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WWE: Beth Phoenix and the 15 Steamiest Moments of Her Wrestling Career

Posted: Oct 29th 2011 By: mikeiles

Since her monumental debut back in 2006, Beth Phoenix has successfully made one of the biggest impacts on the Divas division that will surely last a lifetime. With WWE taking apparent focus off the Divas in recent years, Phoenix has single-handily taken charge of the dying division by bringing back a small factor that we like to call wrestling.

Unlike some female athletes on today's roster, Phoenix without a doubt represents WWE's signature slogan in being strong and powerful, while also maintaining her beauty as well. Her slow, eventual rise to the top upon her arrival in WWE has brought forth a reign of dominance?and she has yet to look back.

Over the course of the past five years, the Phoenix has experienced numerous shining moments throughout her career that will forever be solidified in her legacy. Here, I'll analyze fifteen of these significant accolades that prove why the Glamazon deserves to be the Divas Champion.

The Debut of the Destructive Diva

Only mere weeks following WrestleMaina 22, Beth Phoenix would make her controversial debut as a ally to the legendary Trish Stratus in a fueled feud against then-Women's Champion Mickie James. Much like James, Phoenix was considered a crazed, psychotic fan of Stratus, willing to do anything in order to protect her idol.

Unfortunately, Phoenix's hot streak was abruptly cut short a brief month later, severely injuring her mandible during her first singles match on the main roster. On the bright side, the injury was able to give her more time to improve and develop the Glamazon gimmick we still witness to this day.

Initial SummerSlam Victory

Upon her return to the main roster nearly a year later, Beth Phoenix debuted a newer heel personality, despite a few losses in a few matches that summer. However, Phoenix successfully made a name for herself during SummerSlam's 15-Diva battle royal, thus being crowned the No. 1 contender for the Women's Championship in the process.

Surely enough, hardly anyone gave Phoenix a standing ovation for her upset victory, but little did they know that this night would mark the beginning of an era in WWE.

Ironically enough, Phoenix picked up a similar victory two years later at the annual summer event, with some help of the devious Chavo Guerrero, of course.

Winning Her First WWE Women's Championship

Despite her freakish strength, no one thought Beth Phoenix stood a chance going into her first Women's Championship Match at No Mercy in late 2007. Given that her opponent was the fan favorite, Candice Michelle, Phoenix's chances stood slim to none with her minimal experience inside the squared circle.

Nonetheless, the Glamazon proved many of those watching around the world wrong by defeating Michelle in an impressive fashion to capture her first-ever Women's Championship. Subsequently, her reign as champion would last a whopping six months.

Competing at WrestleMania 24

During her dominant reign as Women's Champion on the Raw roster, Beth Phoenix was aided by Melina for the first half of 2008. Leading up to the highly anticipated WrestleMania 24 event, rumors began to float as to how the Divas were going to participate at the show, if at all.

Luckily, Creative announced a blockbuster Playboy Bunnymania Lumberjack Match only a few weeks before Mania, with it being confirmed that then-Women's Champion Beth Phoenix would be teaming with Melina to take on the dynamic duo of Candice Michelle and Maria. Although Michelle ended up pulling out of the contest due to a neck injury suffered before the event, Phoenix and Melina still emerged victorious.

Competing in the Inaugural Divas "I Quit" Match

Shortly after WrestleMania 24, tension began to arise between the alliance between then-Women's Champion Beth Phoenix and Melina after numerous falling outs. Following a heated discussion backstage, Melina turned face for the first time in her career by finally standing up to the Glamazon.

Although both rivals competed in a Triple Threat match at 2008's Judgement Day pay-per-view against Mickie James, neither Diva was successful in recapturing the belt for a second time. Their rivalry culminated at the One Night Stand event in early June, where the two participated in the first-ever "I Quit" match contested between two Divas.

In an extremely innovate fashion, Beth Phoenix forced Melina to scream the two dreadful words following a submission version of the Glam Slam.

Forming Glamarella

Although Beth Phoenix was on the winning end of her rivalry with former friend Melina, Phoenix mysteriously disappeared from television in subsequent weeks on Monday Night Raw. She would make her return answering an open challenge from Santino Marella, which she shockingly won.

Despite the hard-hitting battle between the two that night, Phoenix and Marella locked lips in a very awkward turn of events, planting the seeds for one of the most strange, yet funny couples in WWE history.

Capturing Her Second Women's Championship

No more than a month later, the newly-formed couple of Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix demanded then-Raw General Manager Mike Adamle for two championship matches for SummerSlam that Sunday. Being the pushover that he was, Adamle reluctantly granted the two respective title shots in an Inter-gender Tag Team match against then-Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston and then-Women's Champion Mickie James for the event.

At SummerSlam, Phoenix narrowly defeated James to capture her second Women's Championship, as well as secure the Intercontinental Championship for Marella. Both members of Glamarella would maintain possession of their belts until late 2008.

Slammy Award Winner

While still reigning supreme as the WWE Women's Champion in the final weeks of 2008, Beth Phoenix was a strong canidate for the Diva of the Year award as a part of the returning Slammys special. Without a doubt, Phoenix took home the trophy that night, and after the year she had in 2008, she rightfully earned it.

