I was actually surprised that Triple H did not win this poll for the next mixtape. Whether it was just one troll who voted for her sixty times or whatever, I’m still down because I do dig Trish. I mean, how do you not find her attractive???

Sorry guys, trying to keep this site SFW. Well, as SFW as I can. There’s about to be a chick talking dirty about tables in a few minutes.

But yes, Trish Stratus isn’t just lovely in almost every way possible, she is the PROTOTYPE for the 21st century lady wrestler. While there have been some very attractive ladies inside the wrestling business in the past, this fitness model turned wrestler proved she had all the necessary tools to become a success in wrestling. Trish Stratus was the complete package in almost every sense of the word and that’s why she is deserving of our next mixtape.

• Trish Stratus debut – (WWF Sunday Night Heat, 3/19/00)
  

We pick up during a Test versus Gangrel match. What a barnburner we have here, amirite? Here comes Trish Stratus walking down the aisle in all her glory. Cole mentions all the rumors on the internet about Trish appearing here tonight, but he doesn’t know why she’s here. She just stands there halfway down the ramp in a citified pink cowgirl outfit and watches the match. Kevin Kelly calls Trish a “vision of loveliness”. The classy crowd is already asking to see her puppies. Test hits the Full Nelson Slam to set up the FLYING ELBOW for the three-count. Trish locks her eyes on Test and nods in approval. Test and Trish come face to face in the aisle. He seems very interested in whatever she has on her mind. Skip ahead to a Prince Albert versus Joey Abs match. Trish Stratus comes out wearing a different outfit this time. We find that apparently Michael Cole enjoys the cowgirl look? Hey, everybody has got their thing. Joey gets distracted by this vision of loveliness and nearly gets pinned for looking at her too long. Albert gives Joey a neckbreaker off his shoulders and pins him. Kevin Kelly thinks Trish is interested in the Mean Street Posse, but she seems infinitely more interested in Prince Albert right now.

Here is Trish Stratus messing around with Buh Buh Ray Dudley. He’s got a fetish for putting chicks through tables, you see. Trish is doing what she can to take his mind off the upcoming Dudleyz/T&A match at Backlash. This isn’t all the table videos, but I think you get the idea. I don’t think it requires much more explaining. Just enjoy.

• Test & Albert (w/Trish Stratus) vs. The Dudley Boyz – (Backlash 2000)
  

Buh Buh Ray and D-Von BUM RUSH THE SHOW to start. Buh Buh chases after Trish, but he’s surprised by Test to end his advances. Back inside, the Dudleys own Albert for a while with clotheslines and punches and what have you. Double suplex to Albert sets up the WHAT’S UP headbutt. It doesn’t quite have the charismatic setup that it will later on, but the result is the same. It’s a flying headbutt to the balls. Albert finally shuts down D-Von with a Bicycle Kick. Tag to Test, they show some double-teaming skills as Albert avalanches D-Von and then sends him into a WOTSILLA BOOT for two. Gutwrench Powerbomb by Test, but he doesn’t really follow it up. Nice double-team move as T&A flip D-Von over for a slam. That gets two. More double-teaming as Albert powerslams D-Von as Test gets launched on top of him for another nearfall. D-Von hits a desperate swinging neckbreaker and reaches Buh Buh Ray for the tag, but Albert steps into the ring to prevent ref Jimmy Korderas from seeing anything. More D-Von domination to follow. At one point, D-Von gets a flying sunset flip on Albert, but only gets two. Albert pops up and hits D-Von with a sitout powerbomb for another nearfall. Up top, Albert gets distracted by Buh Buh talking trash. D-Von brings Albert down with a superplex and HOT TAGS BUH BUH RAY! He’s a house of fire and hits a Samoan Drop on Test. D-Von dumps out Albert so that the Dudleyz can hit Test with the Reverse 3D. Of course, it doesn’t get the pinfall. Albert comes in and gives Buh Buh the BALDO BOMB. That sets up the FLYING ELBOW from Test, but D-Von pulls Buh Buh out of harm’s way. Albert gets tossed again and in mid-3D, Buh Buh spies Trish taking her robe off on the apron and can’t resist a closer look. Oh boy. Test drops D-Von with a DDT. As Buh Buh turns around, Test levels him with the WOTSILLA BOOT for the upset win over the former WWF tag champs. (11:10) Afterwards, T&A are destroyed with 3Ds. Trish is pulled around by her hair. She tries to get out while the getting’s good, but Buh Buh grabs her at the last second. D-VON, GET THE TABLE. The crowd is going nuts. While D-Von sets up the table, Trish grabs Buh Buh to kiss him back into the trance. It works just as it has in the past, but for only like a second. As Trish starts to walk away as proud as can be, Buh Buh grabs her again and walks her over to the table for her to receive her powerbomb. After the deed is done, the blank look on Buh Buh’s face turns to elation. This feels kinda rapey though nowadays, amirite? Maybe he still thinks he’s in ECW. Trish does a stretcher job, of course. Nothing special, but a decent match from two teams you wouldn’t expect. **½

