Real name: Elizabeth Carolan
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 145 lbs
Date of birth: November 24, 1980
Hometown: Elmira, NY
Pro debut: 1999
Elizabeth Carolan née Kocanski (born November 24, 1980) better known by her ring name Beth Phoenix, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on the Raw brand.
Amateur wrestling and early career
Elizabeth Carolan began wrestling on the Elmira, New York Notre Dame High School scholastic wrestling team. She was the first female varsity wrestler in her high school's history. She became the North-East freestyle women's champion (72 kg weight class) in 1999. She also became the women's champion (72 kg weight class) at the New York State Fair Tournament in 1999 and was named the most outstanding wrestler that same year in the Brockport Freestyle Tournament. At the time she was also a member of USA Wrestling (a freestyle wrestling club).[3] Her life goal was, according to her, to become a professional wrestler and she believed that having a solid amateur background would help her reach it.[3]
After graduating from high school in 1999, she enrolled in both a professional wrestling school and Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. Her first choice for wrestling school was Stu Hart's Dungeon, but because of the location she decided on a more local school. At the school, she was trained by the "All Knighters"--Joey Knight and Robin Knightwing, who themselves had trained in the Hart Dungeon.[3] Her professional wrestling debut match was against Alexis Laree,[3] and she made the rounds competing with various independent promotions against both male and female wrestlers. In one match against Lexis Wine for the now defunct MadMar Entertainment, her back was accidentally cut open by a steel chair.
Ohio Valley Wrestling
Beth debuted on Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) television in July 2004 as the on-screen girlfriend and valet of Chris Masters. The angle was short lived, and the following month Beth was repackaged as the manager of Aaron "The Idol" Stevens. The duo was then joined by Shelly Martinez who Beth soon feuded with in early 2006. Beth then stopped appearing regularly on OVW after debuting on WWE's Raw television show.
On August 16, 2006, Beth returned to action in OVW as the surprise opponent for Serena in a number one contenders match - she was hand picked by OVW Women's Champion ODB herself to be the opponent. After a distraction from Charles Evans, Phoenix picked up the win hitting Serena. The following week, both Serena & Phoenix wanted a title shot, so ODB said if they can beat her in a tag match, the pinfall winner would receive a shot. Serena won the match for her and Beth's team by pinning newcomer Katie Lea (but only after Beth was forced to leave the ring as she was not the legal woman in the match). So, in the interest of fairness, the following week, it was announced that there would be a women's battle royal with the title on the line - Beth, Serena, Katie Lea, and ODB were the final four women in the ring, with ODB eventually coming out on top. The following week, ODB put her women's title on the line in a four-way match that also featured Beth, Serena & Katie Lea. Serena won the match, but after the match Phoenix laid out Serena with her newly won belt. At the October 4, 2006 OVW TV tapings, Beth defeated Serena to capture the OVW Women's Championship. On the November 4, 2006 show, Beth lost the OVW women's title to Katie Lea in a gauntlet match - defeating Roni Jonah, Melody, Ariel, and Jenny Mae first. Lea, Serena, ODB, and Beth were the final four in the match with Lea taking the win.
