Before her ascendance to world champion status, Trish Stratus began her WWE career as a scout seeking talent for a new tag team. Through a first-hand evaluation on "WWE Sunday Night Heat," Stratus ultimately settled upon Test and Prince Albert as the official members of this team (known as T&A), with their tandem debut following the next night on "WWE Raw." On a recent edition of "WWE Retrospective," Stratus reflected back on her own debut, which came during the aforementioned episode of "Heat" on March 19, 2000.
"I have very fond memories of my first television appearance," Stratus said. "I had been brought on the road. I was traveling with Lilian Garcia, and I was just waiting, waiting for the right storyline. We were getting ideas pitched and things like that, trying to find the right thing to debut Trish Stratus. We were at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. I was brought an idea that tonight is the night you are going to be debuting a team, Test and Albert, otherwise known as T&A, which also means talent and ability."
On that night, Test defeated Gangrel in singles competition. Elsewhere, Prince Albert bested Joey Abs. In both cases, Stratus looked on from the ramp, seemingly impressed.
Her first appearance showed her wearing a pink cowboy hat, a black floor-length vest, and a pink bandeau-skirt set. According to Stratus, this entire outfit came courtesy of a local Long Island mall.
"In all the malls, there were cowboy hats aplenty," Stratus said. I wanted to find some sort of an outfit that was a style. I thought about like kids dressing up as characters. With The Undertaker, I'd wear that hat, I'd wear a trench. I found the hat, had the jacket, had the matching this and that and it became my thing. I think years later, you might have seen me come out in a similar attire. I was calling back to that first day on the job."
After linking Test and Albert, Stratus became the duo's official valet, often accompanying them to and interfering in their tag team matches on WWE programming. In June 2000, Stratus' status elevated to in-ring competitor as well when she, Test, and Albert took on Lita and The Hardy Boyz on "WWE SmackDown."
While initially "freaking out" over her in-ring debut, Stratus gradually became more and more confident in her wrestling abilities, especially thanks to guidance from Albert (real name Matt Bloom), who now serves as the head trainer of "WWE NXT."
"It's cool because I think back now how [Albert] was a leader. He would literally, after every performance, he'd take me aside and be like, 'Okay, let's talk about this. How about this?'" Stratus recalled. "I wanted to know everything. I wanted to soak up any knowledge that I could, and I wanted to improve, obviously, every time I went out there.
"He was just really great about giving that to me. Now you see him in a role at NXT. It was like he was born to do this job. Every match he'd say, 'Let's find the Trish element.' He knew that was an integral part of the match. As the valet, that is what you do; you find those moments to make that pivotal moment happen using the tool you have, which was the valet for them at the time."
Prior to working with Test on television, Stratus encountered him at a few autograph signings related to WWE. And given their mutual ties to Ontario, Canada, a natural connection was made between them as well.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "WWE Retrospective" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
