WWE Hall of Famer and former Women’s Champion Trish Stratus is preparing for her in-ring return under the WWE banner as she went to social media to hype her upcoming match against former WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss at the Evolution pay-per-view event.
The last match that WWE Hall of Famer wrestled under the WWE banner was back in January at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event where she competed as a participant in the Women’s Royal Rumble match.
While @AlexaBliss_WWE and I will be on opposite sides of the ring at #WWEEvolution, we’re on the same side for this contest that will leave someone BLISSFULLY STRATUSFIED. See details and how to enter! https://t.co/oqC6uqbebn
The Evolution pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and will air on the WWE Network.
NXT Matches Booked For Next Week
Two matches have been announced by the WWE for next week’s episode of NXT on the WWE Network. Lars Sullivan is in action against an opponent that has yet to be announced as well as NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa vs. Otis Dozovic in a non-title match.
As a reminder, WWE will be taping episodes of NXT on Thursday night in Winter Park, FL at Full Sail University. As always, we have spoilers from this taping posted on the site later tonight.
On Monday’s RAW from Toronto, WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus made a surprise return. Stratus interrupted Elias while he was doing an in-ring promo and they exchanged some words.
This led to Ronda Rousey and Natalya joining her the ring while Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Alicia Fox came out to the stage that saw Bliss invoke her rematch with Rousey for the RAW Women’s Title at Hell in a Cell. The former RAW Women’s Champion also hyped her match with Stratus at WWE Evolution.
After RAW, WWE released this video of Trish reacting to her big night. She spoke about what it was like returning in her hometown (Toronto), the women’s revolution and her upcoming match against Alexa Bliss at Evolution.
Trish said when she was forging her path during the Attitude Era, the female wrestlers were always trying to be “part of the boys.” They wanted to be welcomed into the wrestling community. Today, it is amazing to see how far they have come. She feels that the women have finally made it. They have made their mark and are veiwed as equals to the male wrestlers. She is proud to be part of WWE Evolution and vows to whoop Bliss’ butt.
Watch Trish Stratus talk about her surprise return on RAW:
The Evolution pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and will air on the WWE Network. As of this writing, no other matches have been officially announced.
Trish Stratus is preparing for her in-ring return and appears to be in great shape for that match as she went to social media to hype her upcoming match against former WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss at the Evolution pay-per-view.
The last match that WWE Hall of Famer wrestled under the WWE banner was back in January at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event where she competed as a participant in the Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Stratus tweeted the following to hype the match: She wrote the following on her official Twitter account, “Evolution is going to be hot. S T R A T U S vs B L I S S.”
WWE has already confirmed that a RAW Women’s Title match, SmackDown Women’s Title match, NXT Women’s Title match, WWE UK Women’s Title match and the finals of the this year’s Mae Young Classic tournament would take place at this upcoming event, which will feature all women contests.
The company also announced that both stars from the past and present will be working this show.
The Evolution pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and will air on the WWE Network. As of this writing, no other matches have been officially announced.
What are your thoughts on this match? Sound off in the comment section.
A big match has been advertised for the upcoming WWE Evolution pay-per-view event. That match is Alexa Bliss vs. Trish Stratus.
A graphic was shown on the big screen at the Barclays Center prior to Saturday’s (August 18, 2018) NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 event in Brooklyn, New York. The match has since been confirmed by WWE.
WWE has already confirmed that a RAW Women’s Title match, SmackDown Women’s Title match, NXT Women’s Title match, WWE UK Women’s Title match and the finals of the this year’s Mae Young Classic tournament would take place at this upcoming event, which will feature all women contests. The company also announced that both stars from the past and present will be working this show.
The last match that WWE Hall of Famer wrestled under the WWE banner was back in January at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event where she competed as a participant in the Women’s Royal Rumble match.
The Evolution pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and will air on the WWE Network.
What are your thoughts on this match? Sound off in the comment section.
– Amanpreet Singh, better known to fans as Mahabali Shera in Impact Wrestling, made headlines earlier this year when he joined the WWE Performance Center. Since making his in-ring debut in March, he’s been working NXT house shows in Florida on a semi-regular basis and at last night’s show in Lakeland, he debuted a “dark” persona.
The official Instagram account of NXT posted this photo of Singh before his match and added: “@mahabalishera rises from the darkness in #NXTLakeland to compete tonight!”
https://instagram.com/p/Bl_wTgEgzsi/
Singh only wore this garb to the ring as he wrestled in his usual black trunks and boots attire. He lost to Kassius Ohno.