Phoenix and Lea entered into a feud with each other, with Beth claiming that Lea never defeated her for her title so she was still the champion; Beth even came out with her own version of the OVW Women's Championship. This brought out Danny Basham OVW's TroubleShooter, who told Beth her title was not real, and that after doing some digging Lea's title was not real either. Basham set up a ladder match where the winner would become the undisputed OVW Women's Champion. Lea won the match, and was presented with the title belt on the first show of 2007. Phoenix took the belt from Basham, and after taking a look for herself, handed the Belt to Lea and shook her hand. In early 2007, Beth became involved in a "love triangle" along with Dan Rodman and Jacob Duncan. After the "love triangle" angle ended, Beth continued to manage Jacob Duncan in OVW. Beth made her last appearance in OVW at their August 15, 2007 TV tapings where she lost to Katie Lea in a No.1 contenders match and then joined the main World Wrestling Entertainment roster full-time.[4]
World Wrestling Entertainment
2006–2007
Beth Phoenix debuted on the May 8, 2006 episode of Raw as a face attacking then heel, Mickie James during James' assault on Trish Stratus. After this incident, James berated Phoenix for "ruining everything" and questioned why she even showed up in the first place.[5] A week later, Phoenix was formally introduced by Stratus and then battered a distracted James on Stratus' behalf. When James finally escaped, Phoenix claimed that James had ruined her life and would not let her get away with it, before calling her a psycho.[6] On the following edition of Raw, Phoenix, now an official Raw diva, again attacked the then Women's Champion after her match with Torrie Wilson.[7] Then, on the May 29, 2006 episode of Raw, Beth teamed up with Wilson (with Stratus in their corner) to take on Candice Michelle and Victoria (with Mickie James in their corner). Phoenix got the pin on Candice.[8] During the June 5, 2006 episode of Raw, Beth suffered a fractured mandible during a match with Victoria,[9] but was victorious despite the injury.[10] She was then out of action for two months after having surgery to place a titanium plate into her jaw.[2]
On the July 9, 2007 edition of Raw, Phoenix returned as a heel when Melina claimed to be injured and needed a replacement as Jillian Hall's tag team partner.[11] At the SummerSlam pay-per-view, Phoenix won the Interpromotional Divas Battle Royal to become the number one contender for Candice Michelle's Women's Championship.[12] Phoenix was then pushed as a dominating Diva, calling herself a "Glamazon" and attacking Mickie James, Jillian Hall and Candice on the September 10 edition of Raw.[13][14] However, at Unforgiven, she failed to capture the Women's Championship from Candice.[15] Their storyline feud continued when Phoenix pinned Candice during a non-title mixed tag team match on Raw on September 24.[16] At No Mercy, Phoenix defeated Candice to win her first Women's title.[17][18] She retained her belt on the October 22 RAW in a 2-out-of-3 falls match; Michelle was injured by Phoenix's shaking the rope, causing her to fall off the top turnbuckle and legitimately break her clavicle.[19][20]
Beth attacked Kelly Kelly on the October 29 edition of Raw after Kelly won the Halloween Costume Contest Battle Royal.[21] The following week on Raw, Beth defeated Kelly in a non-title match.[22] This cumulated into a 10 Divas Tag Match at Survivor Series, which Phoenix's team lost after Melina was pinned by Mickie James.[23] On the November 26 edition of Raw, Mickie James defeated Melina in a number one contenders match for Phoenix's Women's Championship,[24] setting up a title match between the two at Armageddon, a match in which Phoenix successfully defended her Women's title.[25] On New Years Eve 2007, Phoenix successfully defended her title in a Triple Threat match against Melina and James, after pinning Melina.2008–present
Beth along with old ally Melina took part in the Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjill match at WrestleMania 24 where she defeated Ashley and Maria by pinfall after a Fisherman Suplex.[27] On April 14, Beth Phoenix faced Mickie James with her Women's Championship on the line and lost, ending her reign as champion.[28] Beth also had a rematch on the May 5 edition of Raw but lost after Melina unintentionally hit her in the face with her boot. On May 11, edition of Raw Phoenix and Melina partnered up to go against Mickie James and Maria. During the match Melina unintentionally knocked Phoenix off of the ring apron resulting in Phoenix abandoning Melina which then would earn Mickie and Maria the three count to pick up the win. During a backstage segment along with Jillian Hall, Melina confronted Phoenix which then resulted in both Melina and Beth getting into a brawl with one another. At Judgment Day, Phoenix failed to regain the Women's Championship in a Triple Threat match after James pinned Melina to retain the title. At One Night Stand Beth defeated Melina in the first ever Divas "I Quit" match. The next night on Raw, Beth teamed with Katie Lea Burchill to defeat Melina and James in a tag team match, but was pinned by James one week later in a non-title match, and was once again attacked by Melina post-match.
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