Stratusphere brings the former wrestler to different parts of the world, where she takes part in a list of tasks and challenges that will showcase the culture of the areas.
North of the City
September 08, 2008 10:54 AM
trish stratus
By: Jim MacDonald
For many in attendance, a slice of reality generated more emotion than what could be conjured up by the writers of what has commonly been referred to as a soap opera for men.
More than 16,000 people packed Toronto’s Air Canada Centre in September 2006 for a pay-per-view event put on by the top grappling company in the industry, World Wrestling Entertainment.
Even before they showed their tickets to gain entrance to the building, the fans were assured they’d witness a memorable evening of scripted carnage and mayhem.
They knew there would be blood shed in an amplified steel cage match; they were guaranteed a main event where the combatants were encouraged to beat each other with such weapons as tables, ladders and chairs.
But it was the women’s division – a spot on the card that has often put talented female athletes into storylines where they become little more than eye-candy for the mainly male audience – that was the centre of attention for many faces in the crowd on this particular evening.
Billed as the hometown girl, York Region’s Trish Stratus was entering the ring for her highly-promoted retirement match against arch rival Lita, who was the company’s women’s champion and defending her title at the event.
After an intense battle that lasted almost 12 minutes, the same fans who were chanting “Thank you Trish” even before her music summoned the seven-year veteran to the ring were giving Ms Stratus a standing ovation. She had made her opponent submit with the sharpshooter – a move made famous around the world by fellow Canadian grappler, the legendary Bret Hart.
With tears in her eyes and a belt in her hands that she had just been awarded for a record-breaking seventh time, Ms Stratus took her final bow before an appreciative audience that had watched her grow from a simple valet during her formative years with the company into arguably the most popular female wrestler that has laced up the boots in decades.
“All around, every moment was perfect,” she says. “I felt good; people got it, they understood that I devoted that many years of my life to the business and my body as well.
“I couldn’t be happier – couldn’t have asked for a better way to go out.”
While her last day with the company was a sad and emotional occasion, Ms Stratus was looking forward to a simpler life – one that did not take her away from home up to 300 days a year.
A few weeks after her final match, the former fitness model, who first caught the attention of WWE during an appearance on Off The Record, married her high school sweetheart Ron – a man who followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the family’s construction business.
He built the couple’s three-bedroom bungalow in the area they grew up, which is where Ms Stratus, 32, says they intend to start a family.
A crescent shape driveway leads visitors to the home of the newlyweds, which has seven bathrooms, a games room full of toys and a basement that has been converted into her home office.
She describes the main floor as having an open concept ideal for entertaining family and friends. There’s also a theatre, complete with a projector and screen, that seats six – the perfect setting for Ms Stratus to offer her homemade popcorn, which she boasts she’s famous for in certain circles.
But their nest is not the only address Ron built in the area with his wife’s comfort in mind: Earlier this year, Stratusphere Yoga opened its doors to the public at The Village at Vaughan Mills.
The 5,200 square foot facility, which offers various forms of yoga classes, is more than just a business venture. It’s a way to promote an exercise Stratus credits as the reason she was able to end her wrestling career on her own terms.
Professional wrestling is a taxing lifestyle, where concussions and broken bones can amount to being just another day at the office. While the product seen by millions around the world each week is choreographed, and the outcome of the matches is predetermined, the wear and tear on the performers’ bodies leaves them prone to injuries.
By 2005, Ms Stratus was contending with a herniated disc that put her career in question. The writers took her out of the storylines – courtesy of a 500-pound man dropping his weight on her during a pay-per-view event – so she could tend to the injury.
To avoid surgery, Ms Stratus opted to go the route of physiotherapy, but grew frustrated with the lack of progress.
“I could not even sit on a plane long enough to get to a wrestling match or get to a ring,” she said. “Basically, I was so bad I couldn’t sit more than 30 minutes at a time.”
Ironically, it was her main rival on television who enlightened Ms Stratus on the healing powers of yoga.
A few years earlier, Lita (whose real name is Amy Dumas) broke her neck while performing a stunt during a guest appearance on a television program and, like Ms Stratus, found she was not making any headway with traditional rehab.
After hearing testimony that the only thing that helped her fellow female competitor was hot yoga – a series of postures performed in a heated room to help stretch the muscles, ligaments and tendons – Ms Stratus signed up for a few classes.
She says she immediately began feeling positive effects, as the back bending was reversing the damage by realigning her spine.
After a few months, Ms Stratus discontinued her physio and just followed the yoga exercises until she was able to start lifting weights. A couple months later, she made her return to the ring.
“I was more agile than ever, I was more flexible than ever.... We just rocked when I got back,” she recalls with a laugh.
Stratus continued to incorporate yoga into her workouts, and once she started travelling with WWE again, she’d seek out studios on various stops on the tour.
She says this helped educate her on the growing popularity of the exercise, as well as the potential of using it as a business endeavour.
Since leaving the world of wrestling, Ms Stratus went on to gain her certification in Ashtanga, which is a style of yoga that puts the student through a series of postures at a rapid pace. She became interested in the form after hearing it praised by Janette Lynn, who has been Ms Stratus’ friend since high school day and is now her business partner in Stratusphere Yoga.
Ms Lynn handles the managerial end of Stratusphere, while Ms Stratus is focussing on the marketing and advertising end of the business.
There are about a dozen yoga instructors teaching various forms at different levels of difficulty. Stratus says they can also put their customers in touch with nutritionists, which she feels is important to incorporate into the business.
“I think generally when most people start to work out, they start to care about what they put into their body,” she says.
“I think it’s not that people eat bad all the time, it’s just that they are not aware that they’re not eating well. So it gives them more choices, and I think that’s what it comes down to: educating people and letting them know there are more choices and a different way to do things.”
Ms Stratus is hoping to teach a few classes herself at her studio, but since the business opened in at the end of spring, her time has been occupied primarily with a project that will see her return to television in September with a travel show.
Stratusphere (airing on Travel + Escape) brings the former wrestler to different parts of the world, where she takes part in a list of tasks and challenges that will showcase the culture of the areas.
During the 10-part series, Ms Stratus does things like learning how to swordfight during a trip to South India and paragliding in the Himalayas.
During a trip to Norway, Ms Stratus takes part in a game of reindeer racing, which she says is like water-skiing, except participants are pulled by the animals in the snow.
“I figure, everything that I do from now on has to be life-enhancing and a life experience,” she says.
“It’s (the show) given me a taste of all these wonderful cultures and people, and really getting to know these people that make up this wonderful landscape of our whole world. I know that sounds so deep, but it really has been that.”
Sounds like a lot on the plate of somebody who supposedly retired.
“Did I read that definition wrong or what?” she says with a laugh.