2003 was a tremendous year for the WWE divas.
The year started off with Victoria's
title reign and a continuing feud with Trish
Stratus. At the end of January, Victoria
and Trish battled in a hard
fought match, which some say is the best match
of 2003; a Chicago Street Fight (January 27,
2003 - RAW). Victoria regained
her title with the help of Steven Richards,
followed by a surprise return of Jazz
putting a huge beating on Trish Stratus
that left her out of action for weeks.
Meanwhile, back at Smackdown!, controversy
was amidst..Dawn Marie and
Torrie Wilson continued their
storyline from 2002 in which Dawn
Marie "married" Torrie
Wilson's father; Al Wilson. On an
addition of Smackdown! during their honeymoon,
Al Wilson passed away, and the following week
on Smackdown! Dawn Marie
held a funeral for Al Wilson in which lead
to a catfight between Dawn
and Torrie with Dawn
eventually smashing a lamp over the back of
Torrie. A few days later, Torrie Wilson
picked up a win over Dawn Marie
in the first ever "Stepmother vs. Stepdaughter"
match, which took place of the 2003 Royal
Rumble (January 19, 2003).
Upon Jazz's return, she
wanted to prove to Victoria
and all of the WWE divas that she was the
head Bitch in the WWE. Victoria
and Jazz reluctantly worked
together in tag matches, which helped to build
tension between then (February 17, 2003 -
RAW: Jazz & Victoria defeating Molly &
Jacqueline), and during the February 24, 2003
edition of Raw, Jazz took
on former WWE Women's Champion, Jacqueline,
making her tap out, the beauty
from Toronto, Trish Stratus,
made her return, determined to exact some
revenge on Jazz. On March
10, 2003 on RAW, Trish and
Jazz later fought in a number
one contenders match, which was quickly interrupted
by Women's Champion, Victoria.
This would make the Wrestle Mania XIX Women's
Title match, a triple threat!
It was announced that Torrie Wilson
would be the cover girl for the March edition
of Playboy magazine. Torrie
took some time out to shoot the photos..Torrie
was then challenged to a "Body Contest" by
Nidia at the Girls Gone Wild
pay per view event and Nidia
ended up knocking out Torrie with a chair...the
initial promotional feud to promote her playboy
issue.
WrestleMania XIX came and was a huge event
for the WWE divas. In the triple threat Women's
Title match, Trish Stratus
won the title for the fourth time after hitting
Victoria with a vicious chick
kick in an excellent match.
..::
[ WrestleMania
2003 Photos ]::..
Trish Stratus now had the
gold around her waist for a fourth time. Trish
defended her title against the likes of Ivory
and Jazz. However after being
challenged to a Women's Title match against
Jazz at Backlash... Jazz
won the title by cheating and using
the ropes for leverage, making Trish's reign
a short one.
Meanwhile before backlash, on the episode
of Smackdown! after Wrestle Mania, the March
Playboy cover girl, Torrie Wilson
was celebrating her "Coming Out" party, celebrating
her Playboy issue. This brought former WWE
Women's Champion and 2 time Playboy cover
girl, Sable to interrupt.
Sable was back in the WWE,
which send shock waves through the Wrestling
World. There were many face to face encounters
between Torrie and Sable
in the weeks that followed, and Sable
even had Nidia and Dawn
Marie beat down Torrie
after the "Sable Invitational"
bikini contest. Previously, Sable betrayed
Torrie in a tag team match,
leaving Dawn and Nidia
to anialate her, and now a challenge to Torrie
for Bikini Contest at Judgment Day after was
issued.
At Judgment Day, Torrie Wilson,
who had her theme sung live by Lillian
Garcia, took on Sable
in a bikini contest. Sable
revealed a leopard bikini and Torrie
revealed a much more modest one. It was time
for the fans to decide. At first, it came
to about the same reaction. Tazz, who was
the in ring commentator, asked once more.
Torrie revealed an even more
skimpy bikini and was immediately declared
the winner. Another women's segment was on
the card that night in the form of a fatal
four way for the Women's Title. Jazz
survived against Victoria,
Trish Stratus, and Jacqueline after
defeating Jacqueline with
a DDT!.
