Observer..”She apparently has asked for Buh Buh to not protect her as obviously as he's done for the other women so she'd take more of the bump, which he was a little reluctant to do, but agreed to it, as I guess she wanted to get over as someone who can do her own stunts.”

How impressive is she at this point to be this early in her career taking these bumps and asking to be planted instead of completely protected?

She takes a stinkface from Rikishi during the summer. It was just her turn wasn’t it?

Val Venis is also paired with Trish just a few months later. Is the basis for this because he’s feuding with Eddie Guerrero and Eddie has Chyna and you’re hoping some of that will rub off on Trish?

Trish makes her in-ring debut on a Smackdown taping in Memphis with Test, Albert & Trish against the Hardys & Lita. Was she ring ready at this point or the 6-person tag done mostly to hide her?

Lita and Trish do a singles street fight match on Raw that ends in 1:22 when Lita hits her with a moonsault and takes Trish’s shirt off and Stevie Richards as part of the RTC comes out to cover her up. Best to keep her first singles match on live TV short right?

The ratings seem to be going up every time Lita & Trish are on TV so let’s put them in the main event of Raw. Rock teams with Lita to face HHH & Trish with Trish being pinned by Lita after the moonsault. Afterwards Rock lays out HHH who lands in a 69 position with Trish. It’s good to be the boss isn’t it Bruce?

The next TV is the infamous Triple H with Trish backstage scene with Stephanie interrupting. Triple H is showing her some moves and ends up being behind Trish while she’s bent over and Stephanie comes in...and whoo boy Brucey. How good were all 3 in this scene?

How happy was the front office with how quickly Trish has become something and who was the first to notice it?

Trish and Val team up to face Eddie & Chyna at SummerSlam where the winner of the match will become the Intercontinental Champion. Chyna pins Trish to win the belt (even though Val is the champion). Smart creative here as you don’t beat Val, Eddie doesn’t win it, Chyna becomes the first female champion and everyone wins right?

This causes Val to dump Trish. Not the smartest career move for Val.

Trish kind of hangs around with T&A the rest of the year but she has super outgrown them by now don’t you think?

Chyna buries Trish on an Off the Record interview saying she was just hired for looks. How much heat is on Chyna after this comment and how much of a problem with it did Trish have?

Who pushes to break Trish away from T&A? How happy was Vince with her performance because we all know what’s coming next…

Trish & Vince start coming together as an “item.” Who’s idea was it and why was it Vince’s?

Stephanie starts punishing Trish by putting her in matches with Jacquline. How easy was putting together the Vince - Stephanie - Trish segments?

This builds to Stephanie vs. Trish at No Way Out 2001. How much prep went into this match beforehand and how hands on was everyone to make sure it went good?

From the Observer regarding the match…

“3. Stephanie McMahon pinned Trish Stratus in 8:30. This match was a miracle. Vince set it up telling Regal "you know what to do," but Regal had no clue what that meant. Stratus took all the real bumps. The moves they did, like clotheslines and DDTs, power bomb all looked decent. It at no point looked any worse than Chyna and at some points may have been better. They did the requisite stuff with Trish's shorts being pulled off showing her thong panties. No shirts pulled off. Regal came out and tripped ref Jimmy Korderas and put Stratus on top, but then put McMahon's leg on the ropes and informed the ref. Stratus was mad and slapped Regal. Regal gave her a neckbreaker and left, allowing McMahon to get the pin. After the match, Vince said he wanted a tag match with he and Trish against Regal & Stephanie. **¼”

The creative of this match is great between the Vince promo before hand telling Regal he knows what to do, the match being well above what it should’ve been for both girls, and the smart finish. Does a performance like this give everyone the confidence they need in Trish moving forward?

So let’s talk about the elephant in the room for this time period. The infamous Vince McMahon-Trish Stratus promo where Vince yells at her to take her top off and bark like a dog. What the fuck Bruce?

From the Observer…

“Trish came out like she was going to stand up to Vince, but when he showed up, she begged him for forgiveness.The more heelish Vince got, the cooler he was because he represented their revenge on every pretty girl who in some form spurned them in their lives and they lived through Vince is making her humiliate herself. Not only that, but see her undress at the same time. I will say that I was very glad I was warned about this segment ahead of time because if anyone was in the room with me when it took place, it would have been terribly embarrassing on so many levels to be a wrestling fan. Vince told her to get on all fours and bark, which she did. He told her to take her clothes off, which she did, leaving her in her underwear. He told her to take her top off, and she teased she would before Vince said the fans didn't deserve to see it, put his coat on her and led her away. Stephanie later ordered the subservient Stratus to leave the building and get coffee for her. It's a take-off on an old wrestling angle where the heels make life hell for a face because they've got something on them, the longer the better, until the face finally rebels.”

Lot to unpack here. Canada does not allow the segment on TV. Bob Costas interviews Vince later on and asks him about the segment in another infamous Vince interview on HBO. Was the heat worth the segment in the long run?

Did Trish voice any objections to the angle or segment?

We get to WrestleMania and Trish gets one of the biggest pops when she turns on Vince and slaps him in his match against Shane before Linda tops her pop by awakening from the dead to cost Vince the match. In just one year Trish went from managing Test & Albert to being part of Vince vs. Shane at WrestleMania. Gonna be hard to top that isn’t it?

Trish turns face out of this and then focuses on her in-ring career. She teams with Lita against the evil WCW women Stacy Kiebler & Torrie Wilson at Invasion in a double bra and panties match. Yup.

