Jan 30 2009
Trish Stratus At Wrestlemania?
http://rajah.com/base/node/14971
Trish Stratus stated that she was not contacted to wrestle at Wrestlemania this year, but seems to like the idea of competing. As I have said before, I find it disgusting that the WWE keeps pulling in the woman that had years of dream booking, and do not do better with their own women currently under contract. I have compared Trish Stratus to Hulk Hogan before, and let me go there again, since Hogan had resurfaced recently. He drove by FCW a few weeks ago, teased wrestling there that night, drove away, and was never seen there. The guy just cannot have the spotlight off him for that long. I will not even mention the plans he had tossed around concerning Wrestlemania this year. I like wrestlers who show more class when they retire and actually stop competing, and here I am thinking about a man that saw his last match at last year’s Wrestlemania. I have always been a big fan of this man. Tears were shed when he retired, a politician praised him, and I pray that he does not play with emotions by ever teasing a return. I think you can figure out who I mean.
Back to Trish Stratus, she tossed around two names as to who she would like to compete against. First, a singles match with Beth Phoenix. Describing this match, she actually says she wants it to be “just one dominant female against the other.” Dominant? In terms of what? Beth has shown to be sloppy in many of her past matches, even when competing against women with wrestling talent. Moreover, the only real dominance can be seen in terms of wins, title reigns, and attention given overall. Has Trish forgotten that these are decided mainly by booking and the WWE? It would be the best booked woman of the past ten years against the best booked woman currently. That is not exactly a match I care about. Then Trish talks about taking on Natalya. That would be nice. Trish says that Natalya will be a ”major player soon.” I honestly wish that would be true. I am not a huge fan of Natalya, but I do not like seeing the real wrestlers being treated like crap. But the WWE will not be pushing Natalya anytime soon, so it is empty words. This is probably all based on some trash talk Beth and Natalya gave Trish a few months ago. That would make all this talk about wanting to face them, dominance, and all that just empty hype.
By just looking at pure booking and possible matches and feuds, let me try to also show why it seems unlikely that Trish will compete at this year’s Wrestlemania. First of all, note that the WWE rarely has more than two women’s matches at Wrestlemania, and sometimes it is only one. On Raw, you have the main angle, and pretty much only current angle, between Women’s Champion Melina, Beth Phoenix, and Rosa Mendez. It seems likely that this will make its way to Wrestlemania. Melina has competed at two Wrestlemanias in a row. Beth Phoenix is being booked as a dominant force, much like Trish. Rosa Mendez, if you follow previous “obsessed fan” angles, will see action in the ring soon. On Smackdown, where things are even more mixed up, believe it or not, you have Michelle McCool being the top heel. She is still feuding with Maria, but I doubt that feud can go all the way to Wrestlemania, unless the Diva’s Championship is involved. There were also rumors of McCool wrestling Trish at Wrestlemania. But you also have a heel Diva’s Champion, Maryse. She may be injured, but the title is still on her. Will she keep it until Wrestlemania? You can interject her in McCool vs. Maria, making it a triple threat, or you can also give her a separate feud. The former seems likely. However, you have Gail Kim still waiting. Will Wrestlemania come and go without her? I did not even mention if a diva does Playboy this year. This consistently leads to something at Wrestlemania. Playboy, Melina vs. Beth/Rosa (possibly triple threat or just Beth vs. Rosa), McCool vs. Maria, the Diva’s Championship, Gail Kim, and now possibly Trish Stratus vs. Natalya, Beth or McCool? Natalya is out of place at the moment. McCool and Beth are involved in feuds already. The options for women’s matches already seem stacked without involving Trish. The WWE can still choose to give Trish the time, but which match will have to pay the price for that? They can always push back Gail Kim’s return for another two months, right?
I honestly hope the WWE continues to use Trish very sparingly. I do not even like her coming out of retirement for “one night only,” but I know it will be done. This reliance on the past is disrespectful to the women they have now, as I said before. Moreover, Trish is pretty overrated, to me anyway. Her “dominace” was nothing more than dream booking. I was never hooked by her wrestling skill, promo ability, the “Matrix” move, or a lot of other things about her. Yes, she did improve tremendously to be able to put on solid matches. Yes, she was sexy. And yes, she could execute some impressive spots. But in the end, improvement should not bury other women who already possess a talent equal or superior to the person who improved. In the end, most WWE divas are sexy. And in the end, I do not equate executing impressive spots to having great wrestling ability automatically. Just like people got tired of having Cena shoved down their throat a few years ago, I had gotten tired of Trish Stratus. But if she gets a match at Wrestlemania, I will wish her the best of luck.
