Kelly Kelly Could Have Been America's Trish Stratus

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This article for all those friends who love WWE.

In September 2012, WWE released WWE Diva Kelly Kelly (real name Barbara Jean Blank a.k.a Barbie Blank) from their contract. I was hurt when I saw this.

Since January 2007, I have been celebrating Kelly's Birthday every year on 15 Jan by distributing sweets and snacks among friends and family, no matter whether they love WWE or not.

I believe that Kelly left much before WWE could explore her full potential.

Kelly Kelly could be America's answer to Trish Stratus (real name Patricia Anne Stratigias), one of the most popular and decorated divas in WWE in the modern era of wrestling.

Jerry "The King" Lawler called Trish "Canada's Greatest Export". As Kelly and Trish have a lot common, Kelly would have been America's own equivalent to Trish.

I am going to point out few similarities and few differences between these two legendary divas:

1. Kelly and Trish did not want to become wrestlers. They entered the world of wrestling by co-incidence.

Kelly has a background in gymnastics and cheerleading. She studied broadcast journalism, hoping to become a TV anchor, and worked as a model for Venus Swimwear and Hawaiian Tropic. But John Laurinaitis saw a photoshoot of hers and recommended her to WWE. WWE offered her a contract.

Before entering wrestling, Trish was enrolled at York University, where she studied biology and kinesiology and played soccer and field hockey. She would have become a doctor. But a strike occurred. Being a foreigner, Trish had to be a student or an employee to stay in US. So she started working as a receptionist in gym where a photographer of MuscleMag saw her. She did photoshoots for many fitness magazines and started her career as a fitness model. She was also a part-time RJ on a radio station dedicated to wrestling. WCW and WWF (now WWE) offered contracts to Trish. Trish chose WWF and became one of the most recognizable face of Attitude Era.

Hence, both divas entered showbiz as models.

2. Kelly and Trish did not have wrestling skills when they made their debut. Both of them were eye-candies, doing sexual themed storylines.

Kelly was performing striptease dance in her segment Kelly's Expose. Trish was a valet for Test and Albert, immediately grabbing eyeballs due to the on-screen seductress that she was playing.

3. Both divas slowly improved their wrestling skills as their matches increased. Trish's wrestling skills were better because Ron Hutchinson and Dave Finlay were among her trainers. Kelly was trained by OVW staff.

4. Both divas stayed with WWE for 6 years and developed a loyal fan-base. Despite, WWE going PG, both divas had their fan-base intact. Trish was with WWE from 2000 to 2006 while Kelly was from 2006 to 2012.

5. Both divas have their feuds with Team Lay-Cool in the list of the most important feuds they have been in.

In 2001, when Test and Albert became enemies and Trish aligned with Albert, WWE felt that Trish needed quick elevation. Thus, they cancelled Trish's role in the feud and paired her with Vince McMahon so that Trish could feud with Stephanie. Too bad that Kelly did not get such push.

6. The storyline about Vince dominating Trish and bullying her had few similarities with the storyline about The Miz bullying Kelly and ordering her to the extent of preventing her to date Balls Mahoney.

7. In order to push Ashley Massaro and Mickie James, WWE paired them with Trish as she was a big star. In the case of Kelly, her wrestling training was still going on in early 2007 but she had become popular due to her dancing skills. Layla El and Brook Adams needed training for wrestling but WWE wanted to popularize them. Thus, WWE paired them with Kelly and the trio was known as Extreme Expose. The recurring segment Kelly's Expose was also changed to Extreme Expose. However, WWE were planning to go PG. Thus, Extreme Expose did not perform striptease like Kelly. They only danced. While performing with Layla and Brook, even Kelly also stopped stripping.

Now here are few differences between Kelly and Trish, professionally as well as personally:

1. Trish is a 7-Time Women's Champion and 1-Time Hardcore Champion. Kelly is a 1-Time Divas Champion. WWE did not utilize Kelly properly.

2. Though Trish acted in many romantic stories with different WWE Superstars, she never dated any WWE Superstar in real life. On the other hand, Batista and Test are two wrestlers who dated Kelly in different walks of time.

3. Trish married her High-school sweetheart Ron Fisico in 2006 after retiring. Kelly was not so lucky as things did not work between her and the guy she dated before becoming a star. At the time of this article being written, Kelly is rumored to be dating NHL hockey player Sheldon Souray.

4. Kelly and Trish are seen among some of the hottest blondes in WWE. However, Trish is not a real blonde. She is a brunette. Kelly is a real blonde.

I wish Kelly all the best for anything. So many similarities show that Kelly could be America's Trish had she received proper push. I hope someday Kelly returns to WWE.

On this page, you see a pic of Kelly and Trish. Being a fan of both divas, this was a classic moment to me.

Your feedback and comments are welcome if you agree or disagree with the facts presented here.

Image Source: WWE