– Thursday marked the 20-year anniversary of Sunday Night Heat, which served as a supplement program to Raw as well as a preview show on pay-per-view nights. Heat holds a special meaning to Trish Stratus as she made her WWE debut on the show (on the March 19, 2000 episode). In honor of its 20th anniversary, Trish has counted down her top 10 Heat moments.
You guys, remember Sunday Night Heat?? Can u believe it premiered 20 years ago? Here’s some of my Heat moments, including the kick off for my rivalry with @REALLiSAMARiE + number 1 is super special! https://t.co/tsBJyF86BI
– Ahead of SummerSlam on August 19, WWE posted this 60-second highlight video looking back at SummerSlam 2000.
https://instagram.com/p/Bl_OjDuHVZe/
SummerSlam 2000 marked the second straight year that a Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship headlined the pay-per-view event as The Rock successfully defended the title against Triple H and Kurt Angle.
Another featured match was the first-ever Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match for the WWF World Tag Team Championship involving champs Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy), and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley). Edge and Christian won the match by retrieving the belts suspended above the ring.
It didn’t take long for Mickie James to figure out who she wants to face at October’s all-female pay-per-view. Not long after Raw went off the air last night, Mickie James took to Twitter to challenge Trish Stratus.
The two historic rivals also shared a one-on-one moment during the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble in January.
The Mickie James vs Trish Stratus rivalry/storyline building toward WrestleMania 22 is one of the most talked about in the history of WWE’s women’s divisions. James earned some controversy during the angle as her obsession with Stratus often had sexual undertones.
At WrestleMania 22, the live crowd cheered for James in the way WrestleMania crowds sometimes cheer a heel who is good in their role, even if they are still the heel.
James defeated Trish Stratus that night to win the WWE Women’s Championship. She would defend the title successfully against Stratus throughout the spring and summer of 06 before Trish retired from in-ring competition later that year.
James met another Canadian in the ring last night. She defeated Natalya in single’s competition. It was her first win on Raw since February when she defeated Sonya Deville.
The first ever Women’s Royal Rumble featured a number of surprise entrances and one of the most exciting parts of the match was the return of Attitude Era Star Trish Stratus.
During a recent interview with The Niagara Falls Review, Trish talked about many things including her start in the modeling business and more.
While discussing her appearance at the Women’s Royal Rumble, Stratus revealed that she was contacted by WWE on December 26th, about a month before the event.
Continuing on the topic, Trish recalled how she contacted a friend to set up a practice ring after receiving the offer because the Hall Of Famer wanted to make sure that she can pull it off before saying yes to the company:
“I called a friend of mine in Toronto — whenever there’s a TV show or production that needs a ring, he’s the guy — and I said, ‘Can we get a ring set up? I might have an opportunity, and before I say yes to them, I have to make sure I can still do this.'”
Apart from this Trish Stratus also talked about her debut in 2000, how the Rock was the hardest working guy in the company back then and more. You can check out her full interview here.
Tonight’s edition of WWE SmackDown Live takes place from Baltimore, MD at the Royal Farms Arena. The show will feature three Money in the Bank qualifying matches:
Daniel Bryan vs. Rusev
United States Champion Jeff Hardy vs. The Miz
Peyton Royce vs. Charlotte Flair
Also, SmackDown General Manager Paige has revealed on Twitter that she would be kicking off the show. She sent out the following tweet:
– Casey of Squared Circle Sirens has provided some details on an episode of Table for 3 that features former WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Lita.
In this episode, they will be talking about Alexa’s pet pig Larry Steve, Lita’s start in Mexico, reflecting on the business, and Trish finding yoga. As of this writing, there’s no word yet on when this episode will air.
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss has made a big splash ever since she was called up to the main roster two years ago from NXT.
While she never held the NXT Women’s Title during her time in the developmental brand, she was mainly used as a manager for Blake and Murphy, who went onto have a run as the NXT Tag Team Champions.
With her not having a big push in NXT, some fans had their doubts about “Five Feet of Fury” when she was called up to SmackDown Live. However, she made her doubters wrong when she blasted on the scene while in the women’s division on the blue brand and would go onto hold the SmackDown Women’s Title.
Fast forward to the Superstar Shakeup just last year after WrestleMania 33, WWE decided to make some changes and have the two brands trade for Superstars.
Bliss was one of them as she was sent to Raw and didn’t skip a beat as she won the Raw Women’s Title shortly after that.