• Trish Stratus, Test & Albert vs. The Hardy Boyz & Lita – (Smackdown, 6/22/00)
  

This is the in-ring debut for Trish the Thursday before King of the Ring where T&A will be involved in a four-way elimination match over the WWF tag titles. She starts off talking trash at Lita and gets chased around ringside until T&A save the day. Lita slaps Test back into a double suplex from the Hardyz. Albert receives Poetry in Motion. Memphis is HOT TONIGHT, folks. They try to give Test the same treatment, but he boots Jeff down. Albert boots Matt down as well. Trish gets tagged in and slaps Jeff around. Lita tries to go after her, but she’s pushed back thanks to the ref. Trish then sneaks over and shoves Lita off the apron as Cole calls her a “witch”. Trish retreats to her corner as T&A launch Jeff into the air. Jeff gets dominated for a bit until he avoids a corner charge from Albert. Hot tag to Matt, and the match breaks down. Jeff can’t quite get a tornado DDT on Albert, but Matt can. As Albert rolls out to the floor, Jeff connects with a somersault plancha. Trish stops a Twist of Fate on Test, but then Lita grabs Trish and slings her down to the mat. TWIST OF FATE to Test! Now Lita gives Trish the Twist of Fate as well. She lays Trish on top of Test for the SWANTON BOMB from Jeff! Matt and Lita both cover Test and Trish, but Albert punches down Jeff and breaks up the pin. While T&A and the Hardyz brawl to the floor, the LITASAULT takes out Trish. Since there’s no ref to count the pinfall, Albert breaks away and gives Lita the BALDO BOMB. He puts Trish on top of Lita and now the ref is available to count the 1-2-3. (4:32) TRISH WINS! TRISH WINS! Lots of action and a hot crowd to boot make for an entertaining time. **

• Strap Match: Trish Stratus vs. Lita – (Raw is War, 7/24/00)
  

The six week long feud between these two have led us here. Last night at Fully Loaded, Trish whipped Lita with a belt after T&A and Trish lost the mixed tag match against the Hardyz. This is not your traditional strap match as Trish and Lita are just armed with leather straps. Lita spanks Trish a bunch on the back with her strap and takes her top off. Don’t get too excited – Trish has a bra on. The ref gets in the way of one of the whippings and gets hit in the eye. Twist of Fate and the LITASAULT, but of course the ref is still out. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley comes down to whack Lita with her WWF women’s title. When she gets caught, Lita scares her back into the corner. Trish gets nailed by Lita, but then Lita turns around and eats the women’s title belt. SMH puts Trish on top of Lita and of course the ref wakes up and counts the pinfall. (1:38) Just about what you were expecting. Trish has only been in the business for four months and only wrestled a few times, so you can’t expect top notch at this point. This is all leading to Lita getting the Women’s title anyways right before SummerSlam. ½*

On the following week’s Smackdown, we catch Triple H teaching Trish Stratus how to escape a hammerlock. Things get a little messy when HHH’s wife Stephanie appears. Yikes. It’s funny without context, but more interesting when you consider the Helmsley-Stephanie-Angle “love” triangle happening at the time. HE WHO HESITATES IS LOST. RACHEL!!

Not a whole lot happened with Trish and T&A throughout the rest of 2000. However, things REALLY started to pick up for her when Vince McMahon demanded a divorce from Linda and began a filthy relationship with Trish. Vince even went as far as to put her away in a sanitarium where she would be heavily medicated. At one point, Vince had Trish wheel her out onto the Smackdown ramp and made out with Trish right in front of Linda. Pretty gross stuff. Anyways, this all continues until No Way Out where Stephanie McMahon Helmsley is tired of playing second fiddle to this Trish chick. She needs to hit the bricks so she can remain the dominant female in the McMahon family. She’s not coming to the defense of her mom, she’s trying to get rid of Trish so her dad can give her more attention. Creepy, right? That’s creepy. Stephanie McMahon was the worst thing to ever happen to WWF creative.

