Stratus pulls plug on memorable wrestling career

                    

	Trish Stratus doesn't want to be "remembered as the chick who posed for Playboy." © 2006 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Retirements in sports are often short lived. Many times they're so short you'd never know there was a retirement and a comeback if you were on vacation.

That is doubly true in professional wrestling, where no retirement would truly be complete without a triumphant comeback or two -- or in Terry Funk's case 71.

So you'll have to forgive me for being a little skeptical when I heard that Trish Stratus, the WWE's most popular "Diva," was retiring this Sunday after her match against WWE women's champion Lita at the Unforgiven pay-per-view show in her hometown of Toronto.

I've always had a soft spot for Trish. Try for a moment to look past her amazing physique (I know, just try) and she's one of the most down-to-earth performers in any sport. She's a self described "tomboy," who loves talking hockey and has no problem planting a wet one on Pamela Anderson if the mood strikes her. In fact, she's one of the few WWE Divas who's turned down offers to pose in Playboy. Not necessarily for moral reasons, but she simply doesn't think she's "sexy."

"It's not my stye, that whole sexy thing is not me," she says. "I'm totally a tomboy. If you think I'm sexy that's fine, I guess that's your own thought."

OK, Trish, I guess I'm in the minority.

"No really, It's not my style at all," she says. "I actually kind of like the mystery. I don't want to be remembered as the chick who posed for Playboy. I want to be remembered for what I did in the ring."

As one of the most popular female performers in WWE history, that's certainly not going to be a problem. Most fans, however, never expected that they'd have to reminisce about her career less than seven years into it. Stratus included. She never really thought about retirement until recently as her contract has come up around the same time as her wedding at the end of the month. It wasn't until then that she realized there were more important things in her life than being body slammed night in and night out.