Reviewing Trish Stratus' Villainous Explanation on Raw

April 25, 2005. What's so significant about that date? Simple. That date was the last time that Trish Stratus appeared on Monday Night Raw as a heel--coming six days before that year's Backlash event, which was Heel Trish's last overall appearance. Trish's latest return saw her as an ally of her fellow Hall of Fame bestie Lita, as well as Becky Lynch, and the three of them even teamed together in defeating Damage CTRL. Becky and Lita were set to defend the Women's Tag Team Championship against Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan on April 10, 2023, but prior to the match, Lita found backstage, having been attacked.

Trish offered to replace Lita as Becky's partner, but despite a game effort from the legendary pair, they ended up losing the titles to Raquel and Liv. Becky offered consolation to Trish, who responded with an attack towards "The Man," followed by a facetious apology and an ominous expression as she walked past an inquisitive Byron Saxton. So with that, Trish turned heel for the first time since 2005; a heel turn that was heavily expected. A week later, part of Raw's action included Trish planning to explain her villainous turn against Becky, and I want to describe this bit-by-bit, because every facet of this was just amazing.

The Entrance

After her signature theme begins, the arena goes dark, and when it lights up again, we see Trish in silhouette form before her tron hits, solely consisting of her name in big letters. No highlights, no red "maple leaf" logo, just that lettering to fit her new villainous character. We later see full view of Trish in all black; robe, outfit, and yes, the cowgirl hat, the vintage look she had in her early years in WWE. Trish makes that entrance and walks through the ring ropes, and right before the commercial break, the Hall of Famer gives a killer expression that lets us know that she is not messing around.

The entrance alone was beautiful. Loved the outfit, because it was not only a throwback, but it fit her current heel persona, and she delivered with the expressions. Absolutely loved it!

Trish's History Lesson

We return from commercial, and Trish begins her promo with what she called a "history lesson." She claimed that women's wrestling was a "joke" before she joined WWE, and added that she changed all of that on her own, bringing credibility to a "non-existant" Women's Division. In response to those saying that it was both Trish and Lita who did so, the former half of "Team Bestie" shut that down by saying that it was all her--even going as far as saying that she was the first woman to main event Raw. Trish added that without her, there would be no Women's Revolution, no one would care about the Women's Division, and women would have never main evented WrestleMania.

This is what I expected; Trish has done the whole "arrogant" thing before, and she is amazing at it. It's even better now that she's a Hall of Famer, because all of that can be used in her heel rhetoric, and it makes for delicious character development.

Becky Lynch and Lita

The topic turned to Becky Lynch and Lita, first addressing the former by taking credit for the fact that Becky, Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey main evented WrestleMania four years prior, even adding that instead of the "This is awesome" chants, fans should have been chanting, "Thank you Trish." She also accused Becky of convincing others that the Four Horsewomen (or as Trish called them, "The Four Horseladies") changed women's wrestling, and referred to the claim, as well as Becky, as a "joke." The villainess stated that she let it all slide, but after wondering if Becky believed her own hype, she decided to befriend Becky, and in Trish's mind, she got her answer when she didn't receive the gratitude she believed that Becky owed her.

Trish added that Becky even managed to convince Lita to side with her, and yes, she brought up Becky and Lita's past feud a year prior. We figured that would happen; bringing up Becky and Lita's shaky history. We also figured that Trish would use that as part of a manipulative mind game, but after what occurred a week prior, that went out the window.

The Scheme

Trish chided Lita for "dancing around" at WrestleMania and acting as Becky's "sidekick," and later made it perfectly clear that she is no one's sidekick. Which brings us to the night in question, and to the surprise of no one, Trish was behind the attack on Lita, because of course she was. She claimed she did it to "put Lita out of her misery" because she was "embarrassing herself," but afterwards, the evil Trish added that she took out Lita because she wanted Becky to know that she was the very person behind Becky being screwed out of the tag titles. She also mocked Becky's words of friendship and reassurance by stating that she was not Becky's friend, there would be no next time, and she made that point perfectly clear when she took out The Man..."just like that."

I'm not gonna lie, I beamed when Heel Trish snapped her fingers and said "just like that." Every time I hear those words elsewhere, my mind always goes back to Trish's heel run in 2004 and 2005, as she uttered that phrase quite a bit. Even before Trish officially turned heel, when Lita was found attacked, I and everyone else thought, "Trish did that." That expected reveal, as well as Trish detailing her entire evil scheme, told me that this is the most calculating that Trish has ever been as a villainess.

In Closing...

After mocking the fans' disapproval of Trish's boasting over taking out not only Becky Lynch, but also Lita, the sinister Hall of Famer accused Becky and the crowd of attempting to rewrite history. She later closed with the following:

"I am not a nostalgia act, I am not your childhood fantasy, and I sure as hell am nobody's sidekick! I am the greatest of all time, and I am the single most important figure in the history of WWE, and I'm here to make sure none of you forget it!"

Trish drops the mic, and later walks off, as only she can.

I wasn't originally planning to write about this. I was already excited enough because the Stanley Cup Playoffs (which Trish's Maple Leafs are in) got started, and that plus the excitement of Trish's heel promo put me an absolute overdrive, so I had to express this. It had been 18 years since Trish made a villainous appearance on Raw, but with her, it's just like riding a bike. I had been wanting Heel Trish to return for a long time; we know it'll lead to Trish vs Becky at SummerSlam, so we have just under four months of this. This was the top highlight of this week's Raw, and that's by a landslide!