• Trish Stratus vs. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley – (No Way Out 2001)
  

Steph is a house of fire to start. She tosses Trish around by her hair and makes her bump around. Seems like the crowd is behind Stephanie, but is anybody really the hero here? They go to the floor where Stephanie gets tossed over the guardrail. She comes off the barricade with a clothesline to Trish. Back in, Trish counters a suplex off the apron with a neck snap. Both JR and Lawler are impressed with how much fire and hatred these two are showing. Trish slaps Steph around and stomps a mudhole in her in the corner. Running bulldog to Steph gets two. Stephanie fires back with a decent elbow strike, but Trish puts her down with a DDT for 1-2-NO! Trish sits up in the corner with all the leverage she needs and chokes Stephanie until she has enough and flips Trish off the top rope down to the mat. Trish gets dumped on the floor. Stephanie follows her out and bounces her face off the announce table. She finds an out of place water pitcher and drenches Trish for the amusement and excitement of every red blooded male on the planet. This just serves to get Trish wet and PISS HER OFF. She roughs up Stephanie and tosses her back inside, but gets her hurracanrana countered with a powerbomb. Cover, 1-2-NO! Stephanie now decides to start ripping off Trish’s clothes and that’s fine with me. As the ref breaks it up (poor guy), they start to give each other some real intense and evil looks. They both charge one another and slam each other’s faces down onto the mat. Cue William Regal to come down and trip up the ref so he can control the match. Trish gets laid on top of Stephanie. When the ref is counting, Regal decides to put Stephanie’s foot on the bottom rope to break the count. WHAT? Trish yells at Regal and slaps the man. Well, you don’t slap a man. Regal acts like he’s going to apologize and instead gives her the REGAL CUTTER. Yeah, she’s done. Steph crawls over to Trish and covers her for the pinfall. (8:30) In many ways, this is still the most famous WWF women’s match in the modern era. There are certainly have been some better wrestled women’s matches in the WWE especially in the last couple years with NXT, but there’s not a ton of divas matches over the past fifteen years that I actually remember as well as this one. Not enough time has passed on these NXT divas matches to know what they will mean to the history of the company. If nothing else, this is the best we’ve seen Trish look as a performer proving that she had some talent and possibly what it takes to be a champion, so for that alone this match is of real importance. ***

And so the next night on Raw, Vince McMahon turns on Trish Stratus and says he’s tired of playing with “Daddy’s Little Toy”. The next week after that, he makes Trish get down on all fours and bark like a dog. You know the drill. After that, Vince tries to get Trish to do a “Hollywood sex scene” on Raw until Shane McMahon returns to begin the WrestleMania feud between father and son. This leads to the street fight where Trish wheels Linda McMahon out to the ring and as they say in show biz, the rest is history.

• Vacant WWF Women’s Title Match: Trish Stratus vs. Lita vs. Jacqueline vs. Mighty Molly vs. Jazz vs. Ivory – (Survivor Series 2001)
  

Trish was out for the summer with an ankle injury, but she returns just in time to crown a new WWF women’s champion after the former champ Chyna left due to disagreements over her contract. This match is notable for being the WWF debut of Jazz. This is one fall to a finish. You’ll have two chicks in the ring that can tag in and out. The Greensboro crowd only cares about Trish Stratus and Lita though. Jazz immediately pounces on Lita and gives her a butterfly suplex. Lita comes back with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Mighty Molly and Jacqueline take their turn. I forgot how funny Molly was at doing this character. Molly takes a couple moves from Jackie and tags out to Ivory. She runs right into a dropkick. They do a rollup sequence that ends with Ivory giving Jackie a catapult onto the middle rope. Trish tags Jackie and catapults Ivory. She gets a big reaction just for coming into the match. Flapjack connects, but Molly kicks Trish in the back from the apron. The old Hart Foundation routine. All the WCW/ECW Alliance chicks start CLUBBERIN on Trish until Lita breaks away from the ref and saves the day. There’s a brief alliance between Jackie and Lita, but this is every woman for herself! Turning on Lita backfires for Jacqueline as she gets nailed from the MOLLY GO ROUND. Ivory faceslams Trish, but turns around into the Twist of Fate and the LITASAULT. Cover, 1-2-NO! Lita fights off a double-team from Jazz and Molly and drills them with a double clothesline. All three of them end up on the floor. Ivory goes for a back suplex to Trish, but Trish flips out and lands the STRATUSFACTION for the win and the title. (4:35) I don’t know if this has something to do with the ankle injury, being overwhelmed with five other people in the ring, or no story to work from here; Trish didn’t appear to have the same fire we just saw in that match with Stephanie McMahon. She had to convince everyone all over again that she deserved the spot she had here. *

