Trish Stratus recalls WWE Hall of Famer's near fatal injury from 20 years ago
Two decades ago a WWE Hall of Famer suffered an injury during a match that could've turned fatal. Trish Stratus recently reflected on that moment.
While Trish Stratus and Lita may have become close friends, at one point in their respective careers, these two WWE Hall of Famers couldn't stand each other. Stratus and Lita were two of the most heated rivals during the mid-2000s. They feuded against each other in some of the most historic matches in WWE history. Their rivalry is still talked about to this day.
On the December 6, 2004, episode of WWE RAW, Stratus and Lita made history by being the first two women to main event on the red brand. However, the match was memorable for an incident that took place during the bout. When Lita went for a suicide dive onto Stratus, she landed awkwardly on her head outside the ring, injuring her neck in the process. Despite this, Lita finished the match and even defeated her rival.
Trish Stratus recently did an interview with TV Insider where she recalled the incident from that night. She said that the WWE Hall of Famer didn't feel too much pain because of her yoga background. She also admitted they didn't know the severity of the injury at that point or how bad it could've been.
"We didn’t know it got that kind of reaction. Lita to her credit has a very pliable body. She will say to this day, 'It didn’t feel any different. A little impactful maybe.' She didn’t feel hurt. She wasn’t hurt. Maybe because of our yoga background. I’m not sure. She took that move and the crowd went, 'Oh!' You know that different sound from the crowd like what are they gasping at? We didn’t know how bad it looked or what it could have been. Thank God for her yoga background and Lita’s pliable spine," she said. [H/T: TV Insider]
Trish Stratus details backstage reaction after the match
The match between Trish Stratus and Lita was a big step forward for the women's division who at the time were being treated like eye candy. For the first time, the women were in a main event position on the main roster.
While today, women have main-evented PLEs, including WrestleMania, this had never happened then and acted as a catalyst that paved the way for the transformation of the importance in the women's division. Hence, this match is still talked about to this day due to the impact it had.
During the same interview, Stratus recalled receiving a standing ovation in gorilla position from Vince McMahon and everyone else. She also highlighted that this was a big move forward for the women's division.
"Standing ovation in gorilla position from Vince and all the boys and girls in the back. It was a very big moment for us. We delivered. For sure, people were questioning if we could handle this. The fact we did deliver was huge. It was big for us. It was big for the women knowing this could mean big things moving forward. There were women like Charlotte watching that night. She was in the crowd thinking maybe, 'Wow, if they can do this. I can maybe do this,'" she said. [H/T: TV Insider]
Trish Stratus' last match in WWE took place at Payback 2023 where she lost to Becky Lynch.