 Finochio, as Trinity, in 2006. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Stephanie Finochio (1971-12-01)December 1, 1971 (age 54)[1][2] |
| Alma mater | Dowling College |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | American Power[1][2] Italian Finesse[1][2] Starfire[1][2] Stephanie Starr[1][2] Stephanie Trinity Trinity[2] Untamable Spirit[1][2] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 130 lb (59 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Long Island,New York |
| Trained by | Chris Bassett[1] Chris Divine[1][2] The S.A.T.[1] Mikey Whipwreck[1][2][3] |
| Debut | October 10, 2002[4] |
| Retired | June 22, 2007[1] |
Stephanie Finochio (born December 1, 1971) is an Americanstuntwoman, actress and formerprofessional wrestler andvalet. She is known for her appearances withNWA Total Nonstop Action andWorld Wrestling Entertainment under thering nameTrinity.
After completing her training, Finochio made her professional wrestling debut on October 10, 2002 without using her surname, where she lost toPhoenix.[4] On October 13, Finochio, now using the ring name "Stephanie Trinity", defeatedSimply Luscious to win her first professional wrestling match.[4] On October 26, Finochio made herChikara debut under the ring name Stephanie Starr, where she lost toMercedes Martinez.[4] On November 1, Trinity lost to Luscious in a rematch.[4] On January 17, 2003, Trinity wrestled against NWA Canadian Women's Champion Bam Bam Bambi for the title, but was defeated.[4]
On September 13, Trinity defeatedApril Hunter to win the vacantCSWF Women's Championship.[4] Trinity made her first title defense on February 21, 2004, against Ariel, where she was successful in retaining the title.[4] On August 28, 2004, Trinity lost the title to Hunter in a four-way match also involving Ariel andTracy Brooks, ending her reign at 350 days.[5]
On May 13, 2005, Trinity competed at the Queens of Chaos' debut event, where she competed in a battle royal to determine the promotion's inaugural World Championship, which was ultimately won byNikita.[4]
On November 20, 2002, Finochio made herTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling debut as "Trinity", as a valet to debuting tag team Divine Storm againstE. Z. Money andSonny Siaki. She made a few more appearances in this role. After a short hiatus, on January 27, 2003, she made her wrestling debut as "Stephanie Trinity" where she andKid Kash defeatedDesire andSonny Siaki in a mixed tag team match.[4] Trinity then defeated Desire in a singles match on February 5 before later defeatingODB on February 26.[4] On March 19, Trinity became the second woman in TNA history to compete for one of the promotion's male championships, as she wrestled against Kid Kash andAmazing Red in a three-way match for Kash'sX Division Championship, but was unable to win the title.[4] In June, Trinity turned heel by choking out Goldylocks backstage, and would solidify her heel turn by aligning with Vince Russo the following week.[2] In April 2004, Finochio formed the New York Connection (NYC) alongsideGlenn Gilbertti,Vito LoGrasso, andJohnny Swinger.[6] The NYC had their first match together on April 28, where Trinity, Gilbertti, and Swinger lost to Desire,Pat Kenney, andSonny Siaki before losing a rematch on June 3 in adark match before the inaugural episode ofImpact!.[4] Trinity then beganfeuding with Desire, and proceeded to defeat her in a stretcher match on June 23 and then again in a mixed tag team match on July 7 to end the feud.[4] At the inauguralVictory Road pay-per-view on November 7, 2004, the evil Trinity defeatedJacqueline Moore in an open challenge.[7]
After the NYC disbanded, Trinity entered into anangle withTracy Brooks and TNA's Director of AuthorityDusty Rhodes over the position of Rhodes' personal assistant. Brooks eventually won the job after her team ofThe Disciples of Destruction defeated Trinity's team,Phi Delta Slam, at the inauguralDestination X pay-per-view on March 13, 2005.[8] Trinity then became themanager ofMichael Shane and resumed her feud with Brooks, who became the manager ofChris Sabin. At the inauguralHard Justice pay-per-view, Trinity and Shane were defeated by Brooks and Sabin after Brooks turned on Sabin and Shane turned on Trinity.[9]
After leaving TNA, Finochio received a try-out match withWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where she andChris Cage lost toBeth Phoenix andAaron Stevens on November 9, 2005.[2] After appearing on the January 6, 2006 episode ofHeat alongsideTalia Madison in a segment withThe Heart Throbs, WWE officially signed Finochio to a contract.[2] She was then placed in WWE'sdevelopmental territoryOhio Valley Wrestling, where she made her debut on March 22, 2006, as the special guest referee in a match betweenShelly Martinez andBeth Phoenix, which Phoenix won.[2] Finochio, as Trinity, made her in-ring debut for OVW on March 29 in a match againstSosay that ended in a no-contest after she was attacked by Phoenix.[4] In response to the attack, Trinity wrestled against Phoenix on April 5, but was defeated.[4]
On the June 13 episode ofECW on Sci Fi, Trinity made her WWE debut as the manager forThe Full Blooded Italians (Little Guido,Tony Mamaluke andBig Guido).[2][6] On June 24 at anECWhouse show, Finochio injured her knee after executing amoonsault from the top rope to the outside of the ring during a catfight withKelly Kelly andFrancine that stemmed from Francine winning a bikini contest earlier in the night.[2] She underwent surgery a few days later, and was given a recovery time of six to eight weeks.[2][10]
Finochio made her return on October 7, where she lost toJazz in a singles match at ahouse show.[4] She lost to Jazz in a rematch the next night.[4] On the October 31 episode ofECW on Sci Fi, Trinity won the first ever "ECW Diva Halloween Costume Contest" after being voted over Kelly Kelly andAriel.[2] On January 13, 2007, Trinity teamed with fellow ECW Diva Kelly Kelly in a losing effort toMichelle McCool andJillian Hall at a house show.[4] The following day, Trinity wrestled her final match in WWE as she and Kelly lost to McCool and Hall in a rematch.[4]
Finochio was later released from her WWE contract on June 22, 2007.[11]
After being released from WWE, Finochio retired from professional wrestling in order to concentrate on her stunt work.[1][12] On September 20, 2008, Finochio made a one-night return to wrestling under her old Stephanie Starr ring name, where she lost a three-way match toPeggy Lee Leather, that also involved Fantasy.[4] On April 19, 2012, Finochio began competing inroller derby as a member of the Strong Island Derby Revolution.[13] On March 17, 2013, Trinity made her return to TNA at one of theirOne Night Only shows, Knockouts Knockdown, which aired on September 6, 2013. At the PPV, Trinity competed but was defeated byODB.
Finochio was born and raised inLong Island, New York, where she graduated fromLindenhurst Senior High School in 1989 before later graduating fromDowling College in 1994 with aBachelor of Business Administration in accounting and aBachelor of Arts in psychology.[3] She later returned to Dowling and earned amaster's degree in education in 2000.[3] Finochio has over twenty years of experience as a dancer and is a certified aerobics instructor.[1]
