Today in History: Trish Stratus Makes Her In-Ring Debut
On this day in history:
June 22nd, 2000 | In her first official match, Trish Stratus teamed with Test and Albert to take on Lita and the Hardy Boyz. Trish spent most of her time in the match taking a Twist of Fate, being hit with a Swanton Bomb and receiving a moonsault, but she still managed to pick up the win for her team when Albert took out Lita and dragged Trish over her to make the pin. All of that made for a wrestling debut that was equal parts successful and unsuccessful. But hey, a win’s a win!
What are your memories of this moment? Tell us in the comments!
shameronstar
June 22, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Why was Trish wrestling in heels? I always thought it was funny when divas did that! Also, I miss the inter-gender matches, but wwe is so image conscious that lord forbide that a man and woman actually wrestle each other!
Poison Ivory
June 22, 2012 at 6:58 pm
WWE is dead afraid of showing any kind of violence against women.
Jcott3
June 23, 2012 at 12:56 am
According to Missy Hyatt, it was not uncommon for a woman to wear heels in the ring if one girl was noticeably taller than the other. In Trish’s case, I think it was to reinforce that she was “just a manager” back then.
Either way, Trish’s shoes are nowhere near as bad as the sky-high-heeled boots The Kat used to wear in the ring.
melon2617
June 22, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Oh Trish, how far you came from that debut!
lucky1now
June 22, 2012 at 4:23 pm
i miss these days when men and women get to go at it
it might seem bad for a guy to slam a woman but its entertaining to see the bad guys/girls get what they deserve
perceval
June 22, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Or, if it’s a good girl, it enhances her tough fighter image. A little less than a month after this, Lita & Trish set the future of the Women’s Division at the end of a Hardys-Dudleys match with that classic ladder & table spot. No one had ever seen the women do anything like that, before, and the crowd went NUTS. Those two would be hugely over for the rest of their careers.
Trish, Lita, & Molly established themselves by mixing it up with the guys in these kinds of matches. Rather than making them look bad, it made them look like equals, fighters who could take a hit or a big bump just like the boys. So, by the time Jazz (already known for mixing it up with the boys at ECW) came in and they began a real Women’s Division, they had a group of women seen by the fans as badass fighters rather than just fluffy eye candy.
Litaker61
June 22, 2012 at 4:28 pm
Loved this feud, especially their intergender match at fully loaded. The crowd was crazy for the girls.
B1G_FaN
June 22, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Maybe when Linda McMahon realizes that no one is going to vote her into the US Senate, she will give up her political asperations and the WWE can return from it’s non-sense perfect image standpoint that has existed since the PG era began — an era that more or less started when Linda decided to run for office. Coincidence? I think not.
Give up the political dreams and bring back the Attitude Era!
lucky1now
June 22, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Her doing that ruined the product they had….what made her think she had a chance
perceval
June 22, 2012 at 8:49 pm
It wasn’t really Linda’s political ambitions, so much. It was the fallout from Benoit. They had to go PG to get new sponsors, tie-ins like the Slurpee cups, and build a new audience with kids. If the old style would still sell, TNA would be doing much better in the ratings than it does. As it is, TNA is shifting towards a PG product, themselves.
That said, you can still do things without cussing and overt sex. The women can mix it up with the guys and still be PG. It’s not like you can do a completely non-violent WRESTLING show.
melon2617
June 22, 2012 at 10:16 pm
^^^ This.
The shift came after C—s B—-t did that thing we don’t talk about. WWE took a HUGE hit after this and for them to survive, changes needed to be made.
perceval
June 22, 2012 at 10:51 pm
Yep. That’s why, while I don’t care for Cena as a performer, I have to respect him. People need to remember that he carried WWE, and the pro wrestling business in the US as a whole, though something that nearly destroyed it. Say what you will, but the man more than earned his spot.
AfroJack
June 22, 2012 at 6:14 pm
I miss WWF/E intergender matches. My fave is still Jacqueline vs Dean on Heat
trishstratusfan4ever
June 22, 2012 at 7:03 pm
trish looked so yummy
fahkyooh
June 22, 2012 at 10:59 pm
The Diva’s need to take notes from Trish. If you look back at her early matches, it’s like she had two left feet. She was going from left to right in the ring and was tripping all over the place. Her early matches with Jacqueline were horrific. She improved bounds and leaps, especially by the time she squared off against Victoria. I truly believe any Diva has the potential to become great if they work as hard as Trish did.
johnny
June 22, 2012 at 11:51 pm
I miss those days the intergender matches and lita and trish looked way better back only thing I don’t miss is the butt whoopings trish used to get they were funny I kinda even felt bad for her back then.
BillyGP
June 23, 2012 at 12:19 am
Love Trish always will and she look great here
Ryan
June 23, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Intergender rocks! Lita Jackie Luna Ivory Tori Stephanie Terri Kat n Trish didnt mind getting slammed by guys (ha!) for the good of the team hell even Mae Young went at it!!
And it was cool to see Trish get her ass kicked by Lita..she deserved it lol
Trish Stratus was so hot! I miss how sexy women were portrayed back then..now its looked down upon..pffft! I call BS
Trish Stratus was the ONE chick u didnt want to mess with because she had two giants Test n Albert backing her lol
Great times!
And surprisingly women wrestling in heeled boots to me was kind of hot lol
Terri n Kat would do it and I believe once Kats boot broke during the match lol