#3: Trish Stratus vs Stephanie McMahon, No Way Out 2001.
On paper, this match had low expectations. Though they could take bumps, neither woman was considered to be a wrestler, and neither of them were near great, but they came in with a great story. In a strange twist, both women in this feud were heels. Stephanie used her devious ways to help her father incapacitate her mother, and Trish became the new apple of his eye, starting a war over McMahon female dominance.
Prior to the match, we saw Trish and Stephanie trade comments backstage, trade slaps and have a couple catfights. The most memorable one is when Trish ambushed Stephanie and shoved her face in cow feces and beat her in hay. Fans were anxious to see the Billion Dollar Princess snatch up the homewrecking Trish.
What we got was a coming-out party for both of these women. It was a physical and intense match from beginning to end. Stephanie, slapped, spanked, pulled hair, clotheslined and threw water on Trish. She even powerbombs her at one point. Trish for her part slaps the piss out of Stephanie, stomps her, rams her head into the turnbuckle, threw her on her head from the barricade, and laid her down with a bulldog and a beautiful DDT. These women held nothing back; Trish lifting Stephanie off the ground with a top rope rear naked choke only get a snapmare off the top was fantastic. The ending came when Trish was put down by a neckbreaker from William Regal.
This match showed us what Trish could offer and how much potential she had. This wasn’t a match, it was a fight, and it wasn’t pretty. Those two women had one of the best matches of the night and it’s the match I personally remember most when I think of Trish.