Bliss stated in an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada she would like to have a match against WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus. Here is what she had to say (transcript courtesy of Wrestling-News.net):
“I would love to be able to go at it with Trish. I never been able to. I just recently met her at RAW 25 and The Royal Rumble, which was awesome to meet her because I watched her so many times.
Her and Rey Mysterio were like my idols in WWE and I loved it. So, it was really cool to actually meet her. I would love to get into the ring with her one day.”
– Coming off his recent appearance at Raw’s 25th Anniversary show, The Undertaker has been busy at the gym lately.
Michelle McCool posted this video tonight on Instagram of her husband performing deadlifts at their gym.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be9Si7Bhtjl/
The Undertaker was also at the gym on Wednesday as McCool posted a photo of herself with “The Deadman” while wearing Chalk Line’s Undertaker Vintage Fanimation Jacket (click the right arrow below to see it).
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be6DYPRBz9b/
– Trish Stratus and Mickie James are this week’s guests on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia as the former champions talk about locking up in the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match and much more. Here is the synopsis:
“This episode of Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia features WWE Superstar Mickie James discussing her 20+ year career in pro wrestling, getting her start during the Attitude Era, her experience at the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble where she locked up with old foe Trish Stratus, plus her career as a musician, being honored at the Native American Music Awards, motherhood, the #metoo movement, and more! Plus, WWE HOF’er Trish Stratus returns to relive her experience at the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble!”
Garcia’s interviews with Stratus and James were conducted separately. You can listen to this episode on Podcast One or iTunes.
– WWE officials have soured on Mixed Match Challenge on Facebook Watch, according to Dave Meltzer in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. They were ‘very unhappy’ with the decline in viewership in Week 2, which for the live show, dropped about 32% from the premiere episode (from a peak of about 132,600 viewers for Week 1 to 92,000 for Week 2).
There was an even steeper live viewership drop during Week 3, which saw Braun Strowman and Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss beat Sami Zayn and Becky Lynch. The show peaked at around 62,400 viewers, a decline of 54% from the premiere episode and 32% from Week 2.
Despite the decline in live viewership, the number of total views has not dropped as much percentage-wise from Week 1. Thus far, the premiere episode has drawn 1.9 million views after 18 days (Finn Balor and Sasha Banks vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Natalya), Week 2 has drawn 1.7 million views after 11 days (The Miz and Asuka vs. Big E and Carmella), and Week 3 has drawn 1.6 million views after 4 days.
– Last Sunday at the Royal Rumble event, Trish Stratus made her surprise in-ring return as the 30th and final entrant in the inaugural Women’s Royal Rumble Match. The WWE Hall of Famer eliminated three competitors (Nia Jax, Mickie James, and Natalya) before getting tossed out by Sasha Banks. Stratus lasted in the match for over five minutes.
In the video below, Stratus discusses the significance of the match, the current stars she’s excited to share the ring with, and what she misses most about wrestling.
– With three slots left in the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match on Sunday, Feb. 25, WWE.com has announced that Roman Reigns will face Bray Wyatt in an Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match this Monday night on Raw.
Braun Strowman, Elias, and John Cena qualified for the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match this past Monday on Raw. The winner of the match will challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania on Sunday, April 8.
– Chris Jericho and his band Fozzy will be on Last Call with Carson Daly this Monday night at 1:35/12:35 a.m. on NBC.
– WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus is Lilian Garcia’s guest on this week’s edition of her Chasing Glory podcast as she talks about being honored at Raw’s 25th anniversary show, her in-ring return in the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match and more. You can listen to the episode on Podcast One and iTunes.
Here is the synopsis for the podcast, which was taped the night before the Royal Rumble.
“This episode of Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia features WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus! Trish chats with Lilian about her journey in the WWE, choosing between med-school and a career in professional wrestling, memorable moments, overcoming injuries, her transition to motherhood, being honored at RAW’s 25th Anniversary, her passion for yoga, a special return in the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble, and more!”
– Below is video of WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus talking to Charly Caruso after her brief appearance at RAW 25 on Monday night. Trish talks about how it always feels familiar when she returns, no matter how long she’s been gone, and how the fans still pop for her after all this time.
– As noted, Chris Jericho returned to WWE TV for RAW 25 and did a backstage segment with Elias, adding him to The List. Below is Fallout video with Jericho adding more names to The List – Tom Phillips, Mike Rome, Cathy Kelley and others working backstage.
