3rd name for Hall of Fame announced

This week on Monday Night RAW, we got the announcement for the the third name to join the WWE Hall of Fame, Class of 2013. In addition to Mick Foley and Bob Backlund, we have another multi-time champion joining the illustrious ranks, and it’s the first female inductee in this class.

The night before Wrestlemania, former 7-time WWF/E Women’s World Champion Trish Stratus will be inducted into the Hall.

While women’s wrestling doesn’t get the recognition it always deserves, especially due to lackluster women’s divisions in most companies over the last few years, Trish’s time in the sport was something special, and she was the best at what she did.

Being hired from the world of fitness competition by Vince McMahon, Trish’s career started out pretty standard, as she was a semi-random (albeit beautiful) valet, paired together with Test and Albert (current RAW star Tensai), two men who were pretty aimless in the company at the time. While her movie star good looks were very noticeable, she was relegated to nothing but eye candy for the first couple of years of her career, occasionally having a match.

Although she never planned to start as a wrestler, once she dove in head-first, it was like second nature. Her in-ring career started off pretty rough, with her skills being average-at-best. However, the more time she got on television, the better she got. By the time she won her first Women’s Championship at the 2001 Survivor Series in a 6-Pack Challenge, it was obvious that her feelings on wrestling had changed. Trish went from being rough to smooth as butter in the ring in no-time flat, and over the next few years, was consistently considered one of the best all-around talents on the roster, and that was in regards to both the men and women.

Trish took her natural athleticism and combined it with good looks and loads of charisma into just about the most perfect package you could hope for in a diva. She went on to work with pretty much all of the greats in the sport at the time, headlined numerous pay-per-views, competed in the first-ever Women’s Hardcore Match at the 2002 Survivor Series, and snagged a grand total of 7 Women’s World Championships along the way, taking second place with most overall reigns in history (with the record holder being fellow Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah, who won the belt 8 times).

Since quietly retiring from pro wrestling a few years ago, Trish has started an extremely successful yoga program, and has also made sporadic appearances for WWE. She most recently was a trainer on WWE Tough Enough, and has expressed interest in doing the show again, should it be brought back for another season.

At just 37 years old, Trish is thus far the youngest member of the 2013 class, and third youngest of all time (at the time of induction). Although she didn’t spend a huge amount of years in the sport, she was a part of WWE during one of the hottest periods in women’s wrestling history, spearheading the division to heights it had not seen in years.