Stephanie Marie McMahon-Levesque (born September 24, 1976 in Hartford, Connecticut), better known by her maiden name Stephanie McMahon, 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.

 

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Stephanie first appeared on WWF programming as part of a Roddy Piper vignette in her early teens.[citation needed] 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 and "married" her in the middle of the ring in an "Unholy Wedding" ceremony performed by Paul Bearer, but Stephanie was saved by Austin. He did this to torment Vince, or so it seemed but later it was revealed that Vince and The Undertaker had been in cahoots the entire time. Stephanie and her mother Linda sided with Vince's nemesis Steve Austin. Vince responded by having the Undertaker kidnap Stephanie a second time.

 

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.

 

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 first women's RAW main event match on August 21, 2000

 

In late 2000, a love triangle storyline began featuring Stephanie, Triple H and Kurt Angle. One of the most memorable points of the storyline took place during the Summerslam 2000 Pay Per View as Triple H inadvertently knocked Stephanie out before Angle carried her unconscious from the arena. The storyline was resolved officially at Unforgiven when Triple H defeated Angle with a pedigree following a low blow from McMahon, proving her loyalty to him. However, after taking several shots from both men accidentally during a segment on "Raw," Triple H demanded Stephanie stay away from ringside during his matches. Upset by this, McMahon became Angle's manager and was in his corner when he defeated The Rock for the WWE Championship at the '00 No Mercy. The alliance was short lived, as Triple H demanded she withdraw her services.

 

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.

 

Following Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H's alliance with Mr. McMahon, Stephanie returned as Triple H's manager at ringside. Following Triple-H's injury in May of 2001, she disappeared from WWF television.

 

Stephanie later returned and "betrayed" Vince on the July 9, 2001 edition of RAW 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 her brother Shane, who had become the onscreen owner of WCW. The two groups then merged to form a "supergroup" known as The Alliance. Stephanie was suddenly unemployed after her wrestlers were defeated by the WWF at the 2001 Survivor Series in a five-on-five, Winner Takes All elimination match. 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 because she refused to leave the ring by her own accord. It was revealed later that night that she had sold her "WWF stock" to Ric Flair.

 

Furthermore, this particular time frame of Stephanie's career would showcase a few other noteworthy moments. On the September 13, 2001 edition of SmackDown!, Stephanie caused a bit of controversy, albeit unintentionally, by comparing her father's early 90's steroid trial to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Stephanie said, "A few years ago, some people tried to destroy my family. They attacked my father's reputation, they attacked my mother's reputation, and they attacked the World Wrestling Federation. They tried to rip us apart ... but all they did was make my family stronger. And that's exactly how America feels right now. Because on Tuesday, America was attacked. Because America is a united nation. And together, we stand strong. I am incredibly proud to be an American citizen, and I will stand up for my rights and my freedom." On the lighter side of things, a few weeks earlier, Stephanie would lead The Alliance in singing "Wind Beneath Our Ring", a take o