Stephanie McMahon
Stephanie Marie McMahon-Levesque (born September 24, 1976 in Hartford, Connecticut) is the daughter of World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon. She is a in-ring performeron the RAW brand and the current Vice President of Creative Writing.
World Wrestling Federation (kayfabe)
This section describes Stephanie McMahon's on-screen role as a character in World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment programming.
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque first appeared on WWF (now WWE) programming as part of a Roddy Piper vignette in her early teens. She moved into the spotlight in early 1999, when she became involved in the onscreen conflict between her parents, Linda and Vince McMahon. Originally a face, Linda and Stephanie sided with Vince's nemesis Stone Cold Steve Austin. Vince responded by having The Undertaker kidnap Stephanie. The Undertaker attempted to marry Stephanie in the middle of the ring in a "Unholy Wedding" ceremony, but Stephanie was saved by Austin.
Stephanie began a relationship with wrestler Test which led to a heated feud between Test and her brother, Shane, who viewed Test as not being good enough for Stephanie. After Test defeated Shane at SummerSlam 1999 in a "love her or leave her" Greenwich Streetfight, Shane stopped objecting. The couple were eventually engaged, but their original wedding date had to be postponed after The British Bulldog accidentally hit Stephanie with a thrown trash can, concussing her and giving her amnesia. A later date was set, but during the in-ring ceremony, Triple H showed a video which revealed that he had drugged Stephanie and taken her to Las Vegas where they were married in a drive-through ceremony. This effectively ended the relationship between her and Test. Stephanie abhorred Triple H at first, but eventually sided with him, turning on Vince in the process by slapping him in the face.
McMahon-Helmsley Era
In 2000, with Vince McMahon absent as a result of injuries inflicted upon him by Triple H at the 1999 Armageddon Event, Triple H and Stephanie became the onscreen owners of WWE, a period known as the "McMahon-Helmsley Era" and dominated by the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. Triple H held the WWF Championship and Stephanie held the WWF Women's Championship. Stephanie reconciled with her father and brother at WrestleMania 2000 when they helped Triple H defend his title against The Rock, leaving Linda McMahon as the only face McMahon. Linda and Stephanie would exchange slaps throughout the summer of 2000. Throughout 2000, Stephanie would use heel wrestlers to try and eliminate her enemies: The Rock, Chris Jericho and Lita. Jericho in particular enraged Stephanie by calling her a "Filthy, dirty, disgusting, brutal, skanky, bottom-feeding trash bag ho", leading to a series of matches between him and Triple H.
In late 2000, a love triangle storyline began featuring Stephanie, Triple H and Kurt Angle. This storyline was never satisfactorily resolved, and Stephanie remained Triple H's onscreen wife. Stephanie and Triple H were separated in early 2001 when Triple H was badly injured.
The internal disputes between the McMahons led to Shane siding with his mother against Stephanie and Vince. Linda was in a coma-like state due to the stress of being asked for a divorce by Vince, and Vince took the opportunity to have a public affair with Trish Stratus. Stephanie briefly feuded with Stratus, defeating her at No Way Out 2001, but eventually both settled their differences and sided with Vince. Over the next few weeks, Vince made it clear that he favored Stephanie over Stratus, even allowing Stephanie to cover Stratus with mud using a mop in the middle of the ring. At WrestleMania X-Seven, Shane defeated Vince in a Street Fight. During the course of the match, Stratus slapped Vince and chased Stephanie from ringside, apparently upset with Vince's constant misogynistic treatment of her.
Invasion
Stephanie later "betrayed" Vince on July 9th, 2001 by revealing that she had purchased ECW and intended to bankrupt the WWF (in reality, the ownership of ECW assets at this time was highly disputed), along with Shane, who had previously become the onscreen owner of WCW. She was made unemployed when her wrestlers were defeated by the WWF, as she had sold her "WWF stock" to Ric Flair. The night after The Alliance was defeated, Shane and Stephanie came to the ring to confront Vince. While Shane earned Vince's respect by admitting that he had lost and then leaving quietly, Stephanie had to be dragged from the building by security personnel.
Divorce
Stephanie returned in 2002 when Triple H made a comeback as a face, but the couple began having problems. The couple "divorced" after Stephanie (falsely) claimed to be pregnant in order to trick Triple H into renewing their marital vows. The split was acrimonious to say the least; Triple H literally complied with the "fifty-fifty" divorce settlement by giving Stephanie the front half of her Corvette, and Stephanie claimed that Triple H had abused his bulldog, Lucy, in order to gain custody to spite him. (Lucy was later run-over by a limousine, much to the distress of Triple H).
