Pro Wrestling Illustrated Magazine
August 2003 Issue
Wrestlemania XIX

The Match: Victoria vs. Jazz vs. Trish Stratus in a triple threat match for the WWE women’s title

The Action: The WWE women’s division has come a long way in recent years, and these three outstanding wrestlers deserve much of the credit. Jazz started off with the match by attacking Stratus and Victoria before the bell, knocking Victoria to the outside and putting Stratus in a version of the camel clutch. Stratus responded with a Steve Austin-esque Thesz press, but she was unable to take advantage of her new found momentum because Victoria pulled her off the ring apron and to the outside. Once back in the ring, Victoria landed an impressive legdrop on Stratus, but Jazz broke up the pinfall attempt. Victoria and Jazz then started to double-team Stratus; together, they hit a devastating double-shoulderbreaker on the beautiful WWE diva.
Fortunately for Stratus, the alliance didn’t last long, but that didn’t stop Jazz from planting her to the mat with a wicked powerslam. When Jazz went for the pin, though, Victoria was there to break it up. Shortly thereafter, Stratus got into it with both women at the same time and managed to get several two-counts despite being outmanned.
Stratus came closet to losing the match when Jazz got her alone in the ring and began using submission-style holds to try to secure the win. Jazz first positioned Stratus in a half-Boston crab, and then turned it into a variation of the STF. Sensing that the end might be near, Steven Richards, who accompanied Victoria to ringside, broke the hold while Victoria distracted the referee. However, Richards’ interference didn’t keep Jazz from punishing Stratus. Only seconds later, Jazz hoisted Trish high into in the air with a double-chicken wing hold. Victoria got back into the mix and dropped Jazz with a kick, but she missed her follow-up moonsault attempt. She wasn’t down long, though. Victoria sent Jazz to the outside as Richards entered the ring with a chair, aiming straight for Stratus.
Stratus, however, came to Wrestlemania XIX prepared for Richards’ involvement. She ducked his attempted chair shot, and the chair hit the ropes and bounced back to hit Richards in the head. She followed that up by laying Richards out with her Stratus-faction bulldog off the ropes, which got the crowd on its feet. Victoria tried to take advantage of Stratus’ apparent lack of concentration by attempting the widow’s peak on her, but Trish escaped and eventually kicked Victoria in the face to set up the pinfall.

The Winner: Stratus, who regained the WWE women’s title when she pinned Victoria at 7:17.

The Real Winner: The once-maligned WWE women’s division. For the second year in a row, the women put on one of Wrestlemania’s most competitive matches — as well as one of the most hard-fought. There’s no doubt that WWE’s current roster of women have made the division the best that it’s ever been.

The Real Loser: The female members of the Smackdown brand. No offense to those lovely ladies, but their basic antics don’t even being to compare with the Raw’s women crew accomplishes on a weekly basis. No wonder that brand doesn’t have an exclusive women’s championship.

Another Winner: Jazz. When Jazz debuted in WWE, she carried a bit of a cringe factor into the ring with her. What does that mean? Well, fans would look at her and cringe almost instantaneously — not something that bodes well for a career. Jazz never let that get her down, though, and now she’s one of the most important cogs in the women’s division. She’s entertaining, too.

Another Winner: Steven Richards. Remember his days as a member of Raven’s Flock? Remember his days as the founding member of Right To Censor? Remember the night he brought out former WCW tag team champs Kronik to attack The Undertaker? So do we, and it’s pretty obvious that despite only being a second to the more assertive Victoria, he’s experiencing the best run of his career.