On this day in history:
January 14th, 2003 | Raw celebrated its 10th anniversary with “Raw X”, an award show that honored the biggest figures in the show’s history. When it came time to name the WWE’s “Diva of the Decade”, Trish Stratus bested the likes of Chyna, Lita, Sable and Sunny to win the crown. It was a controversial choice, as Trish was less that 3 years into her run with the WWE, but it certainly didn’t jinx the rest of her career.
What are your memories of this moment? Tell us in the comments!
52 Comments
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Congrats Trish!! Wooooo!! 2003 was an awesome year! And crazy too! Well earned and ill never forget all the amazing hard hitting matches Trish made even from her rookie days
Trish could take some insane hits the guys wish they could and Trish was ballsy enough to jump off anywhere for the moment. Smart and beautiful Trish Stratus rocks!
My runner ups are deff Lita Sable and Chyna in that order
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I must say Trish is one hell of a woman! Great example of a beautiful,smart & powerful woman.Well deserved award.
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This is a deserving award, atleast in retrospect. Her competition to me were Sable and Sunny in this category. They both were great divas during their time, but Trish took that formula and expanded it further and in a way, perfected it. She was not only beautiful, she was also a decent worker and took risks for the fans. She deserved it imo.
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Chyna should have won hands down but stephband hhh hateful asses wouldn’t let that go down.
JD Sensations Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
LOL AT CHYNA. Chyna, who wrestled for 4 measly months in the divas division, and wrestled the same 4 women. Yeah… she definitely should have won.
Crazy_J Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
While I love Chyna, she wasn’t really a “diva” imo. She was kind of in her own category. Kinda like Lita, she’s more a legend in general than a diva legend.
NY Pollard Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Exactly my point. Lita and Chyna were in a different league. No offense to the divas and Trish because they’re all beautiful and entertaining. Trish certaily deserved it and she is wonderful for giving credit to all the divas. Love Trish!
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I remember how much it bothered me that she won this award. For me, Lita was the favorite to win, and Trish winning was a HUGE upset.
Keep in mind, at the time, out of all the aforementioned “divas,” Lita was the most popular, most over, and most revolutionary diva in the WWE. I say “revolutionary” because of how much she was put over by commentary and how much she was pushed by the company as a whole. Creative really built her up and made her out to be this never before seen character. Someone who was different, groundbreaking and like I said before, revolutionary. That’s why it seemed like a no brainer that she would be announced the winner.
Granted, Trish was a three time champion at the time…and Lita had only held the title once, but that was due in part to her neck injury, and to the fact that creative didn’t feel like she needed the belt. She was already insanely over with the fans. When she broke her neck, they needed someone to push. Enter Trish Stratus. Even then, Trish struggled to be as over with the crowds as Lita was, all the way until the end of her career.
Had this award come two or three years later, no doubt Trish would be the obvious, and the the rightful winner. However, again, AT THE TIME, and I don’t think I can stress that enough, she was just not the right choice for this award.
I’m a big fan of Trish. I think she will forever be remembered as the Greatest Diva of all time…BUT BACK THEN…she was nowhere near close to being the legendary figure she’s known as today. Lita deserved this award more.
Jcott3 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Trish was always WWE’s “Golden Girl”. She was always going to be the one WWE was going to push to the moon, even if if Lita hadn’t broken her neck. WWE didn’t get behind Lita until she got over with the fans and became part of Team Extreme. As somebody once pointed out, whenever WWE runs something on “greatest women in WWE history”, Trish is always number one. But if it’s anyone else outside of WWE (where they can’t fudge with it), Lita wins.
ajfan83 Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at
I’m pretty sure I was the one that pointed it out, or at least one of them. Trish was popular, to a point. She got the same sort of pops and outside interest as someone like Torrie and Stacy did. Those three are usually considered the three most “mainstream” divas to come along after Sable, and I would say that’s fairly accurate. The problem is WWE’s portrayal of her has always been over the top. It’s too forced. In many ways she was the prototype for the Cena push. You can’t just like them. You have to bown down and buy the Superman/Wonder Woman act. The only reason Trish wasn’t booed as much is because she left before the full backlash kicked in. But it had already started (Wrestlemania 22).
fahkyooh Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at
Did you guys even watch wrestling back then? DID YOU SEE THE CHAIR SHOT FROM VICTORIA? Trish raising the Women’s Championship after her tag team TABLES match?
Trish had already revolutionized women’s wrestling and women’s feuds at that point. She had already had her 2nd feud with Jazz, her feud with Molly Holly and than the Victoria feud. The only solid, proper women’s feud with an actual storyline Lita has ever had was with TRISH. Trish was the sole reason behind why the Women’s Division was taken to another level.
People always say that Lita started her career too, what a joke. Trish came in with T&A and later on was in a storyline with Vince and Stephanie McMahon. She even turned on Vince and went face AT WrestleMania. Trish did some HUGE things without Lita and was involved in top storylines. She worked her ass off and did well in the ring with others so when she got a push she capitalized on it and worked her ass off like no other.
ajfan83 Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at
There’s no reason to bring Lita in to this. It’s all about Trish’s merits. But if you want to play this game, deal with this fact: Trish only get her token main event because of Lita’s popularity. How many shows did Trish/Molly, Trish/Victoria, Trish/Jazz or Trish/Mickie headline? Zero.