• Special Referee: Jacqueline – WWF Women’s Champion Trish Stratus vs. Jazz – (Royal Rumble 2002)
  

Jacqueline wears a booby ref shirt. Lawler wonders why all referees can’t dress that way. JR says he’s doesn’t exactly want to see Earl Hebner in a mid-drift top. PURPLE PUPPIES! Trish has her hand taped up thanks to an attack from Jazz. You could say Jazz was the Awesome Kong of the WWF before Awesome Kong. She’s here to smash the paradigm that a chick like Trish should be allowed to wrestle – let alone be the women’s champion. I don’t think she or anyone else realizes this though. Jazz goes after the hand and uses the ropes passed the five count. She’s not listening to Jackie at all, which raises some ire between the two. I mean, Jackie basically will not count a pinfall for Jazz. Trish makes a short comeback and hits the STRATUSFACTION, but Jazz kicks out at two and floats over into a pin attempt for another nearfall. DDT by Jazz gets a two-count as well. She catches Trish with one avalanche, but eats a boot off the second one. Another STRATUSFACTION and Trish successfully retains her title. (3:43) Two weeks later on Raw, Jazz would beat Trish for her first WWF women’s title in a match almost equally as short as this one. A little bit of basic psychology in this one, but nothing too amazing. *½

• WWF Women’s Champion Jazz vs. Trish Stratus vs. Lita – (WrestleMania x8)
  

This is the cool down match after Rock and Hogan. Champ enters first, but who can blame them with the way more popular Lita and Trish in this match? Go ahead and get her down to the ring. Trish wears her Canadian flag ring jacket for her entrance. Also, why are wrestling fans the worst at spelling? No one can spell “stratusfaction” or “stratusfied”. I understand they aren’t actually words in the English language, but they aren’t even CLOSE sometimes. Ref doesn’t wait for the hometown gal Trish to make it to the ring. Lita is all over Jazz to start, but Jazz fights off both chicks. Jazz tries to tear out Trish’s knee with a half crab and delivers what would be known as the Glam Slam to Lita. She gets a two-count on Lita. Trish takes a kick out to the floor. Lita comes back with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and a spinning back suplex gets two. Trish saves Lita from a superplex and rolls up Jazz for two. Lita comes off the middle rope with a flying body press, but Trish rolls through and gets 1-2-NO! Chick Kick and a Running Bulldog on Lita gets two as well. Jazz manages the FISHERMAN BUSTER on Trish for 1-2-NO! Trish avoids a slam and lands an inverted DDT for two. Lita stops the count to lead to an exchange of strikes. Kind of an odd situation occurring here, but Lita delivers the Twist of Fate to Jazz and slams Trish next to her for the LITASAULT. She completely misses Jazz and falls on Trish’s knees. Rollup by Trish gets two. Trish chops Lita back into the corner, but they KO one another. Jazz gets dumped on the floor, leaving Lita to avoid STRATUSFACTION and wrench Trish’s knee in the ropes. OUCH. Jazz is back inside the ring. Lita is up top, but Trish crotches her before getting knocked back down to the floor. Jazz grabs Lita and brings her down with a SUPER FISHERMAN BUSTER for the win. (6:16) Except for Trish’s entrance, the crowd was dead for this one. In hindsight, we would all agree that Rock/Hogan should have gone on last. This got a little awkward in places, but overall I’m fine with what we got. The finish was pretty spectacular and it needed to be if these girls wanted anybody to remember this match on the ride home. *½

Trish would regain the women’s title in May during a hardcore mixed tag match teaming with Bubba Ray Dudley against then champion Jazz and WWF Hardcore champ Stevie Richards. This was a big match for Trish, but she would lose the belt to Molly Holly in just under six weeks at the King of the Ring with an otherwise uneventful second title reign. Trish would go on to have an INFAMOUS mixed tag match in July, which is the very match we will take a look at next.

