Stephanie McMahon

In early 1999, McMahon debuted as the innocent and friendly daughter of Vince McMahon during an on-screen storyline involving Vince and The Undertaker. The Undertaker stalked and abducted McMahon at the end of the Backlash pay-per-view, which culminated in him almost marrying her in the middle of the ring the next night on *Raw*, before being rescued by Stone Cold Steve Austin.

McMahon then began an on-screen relationship with wrestler Test, which led to a rivalry between him and her older brother Shane. After Test defeated Shane at SummerSlam in a "Love Her Or Leave Her Match", McMahon 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 during the in-ring ceremony, Triple H showed a video which revealed that he had drugged McMahon and taken her to Las Vegas, Nevada where they were married in a drive-through ceremony. McMahon seemed to abhor Triple H at first, but at the inaugural Armageddon event, after Triple H defeated her father in a No Holds Barred Match, left with him after embracing. McMahon confronted Vince the next night on *Raw* and revealed the wedding was a planned event, which was a revenge plot against her father for the aforementioned kidnappings, thus turning her into a villainess.

In late 1999, with Vince McMahon absent as a result of injuries inflicted upon him by Triple H at the Armageddon pay-per-view, Triple H and McMahon became the on-screen owners of the WWF, a period known as the "McMahon-Helmsley Era" and dominated by the McMahon-Helmsley Faction. Triple H held the WWF Championship and McMahon held the WWF Women's Championship after defeating champion Jacqueline with the help of Tori and D-Generation X on the March 28 episode of SmackDown! McMahon successfully defended her title against Lita on *SmackDown* on June 6 and June 16. McMahon 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 fan-favorite in the McMahon family.

In mid-2000, a love triangle storyline began featuring McMahon, Triple H and Kurt Angle. The storyline continued at Unforgiven when Triple H defeated Angle with a *Pedigree* following a low blow from McMahon, proving her loyalty to him. McMahon later became Angle's manager and was in his corner when he defeated The Rock for the WWF Championship at No Mercy. The alliance was short-lived, however, as after The Rock performed his *Rock Bottom* maneuver on McMahon at No Mercy, Triple H attacked Angle, considering it his fault that McMahon was hurt due to her managing Angle at the time. On the August 21, 2000 episode of *Raw*, McMahon lost the WWF's Women's Championship to Lita despite the interferences from Angle and Triple H after special referee, The Rock, performed a spinebuster on McMahon.

The internal disputes between the McMahons led to Linda McMahon being in a comatose and wheel-chair bound state due to the stress of being asked for a divorce by Vince, who took the opportunity to have a public affair with Trish Stratus. McMahon briefly feuded with Stratus, defeating her at No Way Out. Over the next few weeks, Vince made it clear that he favored McMahon over Stratus, allowing McMahon to bully and verbally abuse Stratus. At WrestleMania X-Seven, Shane McMahon defeated Vince in a street fight. During the match, Stratus slapped Vince and chased Stephanie from ringside, apparently upset with Vince's constant misogynistic treatment of her.

McMahon later revealed that she had purchased Extreme Championship Wrestling and intended to bankrupt the WWF, along with her brother Shane, who had become the on-screen owner of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the two rosters merged to form a "supergroup" known as The Alliance.

Her team The Alliance consisting of her brother Shane, former WCW Champion Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle and Steve Austin were defeated by Team WWF consisting of The Undertaker, Kane, Big Show, Chris Jericho and The Rock at Survivor Series in a five-on-five, Winner Takes All elimination match. The night after The Alliance was defeated, Shane and Stephanie were banished from WWF television. McMahon returned in January 2002 when Triple H made a comeback as a fan-favorite, but the good couple began having problems, as McMahon began acting like a nagging and clingy wife.

As part of the storyline, the couple "divorced" after McMahon claimed to be pregnant in order to trick Triple H into renewing their marital vows. Triple H later discovered that she was lying though and left her at the altar during the renewal ceremony. As a result, after Triple H won the Royal Rumble, McMahon appointed herself as the special guest referee in a match between Kurt Angle and Triple H at No Way Out with Triple H's WrestleMania Undisputed WWF Championship shot on the line. Though Angle won thanks to McMahon's biased officiating, Triple H defeated him the next night to regain his title shot. McMahon then aligned herself with former enemy, Chris Jericho. Despite interference by McMahon, Jericho lost to Triple H at WrestleMania X8 on March 17. On the March 25 episode of *Raw*, Jericho and McMahon lost to Triple H in a triple threat match for the Undisputed Championship, with the stipulation that, if McMahon was pinned, she would be forced to leave the WWF. In the match, McMahon came within a one count of becoming the first female WWE Champion in a pin on Jericho, but was ultimately pinned by Triple H.

