411’s WWE Rivals Report: Trish Stratus vs. Lita

-Another shout-out and best wishes to my Uniontown Red Raiders basketball team as they play tomorrow night in the PA State Semi-Finals. I will be attending the game in Charleroi, and hopefully they can get one more upset and punch their ticket to Hershey and a State Final. Let’s Go Red Raiders! Now, it’s our weekly dose of WWE Rivals. This week it’s Lita vs Trish and I am rather excited by this one. This was THE RIVALRY in the woman’s division that helped build the division (along with the work of other women). Let’s get to it!

-As a reminder Freddie Prinze Jr is our host and joining him at the table this week: Cody Rhodes, Kevin Nash, JBL, and Beth Phoenix.

-Freddie starts by noting that in the late 90s and early 2000s the women of WWE were mostly valets and were treated as something to look at and enjoy. JBL says there have always been women wrestlers in the business, but they always didn’t get the opportunity. Beth notes women were seen as sex objects and Freddie agrees.

-August 1998: Trish Stratus makes her debut on Off The Record in Canada as she was coming off working as a fitness model. Kevin Owens remembers Off The Record and Trish being on there as she was a wrestling fan. Trish tells us she grew up watching wrestling from Toronto in Maple Leaf Gardens and we get footage of Hogan vs. Mr. Wonderful.

-Lita didn’t grow up as a fan and was into judo and being in a band. She then saw wrestling on TV and to her it was a cross between being in a band and still being physical like judo. She was drawn to Lucha Libre and went down to Mexico to break into the business.

-Paul Heyman says they had try-outs in ECW and Lita was different than everyone else while still being gorgeous to look at and notes she was a quick learner. We get some footage of Lita during her short stint in ECW. WWE quickly snatched her up from ECW.

-Lita says there were no plans and she was told they would come up with something. A few months later Trish signs with all kinds of announcements and Lita calls Trish the most beautiful woman she has seen and figured her career was toast before it even started as she couldn’t compete with that.

-Nov 1999: Trish signs with WWE and knew that a new girl had also signed. Lita admits she got jealous because Lita got to debut first.

-Lita debuts with Essa Rios in Feb of 2000 and she calls it a dream debut. She got to hit moonsaults on the guys and show off her high-flying style.

-Trish debuts on Heat on March 19, 2000 as the manager of Test and Albert (T&A). Trish jokes that T&A stood for talent and ability.

-Lita gets paired with The Hardy Boyz and all three of their careers took off from there. It was a perfect pairing and they were trying to figure out who they could pair against Lita. Trish wanted the opportunity and they decided to run with it. That leads to a 6 person match on SmackDown (June 2000) where Trish makes her in ring debut. We get highlights of those early matches as Trish notes Lita came up the more traditional way while she had to prove herself.

-Nash notes the early days were the bra and panties era in WWE and we get high-lights of a Trish/Lita bra and panties match with Lawler losing his mind on commentary.

-Albert mentions the WWE was slowly bringing in more accomplished women to help change the presentation of the division and names Victoria, Jazz, and Molly Holly. Trish and Lita welcomed the new women as it would help everyone and get the division some credibility.

-Commercials!

-Lita becomes women’s champion in 2000 and Trish gets her first reign in Nov of 2001. We get footage of Fit Finlay working with Trish in the ring as the talking heads mention she was working on getting better.

-Meanwhile Lita gets a role on Dark Angel (w/ Jessica Alba) and James Cameron is shown which has to be a first for anything WWE related. No, I don’t mean they got him as a talking head, but they did get behind the scenes footage of him directing Lita and some soundbites. Unfortunately while doing a stunt on the show she breaks her neck as the girl fell to the ground while taking a rana and it drove Lita head first into the ground.

-Beth Phoenix talks about how an injury takes you out and you worry about someone taking your spot. Lita says it was painful sitting at home and she had to watch people running with the opportunities she wanted. Trish mentions the Women’s Division had started to take off and she was given the ball. Lita says while she was out that year plus and Trish solidified herself as the top female in the division.

-Sept 15, 2003: Trish is getting attacked and a returning Lita made the save. Lita enjoyed being paired with Trish and during the montage they mention how girls could relate to either one of them. That leads to them showing AJ Lee meeting Lita at a signing and bawling her eyes out. You know the video! They don’t mention AJ, but that’s a cool little Easter egg they tossed in there.

-Sasha Banks loved Trish while Liv Morgan was all about Lita. Kurt Angle puts over both Lita and Trish for being as popular as any of the men.

-We jump to 2004 where Evil Trish is born and this is my favorite version of this feud. They mention that Mean Girls was a massive movie at the time and it featured a mean blonde bullying a red head. I never made that connection. I was 23 and just saw two smoking hot women (respectfully) on my screen each week having actual wrestling matches and thought it was awesome. Evil Trish from 2004-2005 is my favorite Trish!

-Commercials!

-Survivor Series 2004: They meet in a short match as Lita just destroys Trish with a chair and then continues to beat her ass. Trish has blood pouring from her nose which was something we didn’t see with the women.