– Below are videos of The Balor Club reflecting on their big RAW 25 moment with DX, Triple H discussing what RAW 25 meant to DX and a rare photo-op with DX, The Balor Club and WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall. Also below is footage of Triple H speaking to the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom after RAW ended.
On Monday’s RAW, Stephanie McMahon announced that next month’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view will feature the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble match.
One of the most exciting aspects of Royal Rumble matches is seeing which legends will make surprise appearances. WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus heard about Stephanie’s big announcement and said it might be time for her to lace up the boots once again.
There's NOTHING @WWE women cannot do. It's been a long-time coming – can't wait for the FIRST EVER WOMENS #RoyalRumble! Now…where dem boots?
Trish wrestled her last match back in September 2006. On the 10 year anniversary of her final match, Trish posted a message on Instagram reflecting on her career. She concluded with, “I’ve still got some Stratusfaction to deliver if ya want it!”
In an interview with Sports Illustrated last year, Trish made it clear that the door is open for her to get back in the ring once again and show today’s WWE women that she can still hang.
“I’d only go back if it was worth it and if it was a challenge for me,” Trish told Sports Illustrated. “Something that’s different and unique, like playing a heel again, which would be super cool. I’ve gone back as a babyface, so it would have to be something challenging and something that would elevate either the division or a talent. Not just me for my own sh–s and giggles to raise my brand.”
Competing in the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble match would certainly qualify as “something that’s different and unique.” Stay tuned!
– WWE SmackDown has a live event tonight from East Lansing, Michigan. Tomorrow’s SmackDown Live will broadcast from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
– WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus wrote a blog post on her website talking about Natalya breaking her pay-per-view match record at last night’s Hell in a Cell PPV:
“I’m not surprised, Nattie is hands down the hardest working WWE Superstar male or female! In the ring she is as solid as it gets, as a performer she always delivers, and she is a excellent representative of not only the company but of woman in wrestling. She truly exemplifies what you can accomplish through hard work and what can happen when you follow your passion.. And it is for all of those reasons and more that I have always said following my retirement, that I wish I had worked with Nattie.”
– The conclusion of Sunday’s WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view saw Sami Zayn turning heel, saving longtime rival Kevin Owens from a top-of-the-cage attack by Shane McMahon and helping Owens get the victory in their Falls Count Anywhere match.
Following the show, Owens took to social media to share the following throwback photo of himself and Zayn.
– Matt Hardy took to Twitter to post another “Matt Fact” about his daily ritual while at home. The former RAW Tag Team Champ posted some pictures from his awesome personal gym at home which is covered in purple and neon green, including Hardy logos on his dumbbells. Check it out:
– NXT Stars Mandy Rose and Vanessa Borne took a photo backstage at an NXT Live Event in Rochester, New York, and fans took to the comments section to point out that Rose looks an awful lot like WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus. This led to a friendly Twitter exchange between Rose and Stratus on Twitter, which you can check out here:
– WWE.com is running a poll asking fans which Royal Rumble entrant they want to see eliminated first. The Miz has the most votes by far with 22%, followed by Braun Strowman (14%) and Brock Lesnar (13%).
– Earlier this week, WWE.com published a video featuring Superstars talking about what surprises they want to see in this year’s Royal Rumble match. Seth Rollins picked New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kenny Omega.
“There’s been a lot of buzz about him that his future’s up in the air with New Japan, so you never know,” Rollins said. “Could we see The Cleaner in the Rumble? I don’t know.”
The WWE.com article, titled, “Seth Rollins wants Kenny Omega In The Royal Rumble Match” was later deleted. WWE re-posted this video with Rollins’ comments about Kenny Omega edited out.
– WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus has announced the birth of her second child. Madison Patricia was born Saturday, January 14th and weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces. Congratulations to Trish and her husband Ron.
– WWE Network added two new Collections this week – Matches of the Year and one on the history between Trish Stratus and Lita.
– Thousand Foot Krutch’s “Different Kind of Dynamite” single has been announced as the official theme song for WWE Roadblock: End of the Line. We will have live coverage from Pittsburgh on 12/18.
– Dolph Ziggler frequently talks politics on his Twitter page but a discussion about President-elect Donald Trump ended with Ziggler abruptly shutting it down after fans got carried away. You can check out some of the comments that Ziggler acknowledged with replies below:
– In addition to The Undertaker being backstage at last night’s RAW, his wife Michelle McCool and her daughters watched the show from ringside.
– After RAW went off the air, Rusev came to the ring to cut a promo on Enzo Amore and Big Cass. This brought out Cass, who cleared the ring and sent fans home happy.
