September 17, 2006, was the date that Trish Stratus wrestled her retirement match at WWE Unforgiven against Lita. Stratus won the WWE Women’s Championship that night for the seventh time and this writer was in the crowd for the emotional send-off in her hometown of Toronto. Trish Stratus has now announced via Twitter that she will wrestle her final singles match against Charlotte Flair at WWE SummerSlam. The legacy of both females are equally important going into this marquee match but the only one can truly be called “The Queen Of All Eras” once the dust is settled.
Trish Stratus has had crossover appeal into other mediums of entertainment from hosting to modeling to starring movie roles to her very own show, Stratusphere, in 2008. That fanfare in many avenues has kept the “Canada’s Greatest Export” fresh in fans eyes since her WWE debut in 1999. Fit Finlay taught the former fitness model how to get physical in the ring, it made her the WWE Women’s Champion at Survivor Series 2001, a reboot of the defunct Women’s Championship. From being an eye-candy valet to being one of the hardest working wrestlers in the company, wrestling on RAW and SmackDown along with all of the press that goes with being a champion of the company in just a couple short years. By the mid-2000s, Stratus had defeated everyone from Jazz to Victoria to Lita to Molly Holly. Stratus was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2013 as the youngest inductee in WWE Hall Of Fame history.
The record held by Trish Stratus as a seven-time WWE women’s champion was broken by Charlotte Flair, now a ten-time WWE Women’s Champion, including NXT, SmackDown Live, RAW women’s and Diva’s Championships. It’s been Money In The Bank ladder matches, Hell in a Cell and plenty of well-deserved success for Charlotte since she debuted in WWE in 2012. It’s remarkable how well Charlotte has transitioned from personal trainer to being one of the most athletic in WWE, capable of the best matches at big events. Charlotte has already main evented WrestleMania 35 in that time, exiting a helicopter on a rooftop this April in one of the grandest entrances in WWE history to face Becky Lynch and Rhonda Rousey. “The Queen” has already toppled another experienced Canadian in Natalya several times. Could Charlotte also have the WWE Hall Of Famer’s number?
The success has gone to both females heads in the past, only it’s Charlotte that has made this match personal by making remarks about Stratus maybe being better served as a stay-at-home mom. The words may cut deeper than they appear to the 43-year-old on RAW because Stratus was once the most celebrated woman in WWE just like Charlotte is in 2019. The former cover girl has won many matches with the Chick Kick but Charlotte just won the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship this year with a vicious big boot, so expect some sequences we haven’t seen before in this match.
Trish Stratus has shown she still has plenty of endurance, competing in the first-ever WWE Women’s Royal Rumble match and teaming with Lita against Alicia Fox and Mickie James at WWE Evolution. It’s a bittersweet situation for Stratus after not getting a singles match with Alexa Bliss at Evolution due to Biss’ concussion. Could Toronto witness 100% Stratusfaction one more time or will Trish bow down to “The Queen?”
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch SummerSlam this Sunday on the WWE Network.
