On this day in history:
September 30th, 2002 | Victoria couldn’t wait for her Women’s Title match against Trish Stratus, so she ambushed the champion backstage, beating her down. This put Trish at a disadvantage for the match, but it also fired her up, and when match time came she pounced on Victoria before she even entered the ring, hitting her with a Lou Thesz Press. While most of the match took place inside the ring, its most memorable moment took place outside of it when an incensed Victoria grabbed a steel chair and hit Trish with it. This DQed Victoria, and it took a team of referees to get her to leave ringside. Trish, meanwhile, was out cold.
What are your memories of this moment? Tell us in the comments!
24 Comments
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I loved the Trish/Victoria feud, they did a lot of great things and had a lot of great matches together.
at
trish vs victoria was a great fued they really picked up the way women went at it
perceval Reply:
September 30th, 2012 at
Yep, this and the previous Trish-Molly feud changed women’s wrestling in North America, bringing the Division to the upper card, and re-defining what they could do in the ring. Of course, the downside of that is now, every woman who gets in the business wants to be a wrestler, whether they’re actually suited for it or not. There’s still a need or managers and valets.
Now that Fit Finlay’s back with the company, they should have him training the women and being their agent, again. He trained them differently to how they used to be trained, teaching them to fight like men using the stiff, snug, British style he and Regal used (As Regal described it: “I’ll hit you very hard in very safe places.”).
Molly Holly is another that deserves credit, helping train the other women while she, herself, improved working with Finlay.
And, never credited enough, I think, is Jim Ross, who was who signed not only Trish & Victoria, but Lita, Molly, Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson, Jazz, Gail Kim, Mickie James, Angelina Love, Melina, & Beth Phoenix. The man knew how to scout talent, knew what to look for.
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Lisa Marie before her knee injury…
at
I always think about what the division would have been like (02-03) if Lita was involved.
It would have been off the charts then!
Jcott3 Reply:
September 30th, 2012 at
Agreed, but sadly, this was while Lita was out with a broken neck. Many have said that that allowed Trish to become the primary focus of the women’s division and why she became “top diva”.
I think if Lita had stayed healthy, they probably would have turned her heel somewhere in 2002-03 to go after Trish. Maybe they would have done something in conjunction with Matt, when he started doing his “Matt Hardy, Version 1.0″ heel persona.
perceval Reply:
September 30th, 2012 at
Don’t forget Jazz’s injury, that moved Molly into the top heel spot and made bringing Victoria to the main roster and giving her a huge push right off the bat neccessary.
The next time Jazz was put on the shelf led directly to Gail Kim’s big push.
Clarke Reply:
September 30th, 2012 at
Lita’s injury allowed Molly, Trish, Jazz, Gail and Victoria to shine as champions, we even got Jackie and Ivory involved in some mini feuds and Jackie even joined in the Trish vs Victoria feud.
We even had Nidia, Stacy and Terri occasionally getting involved in big feuds with the other Divas, although Stacy and Terri were mostly involved in male storylines.
I have to say, her injury was a blessing in disguise, no offense to her but I think those spots that Victoria Molly etc got would have been handed to Lita instead.
The K@rmic HeeL Reply:
October 1st, 2012 at
What a rotten thing to say, but I digress.
Trish and Victoria took it to the next level. We know women like Jazz, Molly, Lita and others would have done great too, but this spot was given to management favorite Trish. They did a great job.
at
Trish taking major bumps, again… Of course, these days, I wince a bit at unprotected chair shots to the head.
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Good times for the divas in WWE, I loved the psycho Victoria!
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Trish used to take some serious bumps back in the day. That woman used to get her ass handed to her.
I think that’s why she is the most successful model turned wrestlers, because she wasn’t afraid to take a beating. She was totally okay with getting her ass handed to her by women who took stiff shots, chair shots, abuse from the men, etc.
Jcott3 Reply:
September 30th, 2012 at
Trish wasn’t afraid to take her lumps, she had the desire to work hard to improve and she was a fitness model, so she had some muscle on her to help absorb the bumps. She also oozed charisma and was a great promo. If she’s #1, Victoria is a solid #2, as she was a fitness model and bodybuilder (Trish, Victoria and Torrie Wilson all knew each other before wrestling from being models together). Some say Victoria was a better wrestler, with Trish being a better overall package.
perceval Reply:
September 30th, 2012 at
And that’s where her size, muscle, & conditioning came in handy. She, Molly, & Victoria were always taking and delivering hard shots and bumps. Everybody in the Division, back then, was at least Natalya-sized.
melon2617 Reply:
October 3rd, 2012 at
Trish is pretty much fearless. Remember on Armed & Famous when she took the taser shot instead of the alligator clips like the rest of the contestants? That was bad ass.
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that opening brawl was lethal!!! The match was so fast paced too it was crazy! You’d never see this stuff today :-(
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Everyone always says Trish vs Lita was the height of the divas division, but in my honest opinion it was Trish vs Victoria that really took the division to a level that has yet to be topped to this day.
Jakey Reply:
October 1st, 2012 at
I think Trish/Lita is better revered because there’s such a HISTORY there (they started and ended at around the same time), but Trish vs. Victoria, from this match onward to WrestleMania XIX, was consistently a hotter feud
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this happened on my 11th birthday!!! :D
at
Sick match a fresh Trish Stratus and Victoria at their prime!!! Loved how back. Forth it was!! Plus physical I doubt divas can really pull this off or knockouts
Ryan Reply:
October 1st, 2012 at
Btw not forgetting Jazz who was the first to bring that violence haha loved it!! Trish rocks so do Lita Victoria Molly jazz and so on
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It was a good feud, but it’s unfair to act like none of the current divas would take these bumps. WWE just moved away from violent women matches after a while. They won’t even allow it in the video games anymore.
redsandman99 Reply:
October 1st, 2012 at
^This. I absolutely hate when people say the divas today can’t do these kinds of things. There’s a big difference between can’t and not being allowed to.
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Victoria, the best diva ever. <3 I loved her matches with Trish because I think she had as much hatred character wise for her as I actually did, except I wouldn't hit her with objects or beat her up lol
My favorite match of theirs would either be the ss match where Victoria won her first title, OR their Chicago street fight match, great matches.. these two were good together, played well off of each other and went out and made it happen. People are right in saying the diva's today don't get the same opportunities, but a lot of the diva's of today don't have the great chemistry these two ladies had. It takes time and they have to really want to put on a good show and lose themselves in the character.. to me both of these women did that very well and it made for a great feud.