Stephanie McMahon-Levesque

Stephanie Marie McMahon-Levesque (born September 24, 1976 in Hartford, Connecticut) is the daughter of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Chairman Vince McMahon and WWE CEO Linda McMahon. She is the wife of Paul "Triple H" Levesque and the sister of Shane McMahon. She is Senior Vice President of Creative Writing for WWE.

McMahon-Levesque regularly appeared on WWE television between 1999 and 2003, and has made several appearances since then. She is both a former WWE Women's Champion and a former SmackDown! General Manager.

World Wrestling Federation

Stephanie first appeared on WWF (now WWE) programming as part of a Roddy Piper vignette in her early teens. After that, she modeled some of the WWF merchandise. In early 1999, she became involved in an onscreen storyline involving her father, Vince McMahon, and The Undertaker. The Undertaker stalked and abducted Stephanie to torment Vince, or so it seemed. However, it was later revealed that Vince and The Undertaker had been in cahoots the entire time. Originally a face, Stephanie and Linda sided with Vince's nemesis "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Vince responded by having The Undertaker kidnap Stephanie a second time. The Undertaker attempted to marry Stephanie in the middle of the ring in a "Unholy Wedding" ceremony performed by Paul Bearer, 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 and went out of his way for his sister and for Test, proving to them he was on their side. Stephanie and Test went on to team together in a match on September 20, 1999, with the couple defeating Jeff Jarrett and Debra. 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, giving her a concussion and 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, Nevada 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 after several interferences and a DDT from Tori against her opponent, defending champion Jacqueline. 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 in the McMahon family. 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. Stephanie lost the WWF's Women's Championship to Lita in the RAW main event on August 21, 2000

In late 2000, a love triangle storyline began featuring Stephanie, Triple H and Kurt Angle. The storyline was never satisfactorily resolved, with Stephanie remaining 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 comatose 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 9, 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 become the onscreen owner of WCW. She was made unemployed when her wrestlers were defeated by the WWF at the 2001 Survivor Series, 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 trust by admitting that he had lost and then leaving quietly, Stephanie tried to say that Shane put her up to it, and it was all his fault. In the end, she was 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 WWE Undisputed Champion. After Triple H won the Royal Rumble, Stephanie appointed herself 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. McMahon also received a pedigree from her "ex" during the contest. On the March 25th episode of RAW, Jericho and Stephanie lost to Triple H in a Triple Threat Match for the Undisputed Title, with the stipulation that, if Stephanie was pinned, she would be forced to leave the WWF.

World Wrestling Entertainment

General Manager

On July 18, 2002 Stephanie returned to the WWF (renamed WWE following a lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund) as the general manager of SmackDown!. She stole talents such as Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Matt Hardy and Crash Holly from the RAW brand, but in return lost Triple H, Chris Jericho, Christian, Lance Storm, Test, Stacy Keibler, Rico, Gregory Helms, Randy Orton and Al Snow. 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 given credit for the return of the WWE United States Championship and for the creation of the WWE Tag Team Championship. She was also credited with signing Hulk Hogan back to SmackDown!, which caused friction between herself and her father in the storyline that followed.

Stephanie was involved in an amusing segment with Triple H at the RAW 10th Anniversary show, where the two were winners of the "Shut Up and Kiss Me" award. Stephanie jokingly stated that "where else can you get drugged up at your own wedding, marry a loser, fake a pregnancy, get divorced and then make a comeback to head up the greatest wrestling show on TV today, SmackDown?"

Stephanie was ousted from her position after losing an "I Quit" match to her father, Vince McMahon on October 19, 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 (mimicking the 1994 Survivor Series WWF Championship match between Bret Hart and Bob Backlund where Hart's late mother Helen, at the behest of his brother Owen, threw in the towel when Bret was trapped in Backlund's crossface chicken wing). She was succeeded by Paul Heyman.

On March 13, 2004, Stephanie attended the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and on September 23, she appeared on the fifth year anniversary episode of SmackDown! and talked about her favorite SmackDown! moments.

2005 return

Stephanie returned to WWE on October 3, 2005 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. She appeared on RAW for two weeks thereafter, and was involved in the firing of Austin's friend, RAW announcer Jim Ross and the booking of a match between Ross's replacement, Coach, and Austin at Taboo Tuesday, with Ross's WWE future on the line. However, the match was cancelled after Austin suffered a minor injury that, combined with his unwillingness to job to Coach, led to him no-showing the subsequent episode of RAW.

Stephanie had nasal surgery to help her breathing several days before the Eddie Guerrero RAW tribute show that prevented her from appearing in person. She returned to RAW on December 5 as a witness in the mock trial of Eric Bischoff, and claimed that Bischoff had "violated" her by kissing her three years earlier.

2006 return

A visibly pregnant Stephanie McMahon returned on the March 6, 2006 episode of RAW, approaching Shawn Michaels backstage and claiming to have abdominal pains. When Michaels left to get her some water, Stephanie added some powder to his water, causing him to become groggy during his match against Shane McMahon later in the night, which he lost as a result. Stephanie also appeared at the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on April 1, 2006 and in a backstage vignette with her immediate family at WrestleMania 22.

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 WWF advertising department. In November 2000, she became one of the individuals chiefly responsible for the creative direction taken by the television programming and was named Vice President of Creative Writing in July 2003, which was more of a promotion in name only as her duties remained basically the same as before. She was promoted to Senior Vice President of Creative Writing in 2006. She oversees the hiring of scriptwriters, supervises the writing team, and is involved in the long-term booking of WWE. Her other responsibilities, not related to her position as leader of the writing team, include having a voice in the hiring and firing of employees and helping to produce and direct RAW, SmackDown!, and pay-per-view events.

The efforts of the creative team have often been criticized. Stephanie has been accused of favoring her husband Triple H, and storylines in recent years have contained elements of necrophilia and rape (notably the Katie Vick storyline, which included Triple H) among other unsavory subjects.

Personal life

Stephanie is a graduate of Greenwich High School and Boston University, as is her brother Shane McMahon. She holds a degree in Communications.

On October 25, 2003, she married Paul Levesque (better known by his ring name, Triple H) at the St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church in Sleepy Hollow, New York and now goes by the name Stephanie McMahon-Levesque.

Stephanie has appeared on the Howard Stern show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Opie and Anthony show and The Weakest Link. On August 14th, 2005, Stephanie (misspelled as "Stephani") appeared on the season five finale of MTV's Punk'd, where she assisted the prank played on her husband, Paul "Triple H" Levesque.

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.

Stephanie and Triple H have one dog, an English Mastiff named Bluto.

Stephanie took motorcycle riding courses along with Triple H a few years ago when he was preparing for his role in Jornada del Muerte. They own a 2006 Harley Davidson Fat Boy and in the past owned a 2004 Custom Iron Horse, bought from Ric Flair. On January 8, 2006, WWE announced that Stephanie and her husband, Triple H, are expecting their first child, due on July 27, 2006. The public announcement broke kayfabe in that it contradicted WWE storylines, which saw Stephanie and Triple H divorce in 2002. Stephanie continued to work and travel with WWE throughout her pregnancy.