• Trish Stratus & Bradshaw vs. Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda – (Raw, 7/8/02)
  

You may be wondering why this match is on here. This is the only award Trish Stratus has received from the Wrestling Observer year end awards. Received – like they actually hand out this award. This match was voted as the worst worked match of 2002, but honestly it’s really just WWE’s fault in my view. Both Nowinski and Gayda had only been on WWE TV for about a month at this point. Nowinski pusses out even though he challenges Bradshaw to a three-point stance. Tag to Gayda, Trish lays into her with some elbows and a clothesline for two. Not sure what was supposed to happen with Gayda and Trish next, but they wind up tumbling next to each other. Gayda chokes on Trish a little bit. Tag to Nowinski, he misses Trish by a mile on not one but TWO elbow drops as she rolls over to tag Bradshaw. Bradshaw is really looking like Barry Windham circa 1993 here. If only he worked as good as Windham. He boots down Nowinski and delivers the Last Call. Tag to Jackie, she jumps on Bradshaw’s back and gets flipped over to be left for Trish. Bradshaw chases Nowinski over the barricade and into the crowd never to be seen again. Trish avoids a superplex (I can only assume) and shoves Jackie down to the mat. The problem is she lands on her feet instead of on her back. While Trish is trying to let the moment breathe a bit, Gayda is standing there wobbling for no good reason. She charges Trish and gets kicked in the face. Jackie stands back up and receives what is supposed to be a Flying Bulldog from Trish, but Trish hardly makes contact with her at all. Jackie falls over anyways and Trish covers her for the pinfall. (3:15) Ross remarks that this one is mercifully over. Once again, WWE puts somebody out there who isn’t ready for primetime (in front of an always ruthless PHILLY crowd no less) and Jackie Gayda has failed before she really even begins. CRAP

• WWE Women’s Champion Molly Holly vs. Trish Stratus – (Unforgiven 2002)
  

So Molly Holly’s character is basically she’s no fun to be around because she doesn’t get laid enough. Yep. Feeling out process to start with hammerlocks and armdrags. Molly gets rough with a snap suplex and takes Trish to the floor for some ringside violence. Back inside, she applies different variations of the bowtie hold. Meanwhile, Lawler is getting excited over HLA. Trish escapes and tries to get the quick pin, but then takes a drop toehold onto the bottom rope. Running Bulldog gets two. Chick Kick garners the same result. Over in the corner, Molly catches the Stratusphere attempt and hangs Trish in the tree of woe. Molly stretches Trish out a little bit like she’s in a torture rack. She then does a nice handspring back bump squashing Trish in the corner. That gets two. Out of nowhere, Trish pulls a Rey Mysterio and delivers a wheelbarrow bulldog for the win and her third women’s title. (5:46) Pretty abrupt with the finish there, but a decent if unspectacular match. **

• Hardcore Match: WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus vs. Victoria – (Survivor Series 2002)
  

This is the first of several obsessive personality disorder feuds Trish would be involved in over the next few years. Both are fitness models – both were look at by WWE, but Victoria believes that Trish Stratus kept her from getting a spot in the company. Once Victoria got to the WWE, that’s when things got CRAZY. Ross calls Victoria “mentally unbalanced”. Lawler thinks Victoria wants to be Trish Stratus, not just be *like* her. Big CRAZY difference, amirite? Victoria pearl harbors Trish and chokes her with her jacket. She can’t seem to hit Trish with a broom, so Victoria settles for more choking. Trish eventually breaks free and grabs a trashcan lid, but Victoria finally connects with the broomstick and whacks the lid into Trish’s face making a loud noise. There’s a trash can filled with weapons tied to each ringpost. Trish takes a hard whip into one of them. Back in, Victoria connects with a somersault legdrop for two. A trash can gets wedged in the corner by Victoria, but she doesn’t do it in the normal way. Trish counters and has to catapult Victoria up into the trash can. She then kicks the can across Victoria’s face, which may or may not have busted her nose open. Trish finds an ironing board and leans it into the corner. Even in weapon choices for booking hardcore matches, the WWE can get pretty sexist. Victoria gets whipped into the ironing board. Trish uses a Singapore cane all over Victoria. They trade trash can lid shots to the noggin. Trish executes her trash can lid shot by sitting up from the Stratusphere position, which is pretty cool. Victoria comes back with a powerbomb and goes outside to find a big mirror under the ring. She evidently doesn’t like what she sees when she notices there’s blood running down from her nose. Back in, Trish connects with a CHICK KICK for 1-2-NO! Trish gets caught up top and attempts the Wheelbarrow Bulldog, but that fails. Victoria now tries to shoot a fire extinguisher in Trish’s face and even that doesn’t go as planned. Victoria just goes for the finish with a snap suplex and gets the pinfall and the women’s title. (7:01) Pretty sloppy for the most part. If everything had gone according to plan, this probably would have been an all-time favorite women’s match for the WWE because I liked what they were going for as far as I could tell. **¼

That’s going to do it for part one! When we return, we will pick up in the year 2003 with Trish’s WrestleMania 19 moment and take you all the way to her full-time retirement in 2006.