Male WWE Stars Unhappy At Trish Stratus & Lita’s Past Raw Success
Jim Ross was Head of Talent Relations in WWE for many years and helped the company assemble a world class roster but his role meant he was also the person to go to when people were unhappy and he says many were when they found out Trish Stratus and Lita were going to headline Monday Night Raw.
On December 6th, 2004 at a time when women’s wrestling was nowhere near the forefront of weekly television in WWE, Trish Stratus and Lita became the first women ever to main event an episode of Raw. In Charlotte, North Carolina Lita defeated Stratus to capture the WWE Women’s Championship for the second time.
Jim Ross took to social media to give an indication that the move to have the two female stars headline WWE’s flagship show didn’t go down well with male stars in the company:
“You wouldn’t believe the push back from male wrestlers that I received when they found out that @trishstratuscomand @AmyDumaswere going to close Raw. They deserved the opportunity and I’m happy that we did it.”
You wouldn’t believe the push back from male wrestlers that I received when they found out that @trishstratuscom and @AmyDumas were going to close Raw.
They deserved the opportunity and I’m happy that we did it.
— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) March 20, 2023
The bout that went on before Lita and Trish Stratus saw Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho defeat the Evolution pairing of Batista and Triple H by disqualification.
Since then the women’s revolution in WWE has seen women headline WrestleMania on a number of occasions with Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair, and Sasha Banks all main eventing on The Grandest Stage of Them All. The recent indication is that Rhea Ripley will join the select band of stars at WrestleMania 39.