Gorgeous, smart and can lift a man across her shoulders
Elizabeth Kocianski-Copeland (born on November 24, 1980 in Elmira, New York), also known as Beth Phoenix, is a female professional wrestler who worked for WWE, and unique among them for her power-beauty glamazon gimmick and being one of the few who trained to be a wrestler from the beginning, going as far as being the first woman varsity wrestler in her high school.
With her amateur wrestling skill and physical strength, she quickly developed in one of the best female wrestlers in business while working for a multitude of promotions such as Cleveland All Pro Wrestling, Apocalypse Wrestling Federation (women's champion), GLORY (first champion), Kiryoku Pro and Far North Wrestling (cruiser weight champion). It earned her a contract with Ohio Valley Wrestling, an invitation to SHIMMER and eventually the WWE Women's Championship three times and the Divas championship once. On the October 29, 2012 edition of Raw, she was fired by Vickie Guerrero, ending her six-year tenure with the company. She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017, and is married to Adam "Edge" Copeland. She made a return in 2018 to participate in the first Women's Royal Rumble, giving her the distinction of being the first WWE Superstar to compete in both a Men's and a Women's Royal Rumble. On the March 18 2019 edition of RAW, Beth announced that she was coming out of retirement to team with old friend Natalya Neidhart in order to challenge Bayley and Sasha Banks for the WWE Womens Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35.
"Glamazonian Tropes":
- Aborted Arc
- In 2006, there were plans to reveal the
history between the Glamazon and Mickie James, but they were canceled when Beth broke her jaw in a match with Victoria. - The Divas of Doom tag team with Natalya was abruptly ended out of nowhere.
- In 2006, there were plans to reveal the
- Abhorrent Admirer: She really was not pleased with Jacob Duncan's attempted courtship OVW
- Anti-Climax
- Jenny Brooks, a new face on Smackdown waiting for Beth Phoenix's entrance, has her history and training run down by Matt Striker, noting among other things that she actually beat Beth back in high school and hyping up the reunion of old rivals. Beth wins in a total Squash. However, it was very likely Matt Striker's commentary that made the match an Anti-Climax. He was quite infamous for making up back stories for jobbers to drum up interest in matches (he was truthful about her athletic background, but there is a good chance she did not meet Beth in competition, being from another country).
- Beth being accused of attacking Kaitlyn is abruptly dropped when Eve defeats her on Raw and she disappears from that storyline.
- Arch-Enemy
- At various times: Mickie James (Alexis Laree was her first professional wrestling opponent), Melina, Candice Michelle, Maria Kanellis, Kelly Kelly, Eve Torres, LayCool, and Maria Menounos.
- Yet to encounter them in WWE but Psycho(Bitch) in World Xtreme Wrestling, Reckless Youth and Lucious Lilly elsewhere.
- Badass Book Worm: She wasn't just the high school Prom Queen, she got a bachelor's degree in criminal science and became a champion collegiate wrestler before all her pro wrestling belts.
- Bash Brothers: The All Knighters, whom she often managed. Also, Kevin Grace, although she had to knock off him and Joey Knight in order take the Far North cruiser weight belt.
- Battle Couple: With her husband Edge, as The Miz and Maryse found out the hard way.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: She zig-zags through it. Like the rest of the Divas, their hair and makeup will stay roughly in place after a match. However, after a botched somersault leg drop from Alicia Fox, she showed off a nasty looking welt on her cheek.
Though she was taken off TV for five weeks, thus enforcing the trope.- When she broke her jaw, which was clean through and even dislocated, but there was no indication other than a little blood from her mouth.
- Averted in the Royal Rumble 2020, where banging her head off the ring post during the titular match busted her open and shed enough blood to turn most of her blonde hair a dark shade of red.
- Blood from the Mouth: When she broke her jaw, there was just a little bit of blood making it's way out of her mouth.
- Break the Haughty: Psycho gave her a power bomb and two splashes after defeating Phoenix. Even when Phoenix beat Psycho in the 2003 WXW Elite Eight she sustained an injury that played a key part in not winning it. Even at her most cocky any reminders of the saga make Phoenix take a depressed tone.
- The Bully: The worst sort, a bully who thinks she's a good role model.