On the Raw brand there seemed to be a Jacqueline
and Jazz feud developing..Jacqueline
pinned Jazz in a tremendous
tag team match on Heat and the following week,
Jazz had Jacqueline
tap. The feud was immediately dropped and
it seemed that WWE would gave another veteran
a try, Ivory! Ivory pinned
Jazz in three matches in
a row and it looked like we had a new Women's
Champion on the horizon!
Meanwhile, on the Smackdown! brand, Sable
was appointed as the assistant to the General
Manager; Stephanie, by Mr.
McMahon. Sable was "secretly"
having an affair with Mr. McMahon and was
mainly the assistant General Manager as a
spy for Vince McMahon. Also on Smackdown!,the
new and improved Linda Miles, now known as
Shaniqua made her return
as a diminatrix manager to the Basham Brothers.
Another Tough Enough diva also return ...Jackie
Gayda made her her way to Raw, now
known as "Miss Jackie",
the valet to Rico.
After 3 loses against Ivory, Jazz
was to defend her coveted Women's Title in
a battle royal against Victoria, Trish,
Molly, Jacqueline, Ivory, and newest
diva to the WWE, Gail Kim! Jazz
was to drop the title due to a shoulder injury
and Gail Kim survived the
elimination and won the title in her first
ever match on WWE television. Gail
went on to only defend her title once on Raw,
against Molly, and be involved
in matches against Victoria
and Molly Holly. In a tag
team match, the week before Gail
lost her title, WWE had Victoria
and Molly Holly tag to take
on the Canadian beauties Gail Kim
and Trish Stratus. Trish
ruined Gail's undefeated
record by inadvertently chick kicking her
on the side of the head!
Meanwhile, tension was rising between
Sable and Stephanie. Stephanie
came out and introduced Zach Gowen.
Moments later Mr. McMahon and Sable
came to the ring with Gowen's contract in
hand. Sable blind-sided Stephanie
when she hit her across the head with a clipboard.
Moments later, Stephanie
speared Sable over the couch
backstage and tried ripping Sable
piece by piece. Mr. McMahon announced that
Sable would go against Stephanie
at Vengeance. The following week, Sable
and Stephanie got into a
huge catfight backstage and it got a little
messy with the food. A week later, Sable
told Stephanie to "Come Get Some," which lead
Stephanie to beating Sable's
ass in the parking lot. During their back
and fourth match at Vengeance, Sable
picked up the win with outside interference
from A-Train!
Gail was set to defend
her Women's title against former Women's Champion,
Molly Holly. Molly picked
up a surprising win over Gail with
the Molly Go Round. The next week, Molly
was set to defend her title against Trish
Stratus. Victoria
interfered in the match and both Molly
and Victoria were set to
beat up Trish. Gail came
out to make the save but then attacked Trish
Stratus! Week in and out Gail would make attacks
on both Trish and Molly,
but finally Molly attacked
her backstage and told her consequences so
they formed a successful alliance and were
on a rampage to take out Trish Stratus.
There were many more confrontations between
both former Women's champions, Sable
and Stephanie, on the Smackdown!
division, with Stephanie
usually getting the upper hand. A Father vs.
Daughter match between Stephanie
and Vince was being set for Unforgiven. Another
feud was taking place on the Smackdown! division,
and that was Shaniqua against
the rest of the diva roster. Shaniqua
annihilatedTorrie Wilson, Nidia, and
Dawn on numerous occasions, until
on a September addition of Smackdown!, Dawn
challenged Shaniqua. Shaniqua
dominate her but then out came Torrie
and Nidia. Torrie nailed
Shaniqua with a steel chair.
The next week on Smackdown, Torrie
Wilson and Nidia
took on Shaniqua in a handicap
capped match. Shaniqua picked
up the win and immediately wasted no time
in destroying Dawn Marie.
In a handi capped match on Raw, Molly
Holly and Gail Kim
took on Trish Stratus. After
picking up the win over Trish, Lita
made her return after being gone from a neck
injury for over a year and a half. Lita
would continually be successful throughout
the next past weeks. She even won a number
one contenders match against Victoria,
Gail, and Trish Stratus.