-RAW: Dec 6, 2004: Trish and Lita walk into the arena in Charlotte and see everyone smiling and then see on the boar that they are the main event. Beth notes that Trish and Lita had to over deliver just so there could be another Main Event for the women down the line. Brian Gewirtz notes the spot was earned and Molly says she got choked up when she found out. Charlotte was sitting ringside for the show and they make sure to point her out on camera. It’s always funny how things like that and AJ Lee with Lita or Edge at Mania VI, etc happens.

-Molly says everyone was watching backstage on the monitor and then it nearly went wrong as Lita almost breaks her neck on a suicide dive. That looked nasty and they show it over and over again with every talking head freaking out about it. Her feet bent over her back and touched the ground the same time as her face. Eww! Somehow she didn’t break every bone in her neck and then hits the top rope moonsault to get the win and Title to a massive pop. Great moment and much deserved! Lita says that moment when she stepped back through the curtain was the most satisfying. We get some cool backstage footage as Bubba Ray notes the guys were cheering for them as they deserved that spot. Beth says it was a huge win and cracked open the door for her and every woman that followed. Stephanie McMahon calls it a turning point in the evolution of the division and notes the ratings reflected that the fans were into the match, story, and the women involved.

-Commercials!

-New Year’s Revolution: Jan 2005: It’s the rematch and early into the match, Lita does a Thesz Press off the apron to Trish and destroys her knee. We hear her audibly yell, “Fuck,” and they had to change the finish on the fly as Trish wins back the Title. Lita notes it was the only time she didn’t finish a match and finds out that she did in fact tear everything in her knee which mean she would be out for a long time.

-Cody talks about injuries and how people say you will come back stronger than ever, but that doesn’t always happen. Timing is everything and sometimes you miss your shot because of injury.

-We skip ahead to roles being reversed and now it is a different Lita as she is with Edge and this is my favorite version of Lita. They skip the turn on Kane to make her Evil Lita and don’t touch on the reason for the turn (cheating on Matt).

-Aug 2006: They go back to Lita vs. Trish, but with Lita as the heel and Trish as the face. At the same time, Trish’s contract is coming up, but her mom is having health issues. She made the decision that it was time to retire and be there for her mom. Sasha mentions she cried when she heard the news that Trish was retiring.

-Lita won the Title and Vince tells Trish that having a retirement match in Toronto would be perfect. She makes the challenge to Lita, “Just Bring It Bitch.”

-Commercials!

-Unforgiven 2006: Toronto, CN: Great show with Cena/Edge TLC and a chaotic Hell in a Cell with DX vs. The McMahons and Big Show. Beth says she was mad as she was just on the cusp of getting in the WWE and Trish was always a dream match. They show Beth working in FCW in 2006 and I never realized they just missed each other.

-They have a really fun match and Trish becomes Champion for a then record 7th time. Obviously that record has been shattered by Charlotte since. Lita notes her and Trish always brought out the best in each other. Trish gets the win with The Sharpshooter to a crazy reaction from the crowd as the WWE lets Trish go out as Champion.

-Lita was honored to be Trish’s last match and then she decides to retire as well. She doesn’t get the win though and losses to Mickie James at Survivor Series 2006. They don’t mention all the mean spirited stuff they had Cryme Tyme do.

-With both women gone it is the end of their era and then Rosenberg tells us the division changes with a Revolution. I mean they kind of skipped nearly a decade before we got to the 4 Horsewomen Era, but sure they just missed out on it.

-RAW 2017: Stephanie announces the women will have their own Royal Rumble Match and Trish immediately calls Lita to see if they are doing it.

-Commercials! Next Sunday Charlotte and Yokozuna get the Bio treatment and on Rivals: Brock vs. Roman Reigns!

-Royal Rumble 2018 Photo Shoot: All the women in The Rumble get together for photos and it’s kind of cool seeing all the generations comes together. Bayley marks out over seeing Lita and gushes talking to her. Group picture and again, that’s cool. Both Lita and Trish are a bit nervous about trying to keep up with the current women.

-Royal Rumble: Lita gets some shine before being eliminated by Becky Lynch. Trish then makes her entrance (man, they missed a spot by having Lita and Trish face off) and they don’t show who eliminated her.

-Instead we jump to Evolution as they all make history with the first all female WWE PPV. Kevin Nash sees Trish and Lita as besties as they are one in the same.

-JBL calls it the most important rivalry in woman’s wrestling history because if it’s not successful the division is set back years. Beth is grateful because there is no Beth Phoenix without Trish and Lita. They do a cool transition from Lita hitting the moonsault in that RAW Main Event to Charlotte hitting one at WrestleMania 35 when women closed WrestleMania for the first time.

-I enjoyed this one as I loved the rivalry between the two. It worked no matter who was being cheered or booed and they did bring out the best in each other. It also can’t be said enough how important it was that they delivered when given the chance as it helped bring the division to a respected level. Some of the editing and gaps being skipped over was weird, but this was still an easy watch and I found it enjoyable. Thanks for reading! Go UT!