Who could forget one of the most iconic feuds in the early 2000’s?
Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus is one of the best women's feuds of the early 2000’s. Heck, you say it's the best WWE woman’s rivalry during that period. The former WWE star made her debut in 2005 as Trish’s biggest fan and it immediately attracted the audience's attention.
Their entire feud led up to their WrestleMania 22 match for the WWE Women’s Championship. The match is remembered for plenty of reasons, including the Chicago crowd turning on Trish and siding with Mickie. Trish vs. Mickie was an excellent introduction for the newcomer, but there was also a possibility that it couldn’t have happened.
Why? That’s because the pitch was originally made for Lita. Mickie James confirmed the long running rumor during a recent episode of reflection on WWE vault.
“I was excited and I was nervous because at the time I didn’t know Trish, and when I wrote that character and kind of pitched that story, I pitched it with Lita and I couldn’t have asked for a better dance partner than Trish because we just had this organic chemistry together where we just bounced off of each other really really well and to be able to do the story with her when she- especially at that time was the women’s champion. She was the number one woman. So to be aligned in that space, it automatically leveled me up to her level right out of the gate.
So pressure was on, but it also put me in a different light in hindsight. Like you don’t- these are these moments where you don’t really see it at that moment, but I’m going like, God, I’m so grateful that those other things didn’t work out because would my career had been the same had I not had this be my opening the first time that the audience really saw me on mainstream television, and this whole story, which was so powerful, still considered the greatest female storyline of all time. It made us feel good because it was a testament to the fact that it was working and they liked it.
Mickie brings up a strong point that it takes two to tango. Trish is brilliant in her role throughout the story and she helped make it such a newsworthy angle as much as Mickie did.
The people liked it and I appreciate the fact that she was so willing to work with me, right? And like, just be, that’s what makes it magic when you’re two people out there and you’re creating this thing together. One character can do all these things or whatever, but if the other person is not playing ball or even on the same (wave length), like it just kind of can come off very flat. Everyone just was really into it along the way. And it was like these little nuggets that made it special as it build it, you know, built to that moment from even the turn at Saturday Night Main Event. It was cool.”
It’s been nearly 20 years since that rivalry and it still holds up as one of the written stories for the women in WWE. It may not be perfect, but the story was carefully crafted and well executed for the most part.