On July 18, 2002, McMahon returned to the WWE as the general manager of SmackDown. In contrast to her McMahon-Helmsley era villain character, McMahon became a fan favorite, as she began to favor fan favorite wrestlers at that time. She feuded with Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff. On the October 31 episode of *SmackDown!* at a Halloween party, McMahon and Bischoff shared a kiss while McMahon was dressed as a witch and Bischoff was disguised as her father underneath a mask. McMahon 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 summer of 2003, Vince McMahon began to resent Stephanie's attempts to stop him from pursuing an affair with Sable. In a controversial segment of SmackDown, John Cena requested that Stephanie rip Sable's top off and that he be allowed to slap Stephanie's buttocks; she agreed to it and he slapped her buttocks, after which she went backstage, fought Sable, and ripped Sable's top off briefly exposing Sable's breasts on air. The feud culminated in the controversial first ever "Father–Daughter 'I Quit' match" at No Mercy. McMahon was accompanied by her mother, the CEO of WWE Linda McMahon, and Sable accompanied Vince in their match. McMahon lost when Linda, at ringside threw in a towel on her behalf because Vince would not release a choke he had on her with a lead pipe. As a result of losing the match, McMahon disappeared from WWE television for two years.

McMahon returned as a villain once again on October 3, 2005 for *Raw Homecoming*, where she confronted Stone Cold Steve Austin and received a Stunner. On October 10, 2005, she, along with her father and, in a surprise twist, her mother fired *Raw* announcer Jim Ross.

A visibly pregnant McMahon also 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, McMahon pulled out an unmarked substance out of her brassiere and poured it into his bottle of water. This substance caused him to become groggy during his match against Shane later in the night, which he lost as a result. McMahon 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.

McMahon returned during a backstage segment in April 2007 at WrestleMania 23, visiting her father before his "Battle of the Billionaires" match. After her father returned to *Raw* after faking his own death, McMahon publicly revealed that her father had an illegitimate child, who was among the WWE roster. On the taped edition of *Raw* that aired September 3, 2007, McMahon, along with her mother Linda and her brother Shane, made several appearances to confront Mr. McMahon about the child, who was later revealed to be Hornswoggle, turning into a fan favorite. On *Raw's 15 Year Anniversary* episode, she appeared along with Shane in a segment—also involving her husband Triple H and Hornswoggle—which ended with her kissing her real life husband Triple H, to humiliate her father on *Raw*.

After the severe injuries sustained by Vince on the June 23, 2008 three-hour edition of *Raw*, Shane appeared requesting for the Raw Superstars to stand together during what was a 'turbulent time'. Shane's plea was ignored, and subsequently, for the next two weeks, McMahon and Shane urged the superstars to show solidarity. The following week, Shane announced Mike Adamle as their choice to be the new Raw General Manager.

After Adamle stepped down as General Manager, McMahon soon became in charge of the brand and (reignited her feud) and had altercations with Chris Jericho in the following weeks, which involved her firing him (although he was later reinstated). After her father Vince returned, the family began a feud with Randy Orton, who began the storyline by punting Vince in the head. After a few weeks of feuding, Orton and his alliance, The Legacy, punted Shane in the head and performed an RKO on McMahon. Following the attack, he was chased out of the ring by Triple H, her real-life husband. The rivalry among Orton, the Legacy and the McMahons heated up when Orton attacked and kissed Stephanie. Triple H and the Legacy's rivalry continued at WrestleMania XXV, where Triple H defended the WWE Championship against Orton. The following month, Orton won the championship at Backlash. After Backlash, McMahon left Raw and took a hiatus from WWE television.

McMahon appeared on the November 1 episode of *Raw* in a pre-taped segment, where she dreamt that Vince awoke from a coma after his doctor, played by actor and one-time WWE employee Freddie Prinze Jr., informed him that his wife Linda had invested millions in her campaign as she runs for senate. Vince's heart rate elevated more and more as Prinze informed him on what was "wrong" with WWE since he went into a coma. After beginning to feel better, Vince realizes that he has a serious case of "the runs", in which he gets out of bed and walks to the bathroom, in which he is covered in campaign signs, that block his backside. McMahon suddenly wakes up from her dream and asks her husband, Triple H (off-screen and voice work only), if Vince was still in a coma, in which Triple H replies "Yeah, he's in a coma. I'm pretty sure he's brain dead."; McMahon responds by saying "Thank God," and then lays back down.

McMahon made an appearance as a guest speaker at the WrestleMania XXVII Press Conference. Several months later, she appeared in a backstage segment at SummerSlam to wish CM Punk luck in his match.

