The tao of Trish
Trish Stratus coming to Niagara Falls Comic Con
Trish Stratus chuckles when asked how long she’s been appearing at Comic Cons.
Turns out, she’s been doing them since before she was Trish Stratus.
In the late ’90s, Toronto-born fitness model Patricia Anne Stratigeas was asked by her future brother-in-law, who owned a Toronto comic shop, to help man the booth during one show. Mainly because she looked like a superhero herself.
She was an instant hit, and at her next con she blew up some of her fitness magazine covers and booked her own booth.
“I went to the con and I made a lot of money,” she recalls, on the line from Toronto. “So I started booking myself at these conventions. There wasn’t many people (at the time) doing the appearance and autograph thing, so I was a big novelty at these things.”
Now, of course, Comic Cons are media juggernauts, and iconic former wrestlers such as Stratus are a fixture at them.
She’ll join fellow WWE Hall of Famer (and frequent opponent) Amy Dumas — a.k.a. Lita — at the Niagara Falls Comic Con June 1 to 3. Appearing together as ‘Team Bestie,’ they’re arguably the most popular female superstars in WWE history.
Dumas is the Godmother to Stratus’s four-year-old son Max, and they frequently make their Comic Con road trips a family affair.
Family even factors into Niagara for her now: Stratus’s mother-in-law has lived in the region for two years, and she makes frequent visits to the area. And to answer what she’s frequently asked, she has nothing to do with Stratus Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake: “We should talk, though.”
For Stratus, family is foremost. It’s what prompted her to put a busy post-wrestling career on hold after the birth of her second child in January 2017. For one year, she did no interviews, no photo shoots, and made only sporadic visits to her Toronto yoga studio, Stratusphere. The team she had assembled kept things running smoothly, which she admits “humbled” her.
“I read this quote a long time ago … you know true success when you learn to delegate.”
With less time at the office, Stratus had more time for other projects. Which ironically led her back to the WWE.
After appearing on the Raw 25th anniversary special in January, Stratus surprised fans six days later when she was the 30th and final entrant in the first-ever all-women’s Royal Rumble. She eliminated three wrestlers, including her famed rival Mickie James, before she was eliminated by Sasha Banks.
A seven-time WWE Women’s Champion, it was Stratus’s first in-ring action since 2011.
“I got the word on Dec. 26 … I was eating a chocolate peanut butter ball. I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ I put the peanut butter ball down and said, ‘OK, let me talk to my family.’
“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.’”
For about a month, she trained well into the night after putting the kids to bed. By Rumble night, the rust was gone.
“Wrestling is like riding a bike, it really came quicker than I thought,” she says. “My body definitely knows what to do.
Was I little sore? Yes, absolutely. My body was like, ‘Why did you just throw yourself down from five feet up?’ My body was reminding me that’s not normal.”
The female Royal Rumble was the culmination of a women’s wrestling division
JOHN LAW
Stratus and Lita helped legitimize. Though the WWE had popular female stars before (Miss Elizabeth, Wendy Richter, Sunny), Stratus helped push the female wrestlers from sexy distractions to viable in-ring performers. During the ‘Attitude’ era, no less — a time when the company pushed boundaries and the women’s division was mired in gimmicks like lingerie matches.
Stratus debuted in 2000 as the manager for, ahem, T&A (Test and Albert), but it wasn’t long before her charisma and grappling skills changed the script.
“It kind of went with the territory,” she says. “It was the product at the time. I look back, and I know that every time I did roll my eyes, I was one step closer to moving away from it.
“I was like, ‘I don’t think I can take another bra and panties match because I know I can do more than that. I think I can hold their attention and not be in my bra and panties, let’s try that.’ Everything was a stepping stone towards the changing of the tide.”
But one undeniable aspect of the Attitude era that changed everything: It gave the world Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, now the world’s biggest action star.
“He was always such a great guy anyway, so you’re always happy to see such a positive, warm person making it outside the business,” says Stratus. “And he’s a good friend of mine, so that’s neat, too — I knew him back in the day.
“He was always the hardest working guy in the company, so I’m not surprised at the success he achieved.”