Chris Jericho/Trish Stratus 'ship tribute

About

The Jericho/Stratus relationship angle began in October of 2003.

        On the October 13th edition of Raw, Chris saved Trish from a beatdown from Steven Richards and Victoria. Trish and Chris developed a mutual respect for one another stemming from this incident.

       When, on the October 20th edition of Raw, Christian saved Lita from a double-teaming, the two women became suspicious that tag partners Jericho and Christian were trying to trick them. Chris and Trish "dated", while Lita became concearned that Christian was part of the reason Matt Hardy turned on her. Trish confronted Chris with this information, leading to the first Stratus/Jericho kiss on the November 17th Raw.

     At this point, a tug-of-war between Christian and Trish formed; Trish encouraging Chris to be a good man and Christian encouraging his worst tendancies.

       A major twist abrupted the angle when, on December 1st, Trish evesdropped on a conversation between Jericho and Christian that revealed the two had made a bet: whomever seduced their respective romantic target first would win one Canadian dollar.

        Christian and Chris "applogized" to Lita and Trish, leading to the two men being smacked around with boquets of roses at the following Raw.

     A new wrinkle developed during a "Battle of the Sexes" match at the December 15th Raw; when Christian's treatment of Trish was especially tough, Chris shoved him to the mat and called for the match to be ended. This it becomes apparent that Chris cares about Trish beyond the bet, though she is angry with him. Chris's repeated attempts to reconcile with Trish are then rebuffed.

        At the January 12th Raw, Christian declared he would heal Chris' heart by taking him to Tijuana. At the following Raw, Christian showed a jealous Trish photos of their night south of the border. By the 26th, Trish and Chris agreed to be friends...much to the disgust of Christian.

           At the February 2nd Raw, Eric Bischoff sicced Kane on Trish, leading Chris to save her once more. Chris and Trish repeatedly came close to reconciling, only to have Christian interrupt.

     On the Valentine's themed Raw on February 16th, Chris tried to bring Trish roses, only to have a beatdown by Christian interrupt his plans. With Chris unable to declare his romantic interest, Christian began to court Trish, while Chris was left to confess his love for Trish to Trish-er-Mae Young in Trish's shower.

     Chris and Christian's friendship instantly turned into a rivalry once Christian attacked Trish at the end of a mixed tag match on February 23rd. Trish would be out for a week, and Chris would communicate with Trish by cell phone at the following week's RAW. That attack set up the Christian/Chris WrestleMania XX match.

        And so it would be settled at WrestleMania XX; in the end, Christian won the match when Trish turned on Chris, revealing that she had been setting him up for a fall in revenge for the Loonie incident, that her affection was false, and that she and Christian were involved in some sort of sadomasochistic love tangle.

      Multiple promos and several Christian/Chris matches ensued from March through May, with Christian retaining the upper hand. Tyson Tomoko was introduced in April of '04 as Trish's bodyguard to "protect" her from Chris. Unfortunately, the angle and the Christian/Trish/Chris rivalry came to a screeching hault in June of '04 due to a real-life injury to Christian.

     The angle was blown-off (Concluded) at the June Bad Blood pay Per View, in which Chris defeated Tomoko. With the rivalry settled, Trish was shuffled into a feud with Lita, and Chris was sent into a feud with Edge.

     The two continued to interact on some level throughout 2004, showing a terrific combative chemistry, mostly during Highlight Reel segments.

        By 2005, Jericho had left the WWE to foccus on his band Fozzy Osbourne and a professional acting career, Christian had left the WWE to work with TNA, and Stratus had been turned face again. She left the company in September of 2006.

By 2009, Chris had returned to the WWE. He and Trish did a brief segment together that refferenced their history when she hosted Raw.

         Though the angle died a premature death due to Christian's unfortunate injury and was half-heartedly concluded with Tomoko as a substitute rival, the Chris/Trish angle stands the test of time as one of the best romantic storylines ever portrayed within the WWE due to better-than-average writing and excellent acting by the principals involved.

Why I 'Ship It: It was beautifully written, the romantic chemistry was lovely, and for the first time in a long time I really enjoyed

Quotes:

From 9/15/09 Raw
Chris: You see, Beth, Trish was once madly in love with me. And she never got over the fact that I sent her packing, that I told her to hit the bricks.
Trish: Listen, if you need to believe that to get through these long, lonely nights, go ahead, that's fine.

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