Edmonton Sun: Now that's Stratus-faction
By Scott ZerrTrish Stratus is all-too-familiar with battling stereotypes.
It's a good thing she's just as adept at overcoming those hurdles as the wrestlers she's surrounded by perfectly execute piledrivers.
Stratus encountered those doubters when the bubbly blond with the perky charm enrolled at York University to study biology and kinesiology with an eye on entering medical school. She turned heads then just as she's doing now in the World Wrestling Federation as the bombshell valet for the appropriately named tag-team of T and A.
"It's amazing how you can sort of combine some of your loves in live," said the buff 24-year-old Toronto native as she took time out from packing for the current tour.
"I've been a fan of wrestling forever. It used to be funny because guys would say, 'You like wrestling?'
"I got the same stereotype at school. People think, pretty blond girl, but I'm a total tomboy. Even when I take bumps in the ring people are like 'Oh, I didn't think you could do that, but that's more me - the athletic, rugged type as opposed to the dainty female type."
A professors' strike prevented the former soccer and field hockey standout from getting her degree, but she wound up connecting with Musclemag International which eventually led to the launching of her successful fitness/bodybuilding and modelling career. Some chance meetings along the way paid off when she signed with the WWF last November and made her television debut two months ago on Sunday Night Heat.
Her recognition factor obviously soared from that point as a quick Internet search discovered over 17,000 links to the five-foot-four, 118-pound stunner.
"You know what?It's really been the right place at the right time. That's why I believe in fate," said Stratus of her good fortune.
"I would have never pursued a modelling career because I was headed to med school - four years of my life was devoted to studying and my sports and getting my grades up and doing my volunteer work. That's all I did - that was my life.
"I was realistic about my goals which was med school. I was going back to school and my fitness career kind of took off with all kinds of shoots and appearances and it really took over my life. I thought I would focus on school, but I decided I'm 22 and I'll do this for a bit. And look at me now."
All WWF fans have been doing is looking at the voluptuous vixen since she came on the scene, most notably with her seductive tabletop vignettes that mesmerized Buh-Buh Ray Dudley until he and his half-brother Devon crashed Stratus through a table of their own a few weeks back.
The sultry siren promised to keep eyes popping as she did a little extra shopping before heading out West, but the alluring knockout that struts down the catwalk towards the ring gives off a somewhat different smoldering sensation than the woman who boarded a flight for her first trip here.
"I'm always been an extrovert all my life, but I'm not as bitchy," laughed Stratus, who is kept in line by her mother, Alice, and sisters Christie and Melissa. "The only thing that's similiar about that is I love boots and I love the long tailored jackets.
"The way I'm similiar to my character out there is that Trish Stratus has a goal to make her team win. I'm very much that way in life - I focus on my goal and I do everything I can to get it. As far as my attitude, I do have this sort of sarcastic cockiness about me, followed up by a little giggle."
And that's when hearts start melting.
source: slam.canoe.ca
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