In order to gain revenge upon Triple H, Stephanie began foiling his attempts to become the Undisputed Champion. After Triple H won the 2002 Royal Rumble, Stephanie appointed herself as Special Guest Referee in a match between Kurt Angle and Triple H at No Way Out 2002 with Triple H's WrestleMania title shot on the line. Though Angle won thanks to Stephanie's somewhat suspect officiating, Triple H defeated him the next night to regain his title shot. Stephanie then aligned herself with current champion and former enemy, Chris Jericho. Despite Stephanie's best efforts, Jericho lost to Triple H at WrestleMania X8 on March 17. On the March 25th episode of RAW, Jericho and Stephanie lost to Triple H in a Triple Threat Match for the Undisputed Championship, with the stipulation that, if Stephanie and Jericho were not victorious, Stephanie would be forced to leave the WWF.
World Wrestling Entertainment
General Manager
On July 18th, 2002 Stephanie returned to the renamed WWE as the General Manager of SmackDown!. She stole talents such as Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker from the RAW brand, but lost Triple H, Chris Jericho, Christian, Lance Storm and Test. She feuded with RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff throughout 2002, though the enemies inexplicably shared a kiss at a Halloween party at which Stephanie was dressed as a witch and Bischoff was disguised as her father. Stephanie was also given credit for the return of Hulk Hogan and eventually became a face once more.
Stephanie was ousted from her position after losing an "I Quit" Match to her father, Vince McMahon on October 19th, 2003 at No Mercy. Vince was a heel once again; though he originally had been the one to appoint Stephanie as the General Manager, he began to resent her growing independence as well as her attempts to stop him from pursuing an affair with Sable, and decided that he wanted her to quit. Stephanie did not say "I Quit", but lost when her mother, Linda, at ringside threw in a towel on her behalf. She would be immediately succeeded by Paul Heyman.
On March 13th, 2004 she attended the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and on September 23rd, she appeared on the fifth year anniversary episode of SmackDown! and talked about her favorite SmackDown! moments.
2005 Return
Stephanie returned to WWE at WWE Homecoming, when she confronted Stone Cold Steve Austin after he had stunned her father and brother. She slapped Austin, but was then herself stunned. The next two weeks saw her appear, being involved in the firing of Austin's friend and RAW announcer Jim Ross and setting up a match between Ross' replacement Coach and Stone Cold Steve Austin at Taboo Tuesday, with Ross' WWE future on the line.
Finishing and signature moves
Backstage roles
In addition to her on-air character, Stephanie, like others in Vince McMahon's immediate family, is deeply involved in the business operations of WWE. She began her backstage work as a model for merchandise items before progressing to working in the WWE advertising department. In 2000, she became one of the individuals chiefly responsible for the creative direction taken by the television programming. It is widely believed that Stephanie is being groomed to replace her father along with real-life husband Paul Levesque, who is better known as Triple H.
The efforts of the creative team, headed by Stephanie since 2000, have often been criticized. Stephanie has been accused of favoring her husband, Triple H. She is also unpopular as a result of unsavory angles containing elements of necrophilia and rape. This criticism intensified when, in 2003, she removed Paul Heyman from his position as head writer of the SmackDown! brand (Heyman is popular among smarks, who largely enjoyed his tenure as head writer).
Personal life
Stephanie is a graduate of Boston University, as is her brother Shane McMahon (she holds a degree in Communications). On October 25th, 2003, she married Paul Levesque [1] (better known by his stage name of Triple H) and now goes by the name Stephanie McMahon-Levesque [2].
Stephanie has appeared on the Howard Stern show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Weakest Link. On August 14th, 2005, Stephanie (misspelled as "Stephani") appeared on the season finale of MTV's Punk'd, along with her husband, Paul "Triple H" Levesque. The show featured Levesque hitting a fake bride in the face with a door while exiting a room. Levesque immediately apologized to the girl and checked on her, with Stephanie by his side, then had an argument with the wedding photographer. Ashton Kutcher and Stacy Keibler then appeared and revealed the deception.
By her own admission (on an episode of the Howard Stern Show), Stephanie got breast implants in the summer of 2001. Her fuller figure was the subject of jokes on the part of Chris Jericho for several weeks after she returned to television later that year.
Championships and accomplishments
- 1-time WWF World Women's Champion
- Stephanie won the PWI Woman of the Year Award in 2000. She was also involved in the 2002 Feud of the Year (vs. Eric Bischoff).
External links
- Stephanie McMahon-Levesque at IMDb
- Steph Net for photos, videos, information etc.