The hotly anticipated premiere of Tough Enough last night had high expectations: Big stars attached including ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Trish Stratus, a plum post-WrestleMania debut and lots of mainstream media hype. A tall order, I’m sure you’ll agree. USA Network’s attempt at Tough Enough certainly met that order — and perhaps even exceeded it with an energetic and highly entertaining first episode.
Let’s break it down…
Fresh off of her WrestleMania win last night, seven time WWE Women’s Champion, Trish Stratus teamed up with John Morrison once again to face off against Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler this week on Raw. Can the ‘Diva of the Decade’ and ‘The Shaman of Sexy’ pull out another win? Check out the match below:
The segment starts off with Vickie and Dolph coming down to the ring and pinning the blame for their loss at WrestleMania on Lay-Cool and challenges Trish and John Morrison to a mixed tag match. Never ones to pass up a challenge, Trish and JoMo accept (after a short commercial break).
John Morrison and start the match off, and after a bit of back and forth, Morrison gets the upperhand, sending Dolph scrambling to his corner to tag in Vickie. In an attempt to mock Snooki’s back handspring at WrestleMania, Vickie tries her best to hit a cartwheel. Vickie celebrates her acrobatic feat, but takes her eye off of Trish and get rolled up for a nearfall.
Raise your hand if you expected any other result last night? (Hopefully no one has their hand raised or I might question whether you enjoy Long Island Iced Teas as much as Snooki.) Going into last night’s WrestleMania 27 it was pretty much a given that this was going to be a star vehicle for Snooki. She’d win the match, have a nice little moment and Lay-Cool would run to the back with their tails between their legs.
What we may not have expected, seeing this match on paper, is just how darn entertaining this segment turned out to be! Yes, I’ll be the first to admit it: I was thoroughly entertained by something involving Snooki from Jersey Shore. Does that mean I’m going to run out and buy her book or the entire first season of the show? Hell no. But for what it was, last night’s six-person tag team match was actually enjoyable. I would say that was thanks, in no small part, to a Stratusfying comeback from Trish Stratus and in my opinion, the most consistent Diva in WWE right now, Michelle McCool.
Watch below:
Ahead of tonight’s Tough Enough premiere, here is an excerpt from our interview with Trish Stratus last week where we talked about Tough Enough in great deal.
In this clip, we ask Trish to individually evaluate each girls, giving us her impression on them. Listen below:
The Brunette Mafia came out to the ring with a purpose tonight at WrestleMania 27: To take out a hit on Lay-Cool and Dolph Ziggler and that’s exactly what they did.
Surprising the world, Snooki showed off her incredible athleticism, winning the match with a very impressive handspring backbump followed by a handspring splash on Michelle McCool.
WrestleMania is here! Will Stratusfaction be delivered? Will Snooki serve up some ‘Jersey’? Or will Lay-Cool prove to be flawless? The Diva Dirt team weigh in…
April: I am going to have to say that this WeestleMania is going to be the year of the brunettes. Trish Stratus, Snooki & John Morrison are going to take the win on this one. WWE wouldn’t hype up the return of a class act Diva and the addition of a “celebrity” if they couldn’t win it. Plus, on the experience side, I think Trish has it. You mix her with the crazy in-ring style of Morrison and it is bound to be fantastic. I love Lay-Cool and Dolph Ziggler but I have a feeling they’re going fall victim to the power of the Snook this time.
WWE.com has a backstage video with Trish:
Fans at WrestleMania Axxess this weekend are being treated to a display of Trish Stratus’ greatest hits — well, outfits — in the memorabilia section of the convention.
Several outfits from Trish’s WWE heyday are on display. Diva Dirt has exclusive photos and an exclusive video tour! Check it out below.
Also, you can hear Trish talking about the Axxess display and how/why she chose the outfits in our interview with her from earlier this week.
It’s been five years since Trish Stratus last competed at WrestleMania. This weekend she makes her return, but today we take a look back at her last appearance.