On July 23, 2012, McMahon made an appearance on the 1000th episode of *Raw* where she confronted and then slapped Paul Heyman to convince him to accept a match between Brock Lesnar and Triple H at SummerSlam. On April 6, 2013, McMahon inducted former on-screen rival Trish Stratus into the WWE Hall of Fame.

On June 3, 2013, McMahon made an appearance to reveal her decision not to allow Triple H to compete that night. On the June 17 episode of *Raw*, McMahon confronted new Divas Champion AJ Lee. On the July 8 episode of *Raw*, McMahon fired Vickie Guerrero from the position of Raw Managing Supervisor when the WWE Universe voted "Failed" during Guerrero's job evaluation.

On the August 19, 2013 episode of *Raw*, McMahon turned heel when she interrupted Daniel Bryan and supported the actions of her husband at SummerSlam the previous night, telling Bryan that he wasn't suitable to be the face of the company. Later in the night McMahon stood beside Triple H and her father as they celebrated Randy Orton's WWE Championship Coronation, during which Daniel Bryan was attacked by The Shield and subsequently by Orton. In November 2013, McMahon signed a three-year performer's contract with the WWE, confirming her as a regular on its programming. She and Triple H continued to rule the company as a controlling "power couple" dubbed The Authority. Swearing that their actions were "best for business", the pair would belittle and punish any talent that went against their ideology, and formed a particular vendetta against Daniel Bryan. McMahon was at ringside when Triple H lost to Bryan at WrestleMania XXX.

In June 2014, as part of the ongoing storyline with Bryan, McMahon threatened to fire his wife Brie Bella if Bryan did not relinquish the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which forced Brie to quit before slapping McMahon in the face. On the June 16 episode of *Raw*, Roman Reigns spiked the coffee Vickie Guerrero gave to McMahon, causing Stephanie to throw up on Vickie and leave with Triple H to the hospital. Vickie later gave Reigns a chance in the battle royal, which he would win. On the June 23 episode of *Raw*, Vickie lost in a pudding match against McMahon with her job on the line, after interference by Alicia Fox, Layla and Rosa Mendes. Vickie ultimately lost the match and was fired; however, she got her retribution over McMahon by throwing her into the mud pool. After Brie quit, McMahon put Brie's sister Nikki in several handicap matches as punishment. Brie returned to television on the July 21 episode of *Raw*, appearing in the crowd leading to a confrontation between the two. McMahon was (kayfabe) arrested and charged with assault and battery, because she slapped Brie, who was not a (kayfabe) WWE employee. The following week, McMahon granted Brie her job back and a match at SummerSlam against her in order to get Brie to drop the lawsuit. On the August 4 episode of *Raw*, after their contract signing, McMahon pedigreed both twins. At SummerSlam, Nikki turned on Brie, allowing Stephanie to hit a pedigree on Brie having Stephanie win her first pay per view match in over 10 years.

On the October 27 episode of *Raw*, after John Cena, the #1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, rejected an offer to join the Authority, Triple H announced a Traditional Survivor Series tag team elimination match, with a team representing the Authority facing a team captained by Cena. On the November 3 episode of *Raw*, Vince McMahon announced that if Team Authority loses at Survivor Series, the Authority will be ousted from power. During the match, Triple H tried to get the last member of Team Cena, Dolph Ziggler, eliminated by attacking two referees and placing Seth Rollins (who was also the final member of Team Authority) on top of Ziggler and calling crooked referee Scott Armstrong into the ring to make the count; however, the debuting Sting came out and attacked Armstrong and Triple H, giving Team Cena the win and thus disbanding The Authority. Stephanie and Triple H appeared on the episode of *Raw* after Survivor Series stating that without them the company would be driven to the ground. They were then escorted out of the arena by the returning Daniel Bryan and only to be insulted by Mr.McMahon for letting him down and the McMahon family before exiting the arena. On the December 29 episode of *Raw*, The Authority was brought back in power by John Cena, and she and her husband entered and stepped on the entrance ramp celebrating their return with a glass of champagne and a kiss. Stephanie and Triple H then proceeded to fire Erick Rowan, Ryback and Dolph Ziggler.

On the July 13, 2015 episode of *Raw*, Stephanie interrupted Team Bella (The Bella Twins and Alicia Fox) to introduce Becky Lynch, Charlotte, and then-NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks, calling for a "revolution" in the WWE Divas division. While Lynch and Charlotte allied with Paige, Banks would ally with Tamina and Naomi, leading to a brawl between the three teams.

