Trish Stratus is widely considered one of the greatest female wrestlers of all time. She left WWE in 2006 after winning her record setting seventh Women’s Championship. Despite setting the record for an incredible amount of reigns, Trish was only a part of WWE programming for a short time, with her full-time stint lasting around six years.
Stratus was signed to the WWE because she was a fitness model and they believed they could package her into the perfect female wrestler. She debuted with very little wresting ability and began to improve following her first Women’s Championship win in 2001. Trish then became a force to be reckoned with and a fairytale feud with Lita put both women on the map.
Trish became a household name and was considered to be the best wrestler of her generation. Trish dropped her sixth Women’s Championship for the final time at WrestleMania 22 and since her departure from the company almost a decade ago, Trish has continued to spend her time in the public eye and has even began her own family.
14 14. Raw Returns
Trish has made many one-off returns to WWE since she retired, but her first wasn’t until a year after she hung up her wrestling boots, when she joined Lita in a backstage segment at Raw’s 15th Anniversary in 2007. It then took Trish another year before she made another guest appearance on Raw when she was seen backstage with Ron Simmons and Trevor Murdoch in 2008. A few months later she was a part of her first wrestling match in more than two years when she was John Cena’s surprise partner on Raw in Toronto and she helped him to defeat Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella.
13 13. WrestleMania XXV Battle Royale
As WWE’s way of marking the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania, they decided to hold a 25 Diva battle royal that included many of the female wrestlers from the past few years. WWE contacted Trish to be a part of the match and she refused. The main reason she refused to be a part of the match was because she didn’t agree with the direction that it was going in and she wasn’t a fan of the women’s division at the time. Of course the match was won by Santino Marella dressed up as a woman, so maybe she was right.
12 12. Breast Implants Removed
Trish Stratus was a part of the era in WWE when the female superstars were seen more as eye candy than professional wrestlers. This meant that many of the women at the time were asked to under-go breast enhancement surgery and Trish was one of them. Following her retirement, Trish decided to have these removed since she wanted to focus more on fitness, following a back injury that she suffered while she was wrestling. It was thought that the implants could have been causing her a lot of pain too.
11 11. Iron Mike Award
It was announced in 2015 that Trish Stratus was set to receive the prestigious Iron Mike award after she has continued to build her own entrepreneurial empire in Toronto. She is the most decorated female wrestler in the history of WWE but she hasn’t rested on this record since her retirement, instead she has continued to write a new chapter in her life. The award was presented to her by her trainer Ron Hutchinson. This brought her career full circle and adds another notch to her trailblazing career in the spot light.
10 10. Opening her own Yoga Studio
Following retirement, most superstars hope that they have saved enough money to get by or hope to think of a business idea that can allow them to continue on the same kind of income, but not Trish. Trish had a plan as soon as she left WWE and that was to open her own Yoga studio and continue to teach and learn. She opened “Stratusphere” in 2008 in the suburbs of Torono, Ontario Canada. It is billed as “Canada’s largest eco-friendly yoga studio” and helped Trish to win Business Woman of the Year in 2009 and the studio won the top choice awards Best Yoga Studio in 2013.
9 9. Acting Career
While you could count her years in the WWE as acting roles, Trish officially made her acting career debut in film when she was a part of Canadian Independent movie Bail Enforcers. The film was released worldwide on DVD in 2011 but was renamed Bounty Hunters, in which Trish plays a bounty hunter named Jules Taylor. Sadly, the film hasn't gained very good reviews.
8 8. Raw Guest Hostess
WWE went through a phase in 2009 where they would invite celebrities and former WWE Superstars to be guest hosts in the absence of a general manager. Trish Stratus received the call in September and returned to Raw with a new look and brown hair. She oversaw a decent episode of the weekly show and even managed to dust off her wrestling boots once again and step in the ring against Beth Phoenix, Chris Jericho and Big Show as she teamed with Mark Henry and Montel Vontavious Porter, and her team were the victors. It was also the second match in two years that she had faced Beth Phoenix.
7 7. Armed and Famous
Following her retirement Trish, moved to Indiana to be a part of CBS reality series Armed and Famous. Paul Heyman had mentioned her name to the producers and they decided to make her a part of the show. It saw celebrities trained as police officers and then joined by real officers to go onto legitimate police calls. The show wasn’t as successful as CBS thought it would be and while the network ordered seven episodes, it only ever aired four before it cancelled the show.
6 6. Stratusphere
After Trish finished filming Second City’s Next Comedy Legend, a Canadian reality show, Trish then moved on to become the subject of a travel show that was aptly entitled Stratusphere. The show followed the former Women’s Champion as she traveled around the world and participated in various different kinds of sporting events and challenges. The ten-part series followed Trish all over the world as she took part in some that attested to her athleticism and willingness to never give up on a challenge, which set the show apart from every other show in the travel genre.
5 5. WrestleMania XXVII
Trish failed to appear at any WrestleMania after her final match against Mickie James, until she was a part of a storyline with Jersey Shore star Snookie and WWE booked her to be a part of a six man tag team match at the event. Trish teamed with Snookie and John Morrison against the team of Dolph Ziggler, Michelle McCool and Layla. Trish’s team were the victors once again and the following night on Raw, Trish and Morrison defeated Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler to put an end to the feud between Snookie and Laycool which allowed Trish to walk away from WWE again.
4 4. Charity Work
Like many WWE Superstars, Trish used the company as a platform for her charity work and has been a part of many projects throughout her short career. She has been a spokesperson for the World Natural Sports Association since 2001 and has been involved in many other charitable organisations such as Ronald McDonald House, The Special Olympics and Dreams Take Flight. Back in 2008, she participated in the Island Triathlon Series as part of their relay team as a way to help raise money for Dignitas International along with many other names in the celebrity world.
3 3. Marriage
Throughout her WWE career, Trish was aligned with many male superstars that fans were led to believe she was actually dating, as well as being a part of many risqué promos and backstage segments that wouldn’t pass in WWE’s current PG era. At the time, Trish was in a long term relationship with her high school sweetheart Ron Fisico. He had been on the sidelines for her WWE career and following her retirement from WWE in 2006, Trish finally married her boyfriend of 14 years at a ceremony that was attended by many of her former WWE colleagues.
2 2. Hall of Fame
Almost seven years after her retirement from WWE, Trish Stratus was finally inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. She chose to be inducted by one of the Principle Owners of WWE and one of her best friends, Stephanie McMahon. Trish gave an incredible acceptance speech as she took her place among wrestling’s elite the night before WrestleMania 29. She also announced that she would be delivering some “StratusFaction” later in the year, as her way of telling the WWE Universe that she was four months pregnant.
1 1. Baby Max Is Born
Trish Stratus left WWE in 2006 so that she could pave her own path elsewhere and create her own family. She felt that she had accomplished everything she desired with the biggest wrestling promotion in the world and decided it was time to move onto something new. It took her seven years to finally begin this family as she announced in 2013 that she was expecting and on the 30th September of the same year, she gave birth to her first child, a son that she called Maximus. She even named her best friend, Lita, as his godmother.