It was the feud that captivated fans and is highly regarded as one of the best Diva storylines of all time. For months, Mickie James tried to woo Trish — before deciding she’d rather take her down instead. It all culminated at WrestleMania 22 in 2006…
Part two:
This year’s program picture courtesy of David at Axxess. Notice that Trish’s hair isn’t Photoshopped this time? Success! [nggallery id=471]
It’s been a busy couple of months for the legendary 7-time Women’s Champ, Trish Stratus. She’s back in the WWE fold with the USA Network revival of Tough Enough, she’s going to WrestleMania this Sunday, has a movie premiering in one week and is on the cover of Oxygen magazine! With so much going on in the Stratusphere, we decided to give the Diva Dirt Legacy Award winner a call and discuss!
Holy F-bomb, Batman! Last night’s Raw needed a lot of censoring when it came to the Divas in a last effort to attract interest before Sunday’s WrestleMania pay per view.
In a taped segment, Trish Stratus and Snooki were spotted at a bar in New Jersey with the latter looking in no fit state for live TV. (Glug, glug, glug!) Lay-Cool didn’t know what was about to hit ’em…
Trish and Snooki are drinkin’ it up (well, one more than the other) at Miami Mike’s when some dude comes up to them and pesters our pint-sized (pint… *cough*) MTV star. Snooki tells Josh Mathews that she’s ready for ‘Mania (“Bring it on, bitches!”). The interview is interrupted by the lurker — who, by the way, is named Danny E (vital information right there) — and he ends up getting a smack from Snooki for his efforts. A change from being on the receiving end, eh?
WWE filmed an angle to air on next week’s Raw, the final show before WrestleMania, in New Jersey yesterday reports PopTheCrowd.com. You can read the spoilers below:
After being shafted from Raw last week, in favor of Snooki, Divas Champion, Eve, is in action this week, taking on Maryse in a non-title match. We even get a mid-match interruption by Michael Cole. Oh joy… Check out the match below:
We come from commercial to find Maryse already in the ring, doing the usual preening. Eve makes her way out next to a pretty good reaction, while Maryse mocks her from inside the ring. The official signals for the bell, but Maryse stops to do a very over-dramatic hairflip before the match begins. Eve brushes Maryse and does a little mocking of her own. Maryse offense and goes for a slap, but Eve dodges and strikes back with a slap of her own.
BuzzFocus.com video interviews with Trish Stratus and the Tough Enough contestants about the upcoming series. The interviews were filmed during a media day at the set of the show in Simi Valley, CA. This is the first time that the contestants can be seen discussing the show. The cast members interviewed include Rima Fakih, Christina … Read more
Trish Stratus’ official website confirmed she will appear on Raw tonight. The 7-time Women’s Champ will likely be continuing her storyline leading into WrestleMania. Trish will team with John Morrison and Snooki from MTV’s Jersey Shore against Lay-Cool and Dolph Ziggler. No word on whether Snooki will appear tonight also.
Trish Stratus spoke to IGN about the upcoming series of Tough Enough during a recent visit to the show’s Simi Valley set.
When asked about her current favorite Diva, Trish voted for fellow Canadian, Natalya:
“She’s untapped,” Trish smiled. “Fans are starting to get to know her more and more and I’m just waiting for the day where she goes out there and really can do her thing because I don’t think she’s been given the opportunity to really get out there and show everybody what she’s got.”
With Sunny going into this year’s Hall of Fame, Trish says Chyna should be next:
A breakdown of the Raw ratings from this past Monday shows that Jersey Shore star Snooki’s appearance on Raw went much in the same way as her co-stars’ in TNA: the ratings went down. The period featuring Snooki’s in-ring promo and Drew Carey’s Hall of Fame announcement lost 301,000 viewers, according to the Wrestling Observer. … Read more
It’s here! The day we’ve been waiting for all… week? Snooki of the Jersey Shore made her long awaited and highly anticipated WWE debut as a guest host last night. Oh yeah, and someone named Trish Stratus — you may have heard of her — had a match against Vickie Guerrero. But that’s not why you’re reading this, right?! You want to hear about all the hard-hitting Snooki action, so let’s get right into it, shall we?
First we have a backstage segment featuring Snooki and Vickie with Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison playing supporting roles. Let’s see how the drama unfolds:
The segment starts off with Snooki and JoMo chatting backstage for some reason. I wasn’t really paying attention to what they were saying, but I’m assuming they were comparing spray tans. Right as Snooki offers Morrison a spot in the Jersey Shore house, Vickie and Dolph make their entrance. Vickie tells the ‘Princess of the Poof’ to keep her hands off of Dolph. Confused, Snooki asks Vickie what her problem is and Vickie tells her that Snooki getting the cover of Rolling Stone is her problem. Vickie goes on to say that she was offered the cover of Playboy, prompting Snooki to make a predictable crack on Vickie’s weight. (Insert pot and kettle joke here).
