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Laugh or You Get The Smackdown
Wrestler-babe Trish Stratus has studied improv and is pumped for an appearance with Second City
By Brad Wheeler
August 12th, 2004

She has crawled the ring and barked like a dog. She has wrestled in mud, had her head dunked in a bucket of gunk. Cat fights and cartoonish dramatics are what she does.

And now, Trish Stratus plays for laughs. This evening the Toronto wrestler-babe, an international celebrity and reigning World Wrestling Entertainment women's champion, joins the cast of Second City for a presentation of the troupe's sketch and improv revue, Invasion Free Since 1812.

The stretch from the squared circle to the comedic arena is not a far reach. After all, there is nothing quite so amusing as watching a midget wrestler bite a referee in the ass. (You're smiling right now, aren't you.) And consider the late Andy Kaufman, whose dark, bizarre shtick as a crowd-baiting, misogynic wrestler drew considerable attention, if not guffaws.

It is a half-turn, then, for a 28-year-old performer whose love of comedy goes deeper than any one-off performance. "I watched SCTV growing up, and I'm a huge fan of everyone who's been through these doors," she says, her hazel eyes wide as she sits in the lobby of Second City's downtown theatre, taking in the alumni photographs that smother the walls. "I understand the personality. I watch the comedy, and I get it."

That she does, according to Second City producer Carlie Baxter, who has monitored Stratus's progress through improv classes and rehearsals. "She's blending in with the cast well and picking up on the scenes quickly. She's willing to try anything and she's fearless on the stage."

The no-holds-barred approach from Stratus should come as no surprise. The diva is driven, and her rise to status marked by bold leaps. The former Trisha Stratigias studied biology and kinesiology at York University before a teachers' strike in 1997 prompted a bolt from school to a career as fitness model.

The athletically inclined Stratus was firm enough to hold her own on the field-hockey pitch and shapely to the point of turning heads in the halls, but magazine covers were quite another matter. A focused six-month training regimen turned out the stunning physique she still retains, one modelled, believe it or not, from a cartoon prototype.

"That was the ideal body shape," admits the bubbly, 5 foot 4, 128-pound Stratus, who points to superheroes like Wonder Woman as her mould. "Strong, sexy and she's got the beauty and curves, feminine still. That's what I based my body on."

From fitness-magazine cover girl, Stratus, resembling a slightly stockier, but less overblown Pamela Anderson, moved on to the world of professional wrestling, where in five short years, she's moved from bit to major player, capturing the women's championship belt a record five times.

And losing it, it stands to reason, a record four times. Stratus acknowledges the defeats with a laugh and a positive spin. "Five different feuds, five different opponents, five different storylines. It's a big, huge soap opera."

It should be noted that Stratus, in conversation about her craft, often refers to her wrestling character in the third person. "Our characters are extensions," she explains. You amp up portions of your own character about 500 times . . . we're amped-up versions of ourselves out there."

It would not be without precedent if a Second City cast member this evening, in the spirit of thespian tradition, sidled up to Stratus and suggested that she break a leg. On the surface Stratus would take it as encouragement to perform well, as anybody would, but inwardly she might smile, knowing that the bones she has broken before have been her very best breaks indeed.

Early in her wrestling career, while playing the role of "valet" to male wrestlers, a broken ankle sidelined Stratus for a few months. While rehabbing at home, she began watching the product (as she calls it) as a fan again.

"I realized I wanted to contribute more to the show, to be a stronger character," she recalls. "To make more of an impact as a character I had to get in the ring."

Once recovered, she set about developing the wrestling skills and ring persona that eventually catapulted her to her current Super Diva level of fame. Things ran smoothly until she cracked a knuckle in her right hand. She's still wearing a brace on the injured paw; it is not recovered enough to allow her to defend her championship as part of Sunday's Summer Slam event, to be held at Toronto's Air Canada Centre. (She is scheduled to appear, however.) Another broken bone, another opportunity. Using the downtime to explore her comedic urges, Stratus dropped in a Second City show and liked what she saw. She took improv classes, which eventually led to a brief appearance on stage during a presentation of the current production, Invasion Free Since 1812, a topical satire on differing political and cultural realities of this country and the United States.

"I clicked with the audience," she says of her appearance in the improvisational section of the show, one that she'll reprise tonight. She'll also host the evening and appear in select sketches.

For Stratus, comedy represents one more door that has opened before her, one more challenge to rise to. "It's stepping outside the box, showing a different side of yourself," she says. "All these opportunities have come my way, and I never would have expected them."

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