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Chair Shots: Divas Champion Beth Phoenix Talks Bullying, WWE Survivor Series

Posted: Nov 23rd 2011 By: CMBurnham

WWE Divas Champion Beth Phoenix plays a bully in the ring. But she tries hard to make sure girls who look up to her understand the difference between what happens on WWE Raw and Smackdown and how she really feels about bullying. Phoenix is one of several members of the WWE roster who is part of the "be a STAR" anti-bullying campaign.

Phoenix will also defend her Divas Championship at WWE Survivor Series in New York City and live on pay-per-view Sunday. The event will feature the much-anticipated return of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to a WWE ring when he teams with John Cena to face The Miz and R-Truth. In a phone interview with the Times Thursday, the Glamazon talked about the "be a STAR" campaign, Survivor Series, The Rock, and working with ?model' Divas.
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First of all, where are you calling from today?

Right now on way home to Syracuse, New York. I stayed an extra day to see a concert in Boston after our show there Monday.

Who did you end up seeing?

Foo Fighters actually. It was pretty awesome.

Can you tell me about the "be a STAR" anti-bullying campaign and your involvement in it?

The "be a STAR" campaign is across the board for all of the WWE Superstars and Divas. It stands for Show Tolerance And Respect. It's a great program where we are trying to actually discourage bullying not only in playgrounds and schools, but across the board. We just find it's becoming a growing issue in entertainment and media and we're trying to use our voices as WWE Superstars and television personalities in order to influence children to avoid the pitfalls of falling into bullying and basically falling prey to bullying. So on both sides of the coin - being a bully and someone who has been bullied - we're trying to push kids to find alternative ways to work out their problems.

Were you ever bullied growing up?

Growing up, I actually was a victim of bullying myself in school. I was a really shy kid and had a couple opportunities to strike back in the face of a bully and I chose not to, chose to take the quieter route. I think maybe that gave me inner strength to become a more confident adult because I chose not to encourage bullying, I chose not to fight back, and then looked within myself to find inner strength and be stronger than that. From my own experience, I can relate very much to kids who are in that situation. You don't know what to do, you feel victimized, you feel sad, you feel scared. But I think the most important thing to do is make it known that it's not acceptable, it's not the correct way to handle things and it should not be tolerated.

WWE has taken some criticism for this campaign because of the very nature of professional wrestling being about beating up the person across from you. Do you think it's difficult to convey a positive message because of that?

It is, but I think the most important thing to understand is that what we do on television is entertainment. All of our Superstars and Divas in the eyes of the WWE Universe are looked to as role models and I think it's important when we speak to them is to speak to them with that in mind; we're very influential. So when we talk about the "be a STAR" campaign, we want to get message across that however we have gotten attention, now they are listening, just like all our other social outreach programs. Most important thing is if we have your attention through our entertainment ... once we have that attention, we like to send out that positive message that bullying in real life is not acceptable and not the correct way to handle real-life situations.

When preaching an anti-bullying message to young fans who might not understand the difference of what's real versus what they see on television, does that make it more difficult?

It does, but I think we do make a great effort to make clear that this is entertainment and when we get the chance to go to "be a STAR" events, we try to take the attention we may have received from television and transfer that message over to our young viewers. Also we do our best to educate families and schools and the other influences these young men and women have in their life to reiterate that message as well. Our content is very monitored on our show now. There's no blood, our violence is very toned down, the sexual aspect is very toned down, we work in a PG realm which is much different than what we were years ago. So I think the content is much different than people may have remembered in the past, which might be what detractors are thinking of. If you watch our product today it's very different from a few years ago, it's very family friendly and appropriate with our outreach programs.

Let's talk a little bit about your background.

I am an expert on talking about myself, so of course.

Who were some WWE Superstars that you looked up to as a kid and when did you decide that professional wrestling and the WWE was something you wanted to do?

Some of my favorite Superstars were Bret and Owen Hart, the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase. I guess I leaned toward the villains a little bit. I enjoyed what the Million Dollar Man did. I found it to be very entertaining. I loved the lady wrestlers; I loved the Fabulous Moolah, I loved Sherri Martel, I loved, at the time, Alundra Blayze and then coming into my own as a teenager I really got into Trish and Lita and all the Divas that followed suit in their ground-breaking path. That's really what brought me to the television set initially and then after going to a WWE live event when I was 11 years old in WHAT Arena in Binghamton, NY I was hooked and I was like, somehow, someway, someday, I'm going to be a WWE Diva.

How about Molly Holly? I heard she paid for your wrestling training?