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I assume they have it to Trish because it would benifit her the most. Lita was out with an injury, and the other three were no longer with the company. So giving it to the division’s top baby face made sense.
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I’ve waited so long for the next 10 years to pass and it’s FINALLY 2013! Who would be the next diva of the decade?
puppies Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Well Trish, Lita and the rest of the gang are still possible nominees.
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Huge Win for Trish back then, for what really set her up for the rest of her career!!! so proud of her she did awesome and really deserved to win Diva of the Decade,
she is defiantly a Hall of Fame along with all those win that were nominated for the award 10 years ago and it really is a shame that Sunny is the only one out of the nominees to get inducted so far
but rumors have it Sable or Trish might be inducted this year, :) fingers crossed
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Oh my gosh! Eve is leaving!
divafandom Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
I know :( but i dont think its forever. But who knows. Shes engaged and all of that and prob wants time off. Its gonna be a big blow in the division tho. And i dont see anyone being called up till after wrestlemania. But again, who knows. I see kaitlyn winning the title tonight from eve kaitlyn feud with eve a lil more before she leaves then tamina then aj at wrestlemania. Then paige and whoever they call up can come up after that.
shameronstar Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
This is really BAD! Well the positive is that tonight’s match will probably be a very climatic night for Kaitlyn because I’m hopeful that Eve will want this to be one of her best matches(and hopefully it’s a gimmick match that gets 7-10 minutes), but the negative is everything after. Kaitlyn has NO ONE to feud with. AJ is a valet and all the other girls are either support or jobbers! I’m thinking that either Tamina will feud with Kaitlyn(which I would like because their nxt stuff was pretty good) and/or Alicia or Layla will turn heel and get new pushes to reinvigorate their careers, and there’s always the option that they could have AJ pull double duty and she feuds with Kaitlyn and it would actually be the best option because of their kayfabe history and chemistry as real life friends, and if done right it could be one of the best feuds in the last several years!
wl75 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
I suspect it’ll be AJ- if they want to do a Divas title match at Mania, it makes the most sense to have AJ win the title then, and it’ll give them a long time to work on the feud…
redsandman99 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
I’d like it AJ did do double duty and manage Dolph and feud with AJ. Hell, they could even get a mixed tag out of it if they team up Kaitlyn with Cena to face Dolph and AJ.
wl75 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Not shocked- probably wants to focus on her wedding. The question is how does she go out? She probably does drop the title, but how do they exit her? (I hope they don’t do something like after the match she mouths off to Vickie and Vickie fires her- they did that already to Beth. Have someone take her out- a debut perhaps?)
Nostalgia Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
I called this a few weeks ago.
WrestlingFan29 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Something might have happened…how come we’re hearing about this just now?
I hope it’s not true though :(
puppies Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
I’m so sad :( she’s actually my favorite person right now, and she’s pretty much holding the division together. Wah
Nostalgia Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
I am too. I’m not a big eve fan but she’s a solid heel. And is the staple of the division wrestling and character wise. I’m gonna miss her. But like time has proven, when the divas roster wears thin. A revolution occurs. The divas wore thin in the early 90s, then came the likes of Jacqueline, Tori, and Ivory. They phased out. And in came the likes of Trish, Lita, Jazz. They wore out. In came the likes of Mickie James, Beth, and Melina. This generation of divas already has two golden girls in Kaitlyn and AJ. Who else is going to get that memorable push
WrestlingFan29 Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at
Me too :(( She was my favorite recent diva too , and was a great heel… I thought she was gonna stay for a longer time than that… I hope she’ll come back soon :(
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Noooo wait, I called her taking a break. Not leaving LEAVING. Wtf divas are LEAVING, knockouts are getting FIRED. I need both divisions to bring in fresh blood now
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She was the right call, in retrospect, because it was obviously all part of the bigger push WWE was giving her. If you don’t believe WWE intended on making Trish their “greatest ever” from the beginning, this award is a good sign of that. She won despite being the least notable of the five (at the time). Even Sunny was a bigger deal, back then.
BillyGP Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Trish was still known at the time. But as much as I love Trish i believe if Lita never got injured on Dark Angle she would of been the IT diva then and Trish would of been second.
ajfan83 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Well of course she was known at the time. She was the company’s top diva. The point was in 2003 she hadn’t accomplished a whole lot, outside of a few forgettable title reigns. The other four women were more accomplished/important at that point.
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Lita should have won.
misschrissi7 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Its common knowledge that WWE fixed this award so that Trish won it.
When the fans were voting, Trish wasnt even top 3. The Top 3 were:
1.Lita
2. Sunny
3. Chyna
ajfan83 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
I know they rigged the Raw 15th anniversary poll, but I didn’t know they did the fan vote for this too? If that’s true, then I’m guessing Trish finished last, behind Sable. Makes you wonder why WWE even does fan polls. It just embarasses the person they want to push.
