Trish Stratus continues to prove that she still has some gas left in the tank. (Credit: WWE/WWE via … [+] Getty Images)
WWE via Getty Images
Trish Stratus and Tiffany Stratton defeated Candice LeRae and Nia Jax at WWE Elimination Chamber 2025 in Toronto.
A WWE Hall of Famer and seven-time world champion, Stratus recently made her return to WWE at February’s Royal Rumble and has emerged as an ally of Stratton, the newly crowned WWE Women’s Champion. Their pairing in Stratus’s hometown of Toronto was a homecoming for the legendary star and a way to elevate Stratton, a relative main roster newcomer, to new heights.
The Canadian crowd certainly loved Stratus’s rare in-ring appearance, too, vehemently supporting the star as she and Stratton toppled Jax and LeRae when Stratton hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on her former friend Jax. In terms of Stratus’s rare appearance doing what it set out to do? Well, mission accomplished.
But now, it’s on to the next one for Stratton, who is in the early stages of what is far and away the biggest feud of her career.
ForbesWWE Elimination Chamber 2025 Results: Jade Cargill Returns, Bianca Belair WinsBy Blake OestriecherTiffany Stratton Will Face Charlotte Flair At WrestleMania 41
Just a few weeks ago, 2025 women’s Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair revealed that she’d chosen to face Stratton for the WWE Women’s title at WrestleMania 41. That dream match is the perfect personification of a battle of two different eras. It’s Flair, the 14-time world champion and most accomplished woman in WWE history, against Stratton, the 25-year old upstart with all the tools necessary to carve out a career similar to Flair’s.
WWE’s creative team, however, has its work cut out because both Flair and Stratton are at very interesting points in their careers.
Flair was initially brought back as a babyface after missing more than a year of action, but the WWE crowd was having none of it. “The Queen” has never been a natural babyface, and as a subpar talker, fan resistance to her pushes are typically high. Flair indeed has a shaky history of being able to captivate fans with her promos and has very little depth and range as a character.
So, Flair will be facing pressure to deliver a must-see rivalry with someone who isn’t Asuka or Becky Lynch. Stratton, as good as she already is, is still relatively unproven as a consistent main event level star, and what’s more, she’s in the early stages of a babyface turn despite being, much like Flair, a more natural heel.
The similarities between Flair and Stratton are quite apparent, from their looks, to their in-ring skills to their significant accomplishments at a young age. But WWE needs to play this feud carefully because it’s a huge test for Stratton as she attempts to cement herself as a fan favorite against the most pushed star in the history of women’s wrestling.
This could very well be a way to give Flair yet another world title run, but that would be a short-sighted booking move. No, right now, Stratton is the hot hand, and WWE has positioned her well enough for her to win over WWE fans almost instantaneously, which is easier said than done.
Trish Stratus Helping Tiffany Stratton Transition To Babyface Role
At WWE Elimination Chamber, the fans were firmly behind Stratton and Stratus, which comes as no surprise given Stratus’s status as the hometown hero and Stratton’s growing momentum. Their win over LeRae and Jax was no-brainer booking 101, but now, WWE must continue to give Stratton memorable moments en route to WrestleMania 41.
A win at Elimination Chamber alongside the legendary Stratus was the right start, but the next step will be more difficult as WWE looks to make a Flair feud interesting, which more often than not has proven difficult to do. That’s especially true given that Bianca Belair won the women’s Elimination Chamber to likely set up a WrestleMania 41 dream match between Belair and Ripley.
That will be a clash of arguably the two most popular stars in WWE’s women’s division, which will give that the feud the edge in terms of fan engagement. But Stratus’s popularity in Canada in particular is rubbing off on Stratton, and their Elimination Chamber win was badly needed.
With Stratton already receiving the stamp of approval from one of the greatest women’s wrestlers in WWE history, what she needs next is a win over Flair on “The Grandest Stage of Them All.”