Yes! After I'd pursued wrestling for a while, I got to the point where I was told if you want to take this seriously, go to WWE's training school in Louisville, Kentucky. I had met Molly through friends and she had been my contact with WWE and she said "Go to Louisville." When I went there, we had to pay tuition for the school and it was very difficult for me to come up with the money, I was a young kid and I had nothing. Danny Davis, the trainer there, was wonderful and said I could make payments. I wrote him a little check for $200 and said this was my first payment and I'll do my best to get you the next one and he wrote me a receipt, and it was for about half of what the tuition was. And I was like, "Oh no, you made a mistake, Danny, I only gave you 200 bucks." And he said, "Oh no, someone made your first payment." And through much prodding and pulling I found out that Molly Holly had donated from her own money in her own pocket and her own hard work the opportunity for me to train. Not even to get signed or anything, she just bought me an opportunity I wouldn't otherwise had. I'd love to pay it forward as much as I can in my career because she said the Macho Man [Randy Savage] had helped her and she was trying to pay it forward to help someone else who wanted to do this. It's very rare to come across something like that and every chance I get I like to tell that story because she's just a wonderful person.

Let's talk for a few minutes about Survivor Series this Sunday. You'll be defending the Divas title against Eve Torres there. A lot has been made of you and Natalya having more traditional wrestling training than Divas like Kelly and Eve. How does that training help you in the ring and does it make it frustrating when you're working with someone who doesn't have that traditional upbringing?

You know, it's frustrating on some level, I think more than being frustrated with them - that's where we take it out, on them - the reality is myself and Natalya feel denied. She comes from a family where they have doing hip tosses and grappling before you're out of diapers. And my history, in my life I've been a fan since I was a very little girl as far back as I can remember and I was an amateur wrestling, I amateur wrestled in high school and college and worked with USA wrestling and beyond that got into wrestling school when I was 18 years old and this is my dream and all I ever wanted to do. I never had aspirations, I don't come from modeling, I don't have any background other than wrestling, and Natalya included, which some people see as a detriment but I see as my strongest attribute because its my focus and my dream. It can be frustrating, not on the basis of what do they have but on the basis of what do I not have. My mission and Natalya's mission in the world is we deserve just as much as them because not only do we have the background, skill, the fortitude and respect for this business, but also we're pretty darn hot too. And I think that we deserve every opportunity that those so-called models do.

Sticking to Survivor Series, how excited are you and the rest of the WWE locker room for The Rock to finally get back in the ring?

You know, I hate to be clich? and cheeseball, but The Rock often uses an adjective to describe himself and that's electrifying. And I would have to say that is the definitely the mood in the locker room. Even sitting backstage before he made his appearance on Monday in Boston. There was a definite mood change, everybody was on the edge of their seat. For me, The Rock represents a bunch of things from many of my years as a fan, and to see him back in action, it's not only going to be a throwback to some of the most exciting years as a fan, but also I think everyone is going to welcome that nostalgia and see a new Rock, the best he's ever been. I think John Cena has been put on notice, for sure.

You and Natalya talk alot about being Pinup Strong on TV and on Twitter. Can you explain to me what Pinup Strong is all about?

Pinup Strong is like our movement, our mission statement, our message. It is what it says it is. Women that encompass the trifecta of beauty, brawn and brains; and we are the perfect trifecta. We come to the table with all this talent, all this skill and, on top of that, we are just as beautiful as any pinup model. What our message is to young girls is don't let any preconceived notice of what a women should look like hold you back from being the most beautiful, talented and strong woman you can be. Natalya and I want to be role models for that and that's why we coined the phrase Pinup Strong.

And that kind of goes back to the anti-bullying campaign, right?

Absolutely. Myself and Natalya, we are very strong with "be a STAR" ... our biggest thing is if you're a strong person inside and you believe in yourself and love yourself, bullying will not affect you.

Whenever I ask this question of male wrestlers, I always get the same answer - the Undertaker. But as a Diva, who would your dream match be against?

Undertaker's a pretty good one. I'd have to say Undertaker or Stone Cold Steve Austin, because I dig his trash-talkin' style and his smashmouth hittin'. He's the kind of wrestler I always wanted to be, you know? He also has a technical background and can go with the best of them technically, but I just always enjoyed his trash talking and his complete air of confidence, bordering on arrogance. But one thing's for sure when Stone Cold hits you in the face, you never forget it.

How about a Diva?

Probably Lita. If not Lita, Trish [Stratus], but I have stepped foot in the ring with Trish, but I'd say Lita because I hear a lot of people would like to see that dream match and just because I a huge fan of hers. When I went to wrestling school the first day the first thing I said was teach me a moonsault and a hurricanrana. Little did I know that probably wouldn't become my style. (laughs) But when I started, I said I wanted to be just like her. And eventually, my style developed into something completely different. She'd be an awesome opponent and that'd be something the fans would want to see.

So, can you confirm or deny the rumor that you and CM Punk are dating?

I plead the fifth. No confirm or deny to that rumor.

Fair enough. What would you be doing if you weren't in WWE?

If I wasn't in WWE, I was on course to go to law school once I graduated from college. But decided at 21 I wanted to give my dream a full shot and that's when I moved to Louisville rather than go to law school and be 25 or 26 when I started wrestling I wanted to give myself that opportunity as soon as possible. I'd probably be a lawyer in Buffalo at this point if I hadn't decided to become a wrestler.