Biography of Trish Stratus

Patricia Anne Stratigias is a retired Canadian professional wrestler and fitness model also known under her ring name Trish Stratus. Stratigias grew up in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada where she attended Bayview Secondary School. She enrolled at York University, where she studied biology and kinesiology and played soccer and field hockey. Due to a faculty strike in 1997, she was forced to change her plans. She was working as a receptionist at a local gym when she was approached by the publisher of MuscleMag International to do a test shoot for the magazine. She later appeared on the cover of the May 1998 issue and was signed to a two-year contract. For the next six months, she worked on her body and appeared on numerous magazine covers. During this time, she joined Big Daddy Donnie & Jeff Marek as the third host of Live Audio Wrestling on Toronto Sports Radio, The FAN 590. Stratigias had been a fan of wrestling since childhood and her modeling work caught the attention of the World Wrestling Federation In November 1999, she was signed to a multi-year contract with the company, who sent her to Sully's Gym where she was trained by Ron Hutchinson. T & A Stratigias made her debut as a heel on the March 19, 2000 episode of Sunday Night Heat, under the ring name Trish Stratus. She appeared on stage to scout WWF Superstars, in particular Test and Prince Albert. The next night on Raw Stratus began her first role in the company, managing Test and Albert in the tag team T & A. It was during her stint managing T & A that Stratus took her first major bump in the ring, being driven through a table by the Dudley Boyz at Backlash after she had been taunting Bubba Ray Dudley for several weeks. She also began managing then-heel, Val Venis to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship but their partnership ended at SummerSlam after Venis lost the title. Stratus made her in-ring debut on the June 22 taping of SmackDown!, winning a tag team match with T & A against the Hardy Boyz and Lita. A storyline feud between Stratus and Lita developed after the match with Stratus attacking Lita on episodes of Raw and SmackDown!. This led to an Indian Strap match on the July 24 edition of Raw which Stratus won with help from Stephanie McMahon. She finished the year competing unsuccessfully for the WWF Women's Championship numerous times, and leaving Test and Albert when the team disbanded. In early 2001, Stratus became involved in an angle with WWF Chairman Vince McMahon, during a time when Vince's wife Linda was kayfabe institutionalized following a demand Vince had made for a divorce during an episode of SmackDown! on December 7, 2000. Vince and Stratus' relationship increasingly angered the boss' daughter, then-heel, Stephanie McMahon. At No Way Out on February 25, Stratus and Stephanie squared off, with Stephanie scoring the victory after a run-in by William Regal. In the midst of a tag team match that pitted Vince and Stratus against Regal and Stephanie the next night on Raw, Stratus was the victim of a set-up by Vince, Stephanie and Regal. Regal executed his finisher, the Regal Cutter, on Stratus and Stephanie then dumped sewage over Stratus' body. Vince stood over Stratus, and he told her she was a toy with which he had grown tired of playing and that it was over. The angle continued the next week on Raw with Vince forcing Stratus to strip down to her black bra and panties in the ring and bark like a dog. The storyline came to an end at WrestleMania X-Seven when Stratus slapped Vince during his match against his son Shane, becoming a fan favorite in the process.