– Trish Stratus revealed on Lilian Garcia’s latest podcast that she and her husband are expecting their first baby girl soon. Trish previously gave birth to a baby boy. Trish announced her second pregnancy back in the fall but is just now revealing the gender.
– Charlotte and Big Show are on their way to Afghanistan to meet troops. Footage from the trip will air on the WWE Tribute to the Troops next week. No word yet on if Vince McMahon is with them.
Former WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James has been announced as NXT Women’s Champion Asuka’s next contender. The title match is scheduled for 11/19 at NXT TakeOver: Toronto. According to Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE originally had big plans for another legendary women’s performer – Trish Stratus.
WWE was working on different storyline ideas for the Hall of Famer, but those got knocked off course when Trish announced she and her husband are expecting their second child. Obviously, that rules out her returning to the ring over the next several months.
As of this writing, it’s believed Mickie has only signed on for the match against Asuka. There have been rumors James could be joining the Performance Center as a trainer and her upcoming WWE return makes that even more likely.
– WWE will tape the 2016 Tribute To The Troops on Tuesday, 12/13 from the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.
– As seen at WWE No Mercy last night, Luke Harper returned and helped Bray Wyatt defeat Randy Orton in the main event. SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan confirmed on Talking Smack that he and Shane McMahon just signed Harper but they didn’t expect him to make such an impact that quick.
– WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus announced today that she is expecting her second child. She tweeted the following:
WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus posted a reflective message on Instagram on the 10 year anniversary of her WWE retirement. It’s amazing to think she’s been away for that long, but she made a huge impact on the business and is arguably one of the most successful female wrestlers of all time.
The brand split is bringing back old memories for WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus, who says the separation was a “good move.”
In a recent interview with Total Wrestling Magazine, Trish says WWE’s roster is deep enough with talent to pull off the brand split effectively. She says splitting the roster across RAW and SmackDown gives WWE the opportunity to spend more time developing each character.
“You can only highlight so many characters on one show and with so many NXT talent coming in, which is somewhat of a parallel to back in my day when we had the WCW talent come in, this gives the audience two separate platforms for storylines to unfold,” Trish said “Having new talent come in is obviously a plus, new faces is always good to keep the product fresh. It’s especially good, the fact that the audience is familiar with the current crop coming in, as opposed to a brand new persona they need to develop.”
Trish also gave her thoughts on SmackDown going live, saying that when it was taped it was missing the element of surprise. She feels that the show going live on Tuesday nights was a good move and that it forces talent to stay on their toes.
“When I was around you were always glad you were on Raw excited to be on a live telecast,” Trish continued, “also, it was a great challenge and a good learning tool to have the pressure to have to perform live with no editing to help your performance – or audience reaction, you had to earn it.”
Stratus was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
– WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus revealed on her website that WWE Network cameras recently filmed her at her Stratusphere Yoga HQ in Toronto. Trish discussed the women of WWE and other topics for future Network programs.
– Ryback announced on Instagram that he’s launching a new project soon at FeedMeMore.com. The Big Guy wrote:
Feed Me More is about waking up hungry and being our very best each and every day. It is about setting goals, working towards those goals and being thankful for the journey and the discipline not always the result. Than it is not being complacent and staying hungry setting new goals and once again keeping the mindset of Feed Me More! 10 percent of all proceeds through FeedMeMore.com will also go to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission to help feed the homeless.
– Randy Orton is at the WWE Performance Center this week training for his match against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Orton revealed that Wednesday was his first day getting back into ring shape and showed off what his back looked like afterwards:
– Former WWE star Trish Stratus recently appeared on the Raw Meet Podcast and thinks WWE dropping the “Divas” name for their female wrestlers was long overdue.
“They [WWE female talent] deserve to be fighting for the Women’s Championship,” Stratus said. “The Divas thing was kind of a weird phase, where it was, focus on the women [appearance] and it sucks because there were some very talented women at the time. I’m not ever going to denounce a Divas Champion, because to me, it’s still a wrestling champion.”
– With Randy Orton expected to return to action soon, WWE has begun officially advertising him for live events in August, including the August 28th live event at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Orton has been out of action since October with a shoulder injury.
– Bobby Roode wrestled his first matches for WWE this past week on NXT’s tour of the UK, and took to Twitter to comment on the career milestone:
It's been an amazing week to say the least here in the UK with @WWENXT . Time to travel back home and wait to see what's next. #Staytuned