Offended, Vickie goes to slap Snooki, but Snooki blocks it and lays Vickie out with a slap of her own. Ouch. John Morrison quickly rushes Snooki away, leaving Vickie to stew in her rage and punch poor Dolph in the chest.
Not a terrible segment to be quite honest. I was expecting much, much worse. Also, Snooki’s slap looked like it hurt like hell. Guess she was taking out some of pent up anger from that time she got punched in the face…
Trish is still the dish! The 7-time WWE Women’s Champion has landed the cover of Canada’s Oxygen magazine for the third time and it looks just as incredible — if not more — as her first two covers. Trish shows off her bangin’ yoga body in the magazine which will hit newsstands on March 29th, … Read more
WWE has announced a huge six person tag team match for WrestleMania 27 on April 3rd.
Lay-Cool and Dolph Ziggler will team up to take on the team of John Morrison, Diva legend Trish Stratus and Jersey Shore star Snooki!
WWE sent out the following press release regarding Snooki’s appearance:
7-time Women’s Champion, Trish Stratus’ big return to Monday Night Raw takes place tonight when she faces off against Vickie Guerrero.
But as is the case it seems with many feuds in WWE these days, the ladies have been taking to Twitter in the past week, sending jabs to one another.
Catch up on some of their Twitter exchanges in our handy little stream below:
Diva Dirt Legacy Award winner, Trish Stratus will make her return to Monday Night Raw next week for the first time in nearly two years. Stratus will not only return to Raw but also compete in a match. She is set to face Vickie Guerrero with the stipulation that if Vickie wins, she will … Read more
Two former WWE Divas that we all know and love reunited last night… and sent us into a nostalgic spin in the process. Perhaps two of the most successful Divas to come out of the ‘golden era’ crop (albeit in one of their cases, success came outside of WWE), Trish Stratus and Stacy Keibler met … Read more
USA Network issued a press release on the appointment of Trish Stratus as a trainer on the upcoming season of Tough Enough.
The show kicks off on April 4th at 11pm.
Read below:
WWE® TOUGH ENOUGH® GETS SOME “STRATUS-FACTION”
Trish Stratus & Bill Demott Named TrainersFormer WWE® Women’s Champion Trish Stratus joins USA Network’s upcoming, non-scripted series WWE TOUGH ENOUGH® as a trainer. Stratus and Tough Enough veteran trainer Bill Demott join WWE Legend Booker T. as the training team for the show. WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will serve as the host.
The series will premiere Monday, April 4 at 11/10c, the day after WrestleMania® and immediately following USA’s ratings juggernaut WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW®, and move to its regularly scheduled slot in primetime, Mondays at 8/7c, starting on April 11.
More:
It’s funny how things work out sometimes, isn’t it? You take a throw away pay-per-view like the Elimination Chamber, the show that’s get stuck between the big two, and you put together a rather weak card of five matches that leaves so much to be desired. For Diva fans the show appeared to suck even more because there wasn’t a match announced at all. I can’t speak for everyone, but I didn’t really want to watch the show. All day I debated whether or not to order it and my gut kept telling me to do it; give the show a chance and you won’t be disappointed. The show ended up getting ordered and low and behold it blew the Royal Rumble completely out of the water. Not only did the matches deliver, but the show was full of surprises. New champions were crowned, both Elimination Chambers far exceeded expectations, and the WWE continued their theme of shock/awe returns. That Diva match never happened but if you want my humble opinion (and you know you do), what we got was much, much better.
When an announcer gets in the ring for what seems to be no apparent reason, I, like all Diva fans should, cringe because it usually spells bad things for the girls. Diva dance offs or bikini contests, or something that’s not a match, usually ends up taking place. So when Booker T got in the ring, my reaction was natural. Booker T has a microphone and he says that he wants to introduce somebody and that this somebody is going to be a trainer on the new season of Tough Enough along with himself and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. He glances in the direction of the stage and a few seconds later some very familiar theme musics begins to play.
TRISH STRATUS WALKS OUT!