WINC Watchlist: Trish Stratus’ Best Matches

To this present day, Trish Stratus is widely considered some of the influential women’s stars in skilled wrestling history, as she played a significant role within the WWE women’s division being taken more seriously. Throughout the mid-2000s, Stratus proved that she may very well be just as athletic and expert as the boys on the roster, and eventually earned the chance to be featured in major storylines and marquee matches, as an alternative of allowing management to proceed to book her in “Bra and Panties” bouts or undermining feuds. Eventually, Stratus’ labor paid off, along with her efforts through the Ruthless Aggression Era paving the best way for the present generation of girls’s wrestlers, who now fundamental event weekly shows and Premium Live Events regularly.

Seven WWE Women’s Championships later, Stratus can be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2013, and would return to the corporate five years later for a brief stint before her most up-to-date run from 2023-2025. As we proceed to honor Women’s History Month, the next are our picks for the five best matches of Stratus’ profession, all of which galvanized within the ring but had an impact on the industry as an entire.

The primary-ever women’s match to fundamental event “WWE Raw” couldn’t have featured two higher competitors than Stratus and Lita, who were determined to deliver within the spot they got on the night of December 6, 2004. Coming into the match, Stratus had just eclipsed 170 days as WWE Women’s Champion as one among the corporate’s top heels, and in only seven minutes, she was able to offer Lita probably the most memorable win of her profession.

Knowing they only had limited time to work with, each Stratus and Lita focused on executing fast-paced motion while not shying away from putting together a hard-hitting matchup. Resulting from the recent start, the audience in attendance were invested from the opening bell, and so they only continued to get louder with every near fall and counter, with many wanting to see Lita dethrone Stratus. That said, the unforgettable moment of Lita being crowned the brand new WWE Women’s Champion doesn’t occur without Stratus’ excellent character work as a heel, having purposely shown her frustration in being unable to outsmart her opponent.  

Whether it is the incredible atmosphere, Stratus’ iconic pink striped attire, or Lita’s final Moonsault before winning the title, the primary women’s fundamental event on “Raw” continues to be remembered for being a real representation of what women could accomplish when given a possibility to shine when the lights are the brightest.

Although Stratus versus Mickie James at WrestleMania 22 is not best known for its in-ring quality, it’s easily grow to be some of the memorable women’s matches at “The Grandest Stage Of Them All,” but additionally a vital championship bout within the history of girls’s wrestling.

WrestleMania 22 was the conclusion to a terrific storyline that unfolded between each women, with James bursting onto the scene as the latest member of the ladies’s division, but being an obsessed Stratus superfan. Eventually, the 2 would grow to be friends, but James’ obsession with Stratus went too far, especially when she began to be affectionate towards her, leading Trish to place an end to their friendship. Shortly thereafter, James’ character took a dark turn, having grow to be Stratus’ stalker and psychologically tormenting her for weeks until WrestleMania, where she ultimately defeated her idol for the WWE Women’s Championship.

To this present day, no person can forget the crazed look on James’ face at the highest of the doorway ramp after winning the gold, together with Jim Ross iconically yelling “The nutjob has won the title” at the tip of the match. Most significantly, James was surprisingly cheered by the Chicago crowd despite being the heel within the match, which is an indicator of how well the story was told between each competitors, the strength of Mickie in her role, and Stratus’ ability to construct a brand new star. 

Following their historic “Raw” fundamental event in 2004, Stratus and Lita mostly continued to feud against one another in tag team motion, but that they had one other opportunity to go one-on-one with one another two years later at Unforgiven 2006 in Trish’s hometown of Toronto, Canada, which was originally billed as her retirement match.

This time around, the roles were reversed as Lita entered the match because the heel, while the Stratus walked into Toronto with “Thank You Trish” chants ringing throughout the Air Canada Centre. Moreover, each women got more time to work with in comparison with a lot of their previous battles, and so they used it to showcase the chemistry they’ve had for years in an effort to capitalize on the drama of Stratus’ retirement. With it being public knowledge that Stratus was leaving WWE after Unforgiven, many questioned if she would lose her last match, however the Canadian icon would as an alternative tap out Lita using the Sharpshooter, which created probably the greatest moments of her profession when the Toronto crowd erupted as she locked within the submission move and won the title.

The match marked Stratus’ seventh WWE Women’s Championship victory, which broke her own previous record of six title reigns and was probably the most of any women’s competitor in WWE until Charlotte Flair surpassed that total 13 years later. 

When Stratus returned to skilled wrestling in 2019, her clash with Flair at SummerSlam was not only going to be her first singles match in eight years, but was intended to be her official retirement match, with a significant event once more going down in her hometown of Toronto, Canada. As we all know, Stratus would return to WWE 4 years later for an extended part-time run, but it surely doesn’t stop her match with Flair at SummerSlam from being some of the impressive performances of her profession.

For someone who hadn’t wrestled a singles match in almost a decade, Stratus was surprisingly quick, was willing to take bumps, pulled out her signature moves, and ultimately proved she could hang with “The Queen.” It also doesn’t hurt that she was working with Flair, who was still within the prime of her profession and did a stellar job ensuring Stratus looked strong in her return to the ring. Specifically, Flair brilliantly sold her own move, the Figure Eight, in addition to Stratusfaction, which led the Toronto native to look as threatening as she was within the mid 2000s.

After a series of back-and-forth chops and near falls, Flair would secure the victory by tapping out Stratus within the Figure Eight, and though she didn’t permanently retire, Trish was met with a thunderous ovation from the audience in attendance after the match, which continues to be some of the unforgettable moments from the event today.

Stratus’ nearly six-month-long feud with Becky Lynch in 2023 concluded at Payback, where the Canadian star would step inside a Steel Cage at 47 years old. After defeating Damage CTRL together at WrestleMania 39, Lynch and Stratus had a possibility to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the “Raw” that followed the event, but didn’t secure the win against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Immediately after the match, Stratus turned heel and betrayed Lynch, which arrange a summer feud between each women.

Stratus initially overcame Lynch at Night Of Champions, but their rivalry reached a boiling point once Payback arrived in September, and the strong construct to the match resulted in probably the greatest outings of Trish’s profession. Although their first singles match together was respectable, Stratus truly turned back the clock at Payback, having been in a position to sustain with Lynch within the cage, and was unafraid to take some risks. Together with hitting a Bulldog from the highest rope and kicking out of a suplex off the highest of the cage, Stratus would survive Lynch’s offence before eating a Manhandle Slam after 20 minutes of drama.

Stratus returned as a babyface originally of 2025 and teamed with Tiffany Stratton on the Elimination Chamber before going one-on-one along with her at Evolution. Nevertheless, neither match got here near the work she did with Lynch in the summertime of 2023, with Payback being the highlight of the last six years of her WWE profession.