Participating in the 2010 Royal Rumble Match

After dropping the Women's Championship to Melina in early 2009, Beth Phoenix would soon become irrelevant on the Raw roster. With Glamarella splitting up due to Santino Marella's evident face turn following WrestleMania 25, the Glamazon was left with absolutely nothing to do on Monday nights.

However, Phoenix would suffer a change of luck in October 2009, when she was randomly traded over to the SmackDown roster apart of the tri-branded trade at the hands of the Raw guest host for that week. Although she would remain irrelevant upon the move, Phoenix made a surprise entrance in the 2010 Royal Rumble match, becoming the second-ever Diva in history to do so, behind Chyna.

Due to sly tactics, Phoenix was able to trick the Great Khali into eliminating himself from the match. Ironically enough, the Glamazon would fall victim to the disastrous GTS finishing maneuver at the hands of her current boyfriend, CM Punk, moments later.

Turning Face

Besides her first month apart of the main roster, Beth Phoenix was never really given a full-fledged face run while apart of WWE until early 2010. Well, all that changed on the March 12th edition of Friday Night SmackDown on the road to WrestleMania 26.

Saving Tiffany from a lopsided attack at the hands of Lay-Cool, the Glamazon certainly made her intentions clear that she gunning back for the Women's Championship. The reaction Phoenix received when she nearly demolished Vickie Guerrero that night showed that she had real potential to become the new face of the Divas division.

Third Times the Charm

Although she was on the losing end of a 10-Diva tag team match at WrestleMania 26, Beth Phoenix's desire to once again become Women's Champion became stronger than ever. Despite aid from Lay-cool members Layla and Vickie Guerrero, Phoenix managed to take on all enemies in her hunt for the title.

At the Extreme Rules event in April 2010, Beth Phoenix successfully captured her third Women's Champion by defeating Michelle McCool in the first-ever Extreme Makeover match-up. However, only a few short weeks later, her reign as champ would abruptly come to an end due to suffering an injury and being forced to drop the belt to Layla in a handicap match.

Survivor Series Return

Beth Phoenix's torn ACL injury would sideline the Glamazon for a total of six months. During this time off, Phoenix would motivate herself to return better than ever, training every opportunity she got and vowing revenge on Lay-Cool upon her reemergence.

After months of countless battles with Lay-Cool, Natalya was finally successful in defeating both members of the hated stable to earn her first Divas Championship. Envious of the new champion, Lay-Cool proceeded to attack the Canadian native, only to fall victim to the returning Glamazon.

The crowd popped huge upon hearing her entrance music hit the arena, as well the formation of her alliance with Natalya that still exists today.

Dominating Lay-Cool in the Inaugural Divas Tables Match

Immediately upon her return to the ring, Beth Phoenix sided with then-Divas Champion Natalya to put an end to the demonic duo of Michelle McCool and Layla once and for all. The two teams were set to meet at the second annual WWE TLC event last December, adding the Tables stipulation for the first time in WWE history.

Never before have four Divas encountered tables before, but if anyone was going to participate, there was no one better than all of these former champions. During the bout, Phoenix took a nasty fall head-first to the unforgiving floor, but would eventually reinsert herself into the match to pick up the hard fought victory.

The Pin-Up Strong Movement

At the dawn of 2011, Beth Phoenix was once again left direction-less on SmackDown, with her alliance with Natalya slowly fading out. Although she managed to defeat both members of Lay-Cool in consecutive weeks, her victories did not earn herself a spot on the WrestleMania 27 card.

As apart of the 2011 WWE Supplemental Draft, the Glamazon was sent packing back to Monday Nights, despite the fact she was hardly used on television upon her return to the flagship show. Nearly four months later, everyone thought Eve was a guarantee to win the No. 1 contender's battle royal on Raw for Kelly Kelly's Divas Championship at SummerSlam.

However, Phoenix shocked the world when she eliminated both of the Bella Twins simultaneously to secure her shot at the annual summer event, but proceeded to add more intrigue to their pending title bout by turning on Kelly and stating her claim to put an end to the "Barbie dolls" in WWE.

Finally Capturing the Divas Championship

At both SummerSlam and Night of Champions, Beth Phoenix fell victim to Kelly Kelly's patented roll-ups, coming up short in capturing the Divas Championship. Nonetheless, her hunt for the prestigious title would not stop there, as her defeat over Kelly in a tag team match on Raw granted the Glamazon one last shot at the championship.

At the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event a few weeks back, Phoenix demolished the bleach-blonde Diva to walk out of New Orleans as the new Divas Champion, with her name being added to the exclusive list of Divas to hold both the Divas and Women's titles respectively.

As of now, the Glamazon still reigns dominant as Divas Champion, recently defeating Eve in a very well-wrestled match at Vengeance this past Sunday. Only one can hope that they build towards an eventual program between Phoenix and the returning Kharma over the title next year, a highly anticipated match that could do wonders for the dying division.