Stephanie McMahon is an executive, manager and occasional wrestler, who portrays a villainess in WWE.
She is a ruthless woman who is obsessed by power and control, and as the CEO’s daughter, she does indeed wield a lot of power. She is frequently shown making examples out of both male and female wrestlers, reminding them that she is their boss, displaying her authority over them. Stephanie has also managed wrestlers (mostly her husband Triple H), and has occasionally wrestled matches herself.
At Armageddon 1999, Triple H was feuding with Stephanie’s father Vince McMahon. In the build up to the match Stephanie had shown hatred for Triple H and was on her father’s side for the match. But by the end of the match Stephanie betrayed her father and sided with the villainous Triple H.
At the start of 2000, Triple H and Stephanie became THE power couple in WWE. During this time Stephanie shedded the innocent girl next door image she had, and became much more cold, cruel and sadistic. She also started wearing much more revealing clothing, which included shorter skirts and noticeable chest growth. This caused the fans in the arena to chant “slut” at her on a regular basis.
In March 2000, Stephanie would defeat Jacqueline to win the WWE Women’s Championship, after one of her cronies Tori, interfered to help her win. During this time she also had a short lived alliance with the evil Trish Stratus, who helped Stephanie deal with their mutual enemy Lita. Trish’s tag team of Test and Albert also helped deal with Stephanie’s male enemies such as Chris Jericho. Stephanie managed to hold on to the Women’s Championship until August 2000, where Lita was able to defeat her to win the title.
At the start of 2001, Stephanie had a short feud with Trish Stratus over Trish’s affair with Stephanie’s father Vince McMahon. The two bad girls humiliated each other, managing to take turns in covering each other in mud, and eventually had a match at No Way Out 2001 which Stephanie ended up winning. She then continued managing her husband Triple H, and had some further altercations with Lita, but eventually disappeared from WWE TV with Triple H, after he suffered a long term injury.
In July 2001 Stephanie returned and was revealed as the new owner of ECW, she ended up siding with her brother Shane, who had recently become the new owner of WCW. The two siblings formed a villainous group known as The Alliance, and intended to take over and destroy their father’s company, WWE. Wrestlers from both WCW and ECW (which included bad girls like the evil Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson) started attacking WWE wrestlers, and caused general carnage for months. Ultimately Stephanie’s evil plans failed, and the Alliance was defeated by WWE. The night after the final battle between WWE and The Alliance, Stephanie was humiliated by being dragged away by security, kicking and screaming.
Stephanie eventually returned in early 2002, with her husband Triple H, who had recently come back from injury, but the couple ended up divorcing and feuding with each other. A spiteful and vengeful Stephanie would spend the next few months trying to ruin Triple H’s life. At No Way Out 2002 she was the referee for Triple H’s match with Kurt Angle, and abused her power to screw over her former husband, causing him to lose to Kurt Angle. The result of the match meant Triple H lost his championship opportunity at Wrestlemania, and Stephanie couldn’t hide her joy at taking it away from him. Triple H would however regain his Wrestlemania championship opportunity to face Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship. Stephanie then decided to align herself with her one time enemy Jericho to make sure Triple H wouldn’t win the championship. Stephanie was in Jericho’s corner at Wrestlemania 18 and even interfered a few times herself, cruelly attacking her ex-husband in the area he suffered his long term injury the previous year. Triple H ended up defeating Jericho, and gave his evil ex a pedigree for all her interference. The following week, Stephanie was added to the rematch between Triple H and Jericho as a participant herself. A match stipulation was if Stephanie was the one pinned then she would have to leave WWE, which is exactly what happened.
Stephanie later had a short spell as the general manager in charge of Smackdown, but after that she disappeared from WWE TV for the next decade, only making the odd appearance here and there. One of which was in October 2005, when she was involved in the humiliation and firing of WWE announcer Jim Ross.
In August 2013 Stephanie returned full time to WWE TV, where she sided with her husband Triple H, the two had long since reunited and their 2002 feud forgotten. Stephanie and Triple H named themselves The Authority, and continued where they left off back in 2000, abusing their authority to show everyone who was boss. The villainous duo set their sights on fan favourite and underdog Daniel Bryan, and endlessly abused their power to stop him from reaching the top of the mountain in WWE. During this time period Stephanie really showed her ruthless side more than ever, she used her powerful position to bully and humiliate the wrestlers working under her. This included the 7ft giant the Big Show, who Stephanie humiliated and berated publically. She also enjoyed making Vickie Guerrero kneel down and beg for her job, before firing her anyway later in the night. Stephanie told Vickie she could keep her job if she won a match later that night, with Stephanie herself being Vickie's opponent. But it later transpired that Stephanie didn't mean a regular match, instead the winner would be the one who could throw their opponent into a pool of something nasty looking first. Stephanie then ordered the evil Rosa Mendes, Layla and Alicia Fox to come out and throw Vickie into the pool for her. But Vickie managed to fight the villainous henchwomen off before they could throw her in, however Stephanie pushed Vickie in as she was fighting off her goons, and fired her as promised. Vickie managed to get some revenge though, as she grabbed her former boss and threw her into the pool.
During 2014 Stephanie would feud with Brie Bella, who was Daniel Bryan’s wife. Stephanie’s dislike for Bryan caused Brie to get involved, Stephanie made many threats to Bryan to give up his WWE Championship or Brie would be fired. Brie however quit instead, but not before slapping the evil Stephanie in the face on her way out. Brie eventually returned after agreeing to have a match with Stephanie at Summerslam 2014, a match that was Stephanie’s first in over a decade. Stephanie was victorious after Brie was betrayed by her evil sister Nikki Bella, who helped Stephanie win the match.
Stephanie continued her evil reign as a power hungry boss in WWE, and managed her husband Triple H at Wrestlemania 32, where he defended his WWE Championship against Roman Reigns. Stephanie got involved in the match and ended up being speared by Reigns, who went on to defeat Triple H for the championship.