She hurts her ankle which puts her on the shelf until the fall when she returns at Survivor Series for the 6-pack women’s challenge to win her first WWE Women’s Title which is the re-introduction of the title after Chyna leaves! This was a way to reintroduce her to the audience after the injury and get her going again correct?

She fueds with Jazz over the title and then drops the belt to her before WrestleMania in her hometown of Toronto where she takes on Jazz & Lita in a three-way but doesn’t win the title. Why not go back to Trish here in her hometown?

Trish wins the Hardcore Title by pinning Crash Holly and then loses it to Stevie Richards after the brand extension puts her on Raw.

She defeats Jazz in a tag team match to win the Women’s Title...what’s up with all the singles titles changing hands in a tag team match?

She drops the belt to Molly Holly. The two of them had tremendous chemistry together. How good was Molly?

Stratus begins to feud with Victoria and also becomes an on-screen girlfriend of Jeff Hardy when he saves her from an attack on Victoria & Stevie Richards. The Victoria feud peaks at the classic Survivor Series hardcore match. From the Observer:

“3. Victoria beat Trish Stratus in a hardcore match to win the womens title in 7:01. Lots of hard garbage can lid shots. They tied garbage cans to all four posts allowing the two to get whipped into them. Stratus did some cane shots. Victoria got a bloody nose, apparently from being whipped into the steps. Lots of missed moves here including Stratus doing one of the most messed up bulldog headlocks in pro wrestling history. Victoria pulled out a fire extinguisher and went to spray. The first time it didn’t work. Second time it did, and then Victoria got the pin after a vertical suplex. *¼”

I don’t know Bruce. I remembered this match a lot better than Dave’s review of it. What did you think of it?

The on-air relationship between her & Jeff ends when he’s released and we just move on like it never happened. She wins the Women’s Title back at WrestleMania and drops it back at Backlash to Jazz and Eric Bischoff setups a match between himself & Trish which is no DQ. If Trish wins she gets her championship rematch...and if he wins she has to spend a night with him. Eric wins...but Linda cancels the stip. What in the hell is going on here Bruce?

Trish & Lita are now friends and they start to date Chris Jericho & Christian where Stratus and Jericho are into each other. This somehow leads to Armageddon with Trish & Lita vs Jericho & Christian. Shocking enough the men win. Jericho and Christian’s friendship ends over it and leads to WrestleMania XX with Jericho vs Christian where Trish turns on Jericho after the match and makes out with Christian on stage. What a heel!

Tyson Tomko is put with Christian & Trish. Do you think they needed a heater?

Trish wins the Women’s Title for the 5th time at Bad Blood but breaks her hand afterwards and doesn’t have the title stripped. Was it because it would screw up a long time storyline?

Trish & Lita main event Monday Night Raw on December 6th with the Women’s Title on the line. Lita wins which is one of the bigger moments for women on Raw at that point. Lita and Trish are booked against each other at New Year’s Revolution where Lita blows out her knee and Trish pins her to end the match quickly. What was the reaction like backstage when that happens?

Trish was supposed to lose the title back to Lita at WrestleMania before the injury is that correct?

So since Lita is injured the pivot is to make Trish jealous over Christy Hemme’s Playboy spread and her exposure from it. Trish attacks her and spray paints SLUT across her back. So the person who gets SLUT spray painted on her back gets her revenge at WrestleMania...by losing to Trish? What’s up with that?

Lita’s “husband” Kane attacks Trish which leads to Viscera saving Trish from him. Bruce...what a combo that is.

Trish gets hurt and the storyline excuse is from Viscera splashing Trish after she insulted him. It’s a herniated disc injury and she’s out for 4 months but the Women’s Title never gets stripped from her. Did you guys just not believe in anyone else on the Women’s side to put the title on them?

Trish returns for a short feud with Melina before we meet Mickie James! Who came up with this idea of the Trish & Mickie saga and did you get any objection from the women?

Who’s doing the creative for the weekly twists & turns this does?

They go from friends with overtones of a possible relationship to Mickie making a move on Trish on the December 26th episode of Raw under mistletoe with a kiss. How much did Vince love this?

Trish asks for space and Mickie gives it but attacks her after a match to build to WrestleMania. Mickie James ends Trish’s 448 day streak and becomes the new Women’s Champion. This is the infamous match where Mickie grabs Trish’s crotch and licks her fingers. It’s considered one of the better women’s title matches up until that point. What was the reaction internally to the match and your thoughts on it?

They rematch at Backlash where Trish legit dislocates her shoulder. She’s out for 6 weeks but doesn’t come off TV. Why is that?

Trish is put into an on-screen romance with Carlito. Was there a particular reason for this pairing?

Out of nowhere there’s speculation that Trish is working towards retirement. When did you first hear about this and what was the reaction internally towards it? Any heat?

She finishes up at Unforgiven in her hometown of Toronto and defeats Lita via the sharpshooter to regain the Women’s Title for the 7th and final time. She gets a very classy goodbye from the crowd and the company. Was this a fitting end to the 6 year run of Trish Stratus in your mind?

She was married in 2006 to Ron Fisico. Do you think the marriage had anything to do with it?

You’re gone with the company when Trish is inducted into the Hall of Fame. Did you see it and obviously you know she deserved to be in there but her impact on the WWE as a star is so long lasting she’s probably a legit pioneer for the company don’t you think?

She’s back for guest appearances and one offs including being in the first Women’s Royal Rumble. How much do you think the current locker room looks up to her?

She returns for a match against Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam. How nice was it to have her back and what are your thoughts on her match?

If you could sum up Trish’s career and impact on the business how would you?