2. Never Work With Children Or Animals Or Vince McMahon
In early 2001, future WWE Hall Of Famer and one of the most feted female champions of all time, Trish Stratus, was involved in crapweasel angles designed to make her appear worthless and pathetic. The worst of these was the storyline that had her having an affair with the boss: Vincent Kennedy McMahon. The kayfabe affair had Vinces real life daughter Stephanie hopping mad at least, the fictional version of Stephanie McMahon that the real Stephanie played on television. This being the WWF/E, hopping mad is a loose translation of ready to have a wrestling match. William Regal would be her second, apparently outraged on her behalf. On February 25th 2001 at No Way Out, Stratus and Stephanie squared off in the ring. Stephanie won following interference from Regal, and the stage was set for a rematch of sorts the following night on RAW: Vince and Trish versus Regal and Stephanie. In the end, Stratus was the victim: set up by all three of the others, she would be assaulted and hit by Regals finishing move, the Regal Cutter (not actually a cutter, but a variation on a neckbreaker). After this, Stephanie would dump steaming sewage* on Trish, and Vince would dismiss her as a toy hed gotten bored of. As if this wasnt enough of a misogynistic way to treat Stratus, the following week McMahon forced her to strip to her underwear in the ring, then bark like a dog, all the while begging for his forgiveness. Forgiveness for what exactly was unclear: shed done nothing to deserve this peculiar punishment. It would be four weeks before the supposed pay-off to the angle at Wrestlemania X-Seven, when Trish would finally snap, slap McMahon and turn babyface. The angle had already been co-opted by Shane McMahon and the acquisition of WCW, however. That overshadowed everything. Stratus would go on to become a fine wrestler and a renowned WWF/E womens champion before her retirement. This angle? It made her look terrible, and did the WWFs reputation for sexism no favours. * May not contain actual sewage.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