On the February 22, 2016 episode of *Raw*, Mr. McMahon presented the "Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence" award to Stephanie. Before she could start her acceptance speech, Shane McMahon returned for the first time since 2009 and demanded to gain control of *Raw*, claiming The Authority was running the company to the ground. Mr. McMahon accepted the offer, only if he won one more match. Shane accepted, and Mr. McMahon announced he would wrestle at WrestleMania 32 against The Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell. On the post-WrestleMania episode of *Raw* on April 4, Mr. McMahon opened the show to announce that his returning son, Shane, would run *Raw* for one night only. However, Shane continued to run *Raw* due to "overwhelming fan support" until the April 25 episode of *Raw*, when Stephanie returned to announce that Mr. McMahon would decide who'd permanently control *Raw* at Payback. Mr. McMahon announced that both Stephanie and Shane would run *Raw* together on a permanent basis, thus disbanding The Authority.

On the July 11 episode of *Raw*, Mr. McMahon announced Stephanie as the commissioner of the Raw brand, while Shane was named commissioner of SmackDown in order for them to compete against each other in the upcoming reestablished brand extension. The following week on *Raw*, Stephanie appointed Mick Foley as the Raw General Manager. The next week on *Raw*, Stephanie and Mick Foley announced the WWE Universal Championship would be the main championship on *Raw*.

On the October 11 episode of *SmackDown*, Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan challenged Raw to three traditional Survivor Series elimination matches – involving each brand's best five male wrestlers, best five female wrestlers, and best five tag teams, respectively. The following week on *Raw*, Raw Commissioner Stephanie accepted the challenge. On the November 7 episode of *Raw*, Stephanie invited both Shane and Bryan to appear on the following week's *Raw* to address the interpromotional matches, which Shane and Bryan accepted. During this meeting, each commissioner and general manager touted the reasons for why their respective brand was better and eventually called out their respective male teams. In the ensuing battle, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins of Team Raw stood tall at the end. At Survivor Series, Team SmackDown defeated Team Raw, On the March 20 episode of *Raw*, Foley was fired as Raw General Manager for his actions. In April, Stephanie was written out of the storyline after being pushed accidentally through a table at WrestleMania 33 by Triple H, and did not appear on WWE TV for many months. However, McMahon made a one-off appearance after Kevin Owens assaulted her father on the September 12 edition of *SmackDown*.

McMahon returned to Raw on the October 30, 2017 episode, confronting Raw General Manager Kurt Angle regarding Shane and the SmackDown roster's attack on the Raw roster at the end of the previous week's Raw, naming him team captain for Raw at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, warning him that if Raw is not victorious over SmackDown at the pay-per-view, she was considering dismissing him from being Raw General Manager. On the December 18 episode of *Raw*, after a six-woman tag team match between the team of Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Mickie James and Absolution (Paige, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville) ended in disqualification and a brawl ensued with the rest of the Raw women's roster (Alicia Fox, Asuka, Nia Jax, Dana Brooke, and Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss), Raw Commissioner Stephanie came out and the brawl stopped. Stephanie recapped the leaps that women's wrestling had taken the past few years, going from a revolution to an evolution of women's wrestling, including the first-ever women's Hell in a Cell match, the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match, and women main eventing *Raw* and *SmackDown*. She then announced the first-ever women's Royal Rumble match for the 2018 Royal Rumble with the winner receiving a match at WrestleMania 34 for either the Raw Women's Championship or SmackDown Women's Championship.

Upon the signing of Ronda Rousey, McMahon embarked on a feud with her, leading to mixed tag-team match at WrestleMania 34 against Rousey and Kurt Angle with her husband, Triple H as her partner. This was McMahon's first match since SummerSlam (2014) and her first ever WrestleMania match. At the event, her team was defeated when she tapped out to Rousey's armbar. Following this loss, Stephanie would begin making only sporadic appearances on TV.

On the July 23 episode of *Raw*, McMahon returned to announce a match between Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman at the August 19 SummerSlam pay per view. The match was created with a stipulation that if Strowman loses the match in any way, he loses his Money in the Bank contract to Owens. On that same episode, McMahon also announced the upcoming all women Evolution pay per view. On the September 24 edition of *Raw*, Stephanie returned as a face for the first time since 2013 when she told Baron Corbin about the lack of leadership he had been doing and if he doesn't improve that she would bring back Kurt Angle from vacation. She also returned on the *1000th Episode of SmackDown* on Truth TV.

On the November 12 episode of Raw, Stephanie returned to rally Team Raw at the Survivor Series and confronted Braun Strowman to make business proposition that if Team Raw is victorious, she promised him to have a match with Baron Corbin and a Universal Championship rematch against Brock Lesnar.

On the April 15, 2019 Raw, Stephanie turn heel once again by supporting her brothers actions against The Miz's father and also insulting the fans by saying Kurt Angle had his last match get over it and also insulting the Montreal crowd.

On July 22, 2022, Vince McMahon announced his retirement from WWE and named McMahon the company's new Chairwoman. On January 10, 2023, McMahon announced her departure from WWE.