Ahead of WrestleMania 39, Trish Stratus made her return to WWE to aid Lita and Becky Lynch in winning the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships from Damage CTRL’s Dakota Kai and IYO SKY.
On the Grandest Stage of Them All, Trish Stratus teamed with Lynch and Lita to help defeat all three members of Damage CTRL, with Lynch getting the pinfall victory over Bayley.
However, things took a turn on the April 10th episode of Monday Night Raw. Lynch and Lita were scheduled to defend their championships against the team of Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez on that night, but ahead of the match, Lita was found to be attacked backstage. Stratus stepped in to take her friend’s place in the match, but in the end, she was rolled up by Morgan and pinned, losing the titles.
An upset Becky Lynch tried to console Stratus, but to the shock of the crowd in attendance, Stratus launched a vicious attack on Lynch, hitting her from behind and then laying her out with a Chick Kick. The next week, she explained that she attacked both Lita and Lynch to prove that she’s not a nostalgia act and is instead the greatest of all time.
Speaking on a recent episode of WWE After the Bell, Stratus opened up about making her return to WWE and said that while she didn’t necessarily intend to return to the ring, she kept herself in ring shape just in case.
“Did I know I was going to go back to wrestling? No, but let’s keep in-ring shape, let’s keep in condition, let’s keep on top of the product and watch it closely in case there is a moment and if the opportunity presents itself.”
“I Saw A Lot Of Me In Becky Lynch” – Trish Stratus
Continuing, Stratus spoke about the encounter she and Becky Lynch had during a live event in Toronto last year. On that occasion, Stratus was making a non-televised appearance as host of the event in front of her hometown crowd and got into a war of words with Lynch in the ring.
“I took a keen interest in Becky Lynch last summer when they did a live event in Toronto and we got into an exchange of words. People were interested, and I thought, ‘that’s interesting in how interested they are in this.’ I did a post right before WrestleMania saying, ‘It’s so cool,’ Lita and Becky are lying, ‘they march to their own beat.’
“I saw a lot of me in Becky. I see the drive, the passion, and, unequivocally, will not accept anything less than excellence. That is what I did. I see it in her. I admired and I loved that, but then being with her. They say don’t meet your heroes, not that she was my hero, I should be her hero. I was like, ‘Cool, okay cool.’ It was just too much and she was very patronizing on that end. That end note of, we didn’t win that match, for whatever reason, and she was like, ‘It’s okay, we’ll get them next time.’ It felt like the right moment to deliver a message.”
h/t Fightful