At Unforgiven, it was the first ever "Father/Daughter
I Quit Match" between Stephanie,
and her father, Vince McMahon. Sable
would be the manager to Vince and Linda
McMahon, to her daughter, Stephanie.
A few weeks earlier, Linda made a rude comment
to Sable. Sable then kicked
Linda down. Stephanie
took Sable down and then
Vince laid a vicious clothesline on Stephanie.
The stipulations for the match was that if
Vince won, that he would stay chairman and
Stephanie would not be the
general manager. Stephanie
would not give up and there was interference
galore on the outside of the ring with Linda
and Sable fighting. Linda
threw in the towel for Stephanie,
and Mr. McMahon picked up the win.
After this match, the divas of Smackdown!,
disappear for quite some time, only leaving
Shaniqua, and her new breast
implants, claiming it was caused by swelling
from Bradshaw's clothesline from hell. Nidia
on the other hand was incapacitated from being
blind from Tagiri's black mist. She would
then take on a being blind storyline for the
rest of the year.
A main highlight of 2003, was the night
of the Raw Roulette.Lita
took on Victoria in the first
ever women's steel cage match! it was one
hell of a match and the divas proved that
they can work a men's match. Also on Mondays
Raw Roulette was Trish against
the valet to Rico, Miss Jackie,
in a Bra N Panties match. Trish
naturally picked up the win against rookie,
Jackie Gayda. The following week,
Trish teamed up with lover, Jericho to take
on the team Miss Jackie and Rico.
Trish picked up the victory,
yet again for her team.
..:: [
Photos:
Victoria vs. Lita(Cage Match) ]::..
At Survivor Series, Lita
took on Women's Champion, Molly Holly.
Everyone thought that Lita
would have won but Molly
used her cheating ways and won the match.
The next night on Raw, Matt Hardy was looking
to propose to Lita, but it
was interrupted by Women's Champion, Molly
Holly. A tag match was set for that
night-- Lita and Matt vs.
Molly and Bichoff and if Lita
lost, she'd be fired. Matt turned on Lita
and she was fired. Christian then used his
favor that he had from Mr. Bichoff to have
Lita stay in WWE. While a love angle
was going on with Lita and
Christian, a friend of Lita, Trish
Stratus, was getting very close with
Chris Jericho.
Trish found out that Christian
and Jericho made a bet for whoever could sleep
with Trish or Lita
first for one dollar (Canadian). This lead
to a "Battle of the Sexes" at Armageddon.
At Armageddon, Trish Stratus
teamed up with her friend Lita,
to take on ex lovers, Christian and Jericho.
Unfortunately, Trish and
Lita lost the match after
Christian rolled Trish up
for the one-two-three. Also, last minute on
the card, was added a Women's title defense-
Molly Holly vs. veteran,
Ivory. Molly regained the
title by pulling the tights.
The divas of Smackdown!, started re-appearing.Dawn
became the personal assistant of the new general
manager of Smackdown!, Paul Heyman. Nidia
was blinded at ringside, and Jamie was using
her as a distraction to win matches. Shaniqua
on the other hand was still celebrating, and
managing her team; The Bashams, as the new
tag team champions.
On a December addition of Heat, Victoria
took on Ivory in a number
one contendors match. Molly
was on stage on looking the whole time. Victoria
picked up the win with a devastating Widows
Peak. After the match, Molly
congratulated Victoria, and
then clocked her with her coveted title.
..::
[ Photos:
Ivory vs. Victoria ]::..
Holidays with the divas this year, was quite
a treat. The Smackdown! brand went to Baghdad
to perform in front of the troops. Sable,
Dawn Marie, and Torrie Wilson put
on a "Santa's Little Helper Competition."
Torrie won via crowd reaction which lead to
a catfight, with Torrie coming
out with the upper hand. Meanwhile on the
Raw roster, Victoria, Molly, and Miss
Jackie Gayda teamed up to take on
Trish, Lita, and Stacy Keibler
in a "Happy Holidays match." Molly
was in the match the whole time,
and after Trish picked up
the win with the Stratusfaction, Victoria
clocked Molly with
the belt! We could tell, even by then, that
a Victoria vs. Molly feud
would be explosive in 2004!
