Stratusfaction: The Career Of Trish Stratus

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Trish Stratus was born Patricia Anne Stratigias on December 18, 1975. She's a former fitness model but wrestling fans remember her as one of the most popular female wrestlers in history.

Trish began her professional career as a fitness model, and began working for then then named World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2000. In the beginning she was mostly involved in sexually themed storylines, and managed the team of T & A which consisted of Andrew "Test" Martin and Albert. She had an on screen affair with Vince McMahon, the chairman of the WWE board of directors. As she began to spend more time in the squared circle rather than in ridiculous storylines, her wrestling skills as well as popularity grew by leaps and bounds.

Trish is a former WWE Hardcore champion, a championship that has fallen by the wayside in recent years and three time "WWE Babe of the Year and was named "Diva of the Decade." More important than all those accomplishments, Trish is a seven time WWE women's champion. No other woman has held that title that many times.

Stratus mader her debut as a heel (bad guy or gal) in March of 2000 on Sunday Night Heat, a WWE syndicated program. She began to scout superstars, in particular Test and Prince Albert. On Raw the following evening she appeared on Raw and was the manager of the tag team. During her run as a wrestling manager, Trish received her first action in the ring or what is known as a bump. In typical Dudley Boyz fashion, Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley grew tired of Stratus constant interferance and distractions and finally drover her through a table. She managed Val Venis to the Intercontinental championship but that didn't last long due to Venis losing the title at Summer Slam.

On June 20, 2000, Trish debuted on Smackdown as a wrestler. She teamed with T&A against the Hardy Boyz and Lita. A storyline feud developed between Trish and Lita after Trish attacked Lita on both Raw and Smackdown. They had a "Indian Strap Match" on the July 24 edition of Raw which Trish won with an assist from the "Billiondollar Princess", Stephanie McMahon.

After the turn of the year, Stratus became involved in an angle/storyline with WWE chairman Vince McMahon, during a time when Vince's wife Linda was instituionalized (storyline only) after demanding a divorce from Vince. The affair between McMahon and Stratus angered the Chairman's daughter, Stephanie and at the No Way Out PPV Stephanie and Trish locked horns with the younger McMahon getting the victory afer William Regal interfered. Trish was set up by the cunning Mr. McMahon. In doing so, he had Trish teaming with Vince and Trish against Regal and Stephanie. The set up was as follows: Regal turned on his partner and executed the "Regal Cutter" and Stephanie dumped sewage over her body lying on the mat. Vince stood over her proclaiming "that she was a toy that he had grown tired of playing with and that it was over." The following week on Raw, Vince ordered Trish to strip to her black underwear and bark like a dog in the middle of the ring. At Wrestlemania X-Seven, Status slapped the fire out of Vince during his match with son Shane and became an instant fan favorite at the same time.

After that, Stratus began to wrestle full time. She won a Bra and Panties match with Lita against Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson. However, during the summer she injured her ankle and was out of action for about three months. Upon her comeback in the fall of that year, she won the first of her seven Women's championships at Survivor Series. She next feuded with Jazz and defended her title successfully until February of 2002, losing it to Jazz on Raw. In her attempts to regain the championship she managed to win the WWE Hardcore Championship in May by pinning Crash Holly after he was hit over the head by Bubba Ray Dudley with a trash can lid. There was a stipulation that that particular title was to be defended on a 24/7 basis as long as there was a referee present. She finally lost the title to Stevie Richards.

Soon, Stratus was keep the women's title until June 23 when she was defeated by Molly Holly at King of the Ring. For the next three months the two divas battled it out for the championship and Status finally captured it for the third time at Unforgiven. Next up for the champion: Victoria. The storyline feud developed due to a grudge that Victoria had against Trish while they were fitness models. Trish defended successfully until Survivor Series until she and Victoria had a hardcore match with the champion losing.

Wrestlemanian XIX came and Trish Stratus continued to add to her legacy by becoming a four time Women's champion, thus equaling the total of championships The Fabulous Moolah had over her long storied career.

In 2002, Trish began a storyline romance with Chris Jericho during a November episode of Raw when she agreed to go on a date with him. They participated in many mixed tag team matches. After a match one evening, Trish overheard Jericho talking with Christian who was also involved in a storyline romance with Lita a bet the two had made. The bet was who would sleep with their woman first. The following week, both Stratus and Lita confronted the two and it ended up a match between the guys and the gals. The women lost.

At Bad Blood Trish captured her record setting 5th Women's championship. She broke her hand several weeks later and missed about a month of action. After recovering from the injury, she defended the title against Lita and lost on a Decemeber Raw episode. However, her sixth reign came the following month when she regained the title at New Year's Revolution.

Around 2005, Trish began teaming with her "biggest fan" Mickie James. The story developed that James was obsessed with her idol and on December 26, the storyline between Stratus and James developed into a lesbian one with James initiated an intimate kiss while they were under some misletoe.

Their odd relationship continued well into 2006. Trish was becoming more and more uncomfortable with James obsessing over her finally explaining to the future women's champion that she needed some space. During a match pitting Candice Michelle and Victoria versus Mickie James and Trish Stratus, James turned on her mentor and the object of her affections.

They went on to face each other at Wrestlemania 22 with James winning her first WWE Women's championship. During Backlash, Trish dislocated her shoulder after a bad fall outside the ring and missed about six weeks.

She returned in June and started an on screen romance with Carlito after he saved her from a double team attack by Melina and Johnny Nitro (Now John Morrison). In August, Lita announced that Trish would retire after Unforgiven, which Stratus later confirmed. On September 17, in front of her hometown of Toronto Canada, Trish Stratus defeated Lita after Lita tapped out to Trish's "Sharpshooter" and becoming the seven time WWE Women's champion. She retired as champion.

Since her retirement Trish has made a couple of appearances on WWE programming. First, on the 2007 15th Anniversary show where she interupted along with Lita the awful singing of Jillian Hall. After attacking her they celebrated together. In December of 2008, she wrestled for the first time since her retirement when she teaming with John Cena defeated Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix. About a month or so ago, Trish was "guest host" on Raw when they appeared in Toronto. She was involved in a six person tag match with herself, MVP and Mark Henry against Jericho, Big Show and Beth Phoenix. They got the win by the way.

Trish Stratus is of Greek and Polish descent and is the oldest of three daughters to her parents, John and Alice Stratigias. Trish married her longtime boyfriend Ron on September 30, 2006 and the guest list was a who's who of WWE superstars and former superstars: Lita, Ashley, Ivory, Molly Holly Mickie James and Lillian Garcia to name a few. Her bridal gown was featured on a Today's Bride magazine.

To her credit, Stratus has refused to pose for Playboy magazine, preferring to be remembered for her ring accomplishments. Trish has been active with many charities including the Ronald McDonald House, Dreams Take Flight and the Special Olympics.