BillyGP Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
I seriously doubt Trish would of been last she was and still is POPULAR.
Lita first maybe but Trish was just as known and popular and did alot more even though like I said if not for Lita injury to her neck she may have won it.
ajfan83 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Do you actually post stuff or just log in to disagree with me? The point was if the fan vote was Lita, Sunny, Chyna, that means it was between Sable and Trish for the last two spots. If Sunny got more votes than Trish than I have to believe Sable did, too. It’s not that Trish wasn’t popular, it’s just that the others were more popular.
fahkyooh Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at
AJ you’re the most delusional person on here.
Yeah, Sable and Sunny were more popular… Trish was having the top women’s feuds of all time around this time. NO DIVA was more popular than her.
ajfan83 Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at
Well, if you believe MissChris, Sunny (who never wrestled a match in her career) got more votes than Trish. Maybe, just maybe, nobody really gave a crap about Trish’s “epic” feuds with Molly and Jazz.
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I have the DVD of the 10th anniversary of raw & her DVD where she talked about winning. I feel like she deserved now but at the time someone else should’ve won considering the fact she was only there for 3 years , diva of the year would’ve been appropriate but not diva of the decade at least not that early in her career.
ajfan83 Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at
She didn’t even last a decade. Neither did the other nominees. So time put in didn’t matter. This was all part of WWE’s bigger push for Trish, nothing more, nothing less.
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I think this time around its for the newer divas but what if eve wins considering she might be leaving tonight
wl75 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Well we’re not 100% tonight is her last night yet- we think it is, but she could stick around a couple more weeks and then drop it at the Rumble (though I’m pretty sure it is).
If she does win, and if it is her last night- maybe she gets attacked by a mystery Diva or two, like what happened with Kaitlyn. Then they can say she’s so hurt she can’t defend the title and has to vacate it.
Blac Chyna Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
If trish won being in the company for 3 years im kind of positive eve can win but who knows and im hoping eve dont leave
juliNdivas Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Who knows If there will even awards I think NOT
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O hated trish winning this it just shouldn’t have happened
Lita would have bee the best choice but trish won and she mnade her mrk with the rest of her career
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I wonder why Lita’s music is not played here? The original airing had her theme, this now is a generic rock theme on top of it. What happened? Licensing issues?
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Trish deserved this award :D
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Geez this was 10 years ago? Seems like yesterday. Where has the time gone. 2000-2006 with exception of 2005 was the best years of the divas division.
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By now Trish had already had a street fight and tables tag team match with Jazz, she’d already been man-handeled by numerous male superstars, had a flawless feud with Molly Holly and a re-defining feud with Victoria. While Lita was helping her own image and The Hardy’s image, Trish was actually involved in big women’s feuds with storylines and matches that kept getting longer and longer because of the success.
TRISH IS THE DIVA OF THE DECADE. She’s the only one out of any of those Divas in the category that actually did something for women’s wrestling and not herself. What did Lita do for women’s wrestling by holding the Women’s Championship ONCE at this point? By being injured? By managing The Hardy’s and hitting a Litacuranna every now and then? Come on now. Trish was actually helping the Women’s Division in by her amazing feuds with Jazz and Molly, thus bringing Victoria in and taking the Division to an even higher level!
DEAL WITH IT AND MOVE ON LITA FANS. TRISH IS, WAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE THE BEST! CAN’T WAIT FOR ANOTHER DVD. xoxoxoxox
ajfan83 Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at
You’ll be waiting for that DVD for a LONG time. Like, forever. If they didn’t do a set for Trish when she was actually still popular and bankable with WWE fans, they aren’t going to do it years later when she’s no longer relevant.
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Of course Trish deserved to win this. Just listen to the crowd when Shawn said her name. They didn’t boo her out the building, it actually sounded like they were happy that she won. Is it just me or did someone say “Trish we love you?” But to be honest if anyone would have won this except Sunny (she leaves a bad taste in my mouth) It would have been fine in my book.
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Well, as many of you can see, in the comments area, Lita fans are on a rampage. Lita is in a league of her own. She’s not like any other Diva, she is not a Diva, matter of fact, she is the anti-diva and shows that I’m not just a woman, I can do what the male wrestlers so too, even better than some in my point of view. That’s why she didn’t get that award for being the DIVA of the decade. Trish, on the other hand REDEFINED the word Diva. She can do what the male wrestlers does and maybe better than some in my point of view. She was able to market herself as a product for the WWE in a way that no other diva had ever been able to do including Sable (no offence to Sable she was awesome). Trish valet T&A and Val Venis, storyline with Chyna, was Vince’s toy, slapped vince at WM, mud table paddle bra and panties matches, took chair shots, tables and many many more that she did before she got that award, she improved so much from never knowing how to wrestle when she came in (unlike Lita where she was properly trained before the WWE), worked her butts off, photo shoots, Diva magazines, covers and many more. To see a beautiful woman like Trish doing what she does is incredible. Which why now, most of the Divas are so beautiful. Trish deserved that more than anyone else.