Trish Stratus

From magazine covers to the ring

Trish Stratus studied at York University in Toronto and became a well-known fitness model before WWF signed her in 2000. She was first used mainly as a manager, which was typical for women in the company then, but she insisted on learning to wrestle properly and trained hard to catch up with more experienced opponents.

Rivalry with Lita

Her feud and friendship with Lita became the heart of the WWE women's division in the early 2000s. In December 2004 the two main-evented Raw with a Women's Championship match, a rare spot for women at the time and one that later generations often point to as a milestone.

Stratus won the WWE Women's Championship seven times, along with a Hardcore title reign in 2002, and was named Diva of the Decade by fan vote in 2003.

Retirement and returns

She retired from full-time wrestling in September 2006, winning the Women's Championship from Lita in her hometown of Toronto at Unforgiven. She later opened a yoga studio in the Toronto area and acted in film and television.

Stratus entered the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013, and she has returned for occasional matches, including at the 2018 women's Royal Rumble and Evolution events and a 2023 run against Becky Lynch.

Why she matters

Stratus showed that a performer could arrive without wrestling experience and become one of the most complete women on the roster through work and repetition. Many of today's stars cite her and Lita as the reason they took up wrestling.

Her matches with Lita, Mickie James and Victoria are a good starting point for anyone exploring the history of women's wrestling in WWE. They show a division that was given less time and fewer storylines than the men's, yet still produced memorable rivalries. Stratus has also been open about how much training she needed early on, which makes her story an encouraging one for people who come to wrestling from other sports or from fitness backgrounds. Her career is proof that hard work in the gym and in the ring can close almost any gap.

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