- The Bus Came Back: In 2018 she made a return in the 2018 Royal Rumble and a few commentary guest spots. In 2019 she announced an in-ring return.
- Catchphrase: Hashtag actually is #ding Glam Slam Ding. "The perfect combination of strength and beauty." Was her old catch phrase.
- Charles Atlas Superpower
- Most notable female example since Chyna, she gave both Serena Deeb and ODB a Samoan drop at the same time during a fatal four way for ODB's title. She also casually pressed D'Lo Brown. Yes, he countered whatever she was trying but that's besides the point.
- Picked up both Michelle McCool and Layla El on her shoulders at the same time, while she had a torn ACL. She did it again to them in their tables match and has also done the same thing to Gail Kim, Kelly Kelly, Melina and Mickie James. This was also how she won the Battle Royal for her 2011 title shot, eliminating both of the Bella Twins at the same time.
- At the 2018 Royal Rumble she managed to lift Nia Jax! Again, Jax countered whatever Phoenix was going to do from there.
- Chickification
- Many WWE fans were displeased when Beth eliminated The Great Khali from the 2010 Royal Rumble Match. No, they weren't upset with the fact that she was able to do it; it was the way she did it, leaning back against the ropes and grabbing Khali's face, passionately embracing and kissing him, and then leaning backward a little more so that Khali fell over her and out of the ring. Some Smarks commented that the ploy never even would have worked if Khali weren't such a clumsy oaf who was in the middle of his Punjabi Playboy phase. Most segments with him ended up with him kissing some "lucky" lady, or trying to run away from a beast of a woman. This angle in turn came about when the WWE realized that Khali wasn't only kind of slow, but there was a relative inflexibility of his arms and legs and his movelist basically consisted of a chop, a clumsy kick, and shoving/throwing people.
- Her Face–Heel Turn against Kelly Kelly is due to her and Natalya both being fed up with how prevalent this trope is in the WWE, and swearing to put an end to it.
- The Comically Serious: Altered between being upset by Santino's antics to passively encouraging them while they were dating. She had just a minimal tolerance for Jillian Hall's delusions though, giving Katie Lea a Death Glare for daring to dance to Jillian's "music".
- Cute Bruiser: Yes, she can be as girlish as any other Diva.
- Dark Action Girl: Even as a face.
- Darkhorse Victory: While she never got far enough to win the title, Phoenix did score a pin fall on NWA Midwest women's champion MsChif, which no one saw coming. Despite proving capable of beating her though, Beth was never happy to get in the ring with her again, especially when she heard "Repined Bastard Nation" play in SHIMMER.
- Demoted to Extra: Like many of her Divas counterparts (with the exception of Vickie Guerrero, A.J. Lee, and Eve Torres), Phoenix had been relegated to competing on WWE Superstars.
- Enemy Mine: Phoenix is a lot less friendly when Alexis Laree/Mickie James is not around to serve as a common enemy. Passion, Laycool and Trish Stratus learned this the hard way.
- Finishing Move: First a Michinoku Driver variant called "Down In Flames". Then a fisherman's suplex. Then a Bitch Clamp to waffle face combo she calls the Glam Slam, followed by either a Sienna Duvall diva dam type submission or a float over into a pin.
- Fleeting Demographic Rule: Her feud in 2011 with Kelly Kelly was quite similar to her 2007 one with Candice Michelle - Beth as monster heel, Kelly as glamorous underdog babyface. Itself a repeat of Jazz vs Trish Stratus, and Bull Nakano vs Alundra Blayze.
- Game-Breaking Injury: In kayfabe, she torqued her ankle during a match with Nikki Bella and as such lost the Divas Championship to the latter via a roll-up after dominating the division for the better part of a year.
- In reality, her broken jaw which ended her first run in the company before it even began.
- Gentle Giant: Is known to be one of the sweetest, most accessible WWE stars.
- Glamazonian Beauty: That's her bread-and-butter right there. She's muscular but that can add to the appeal, and if not... it most likely doesn't detract from it. (In fact, her nickname is one of the alternative titles for the trope in question.) She's dubbed it "Pinup Strong" and has a running Twitter gag of finding fun examples, oh and her head band reminds people of Wonder Woman.
- The Giant: Averted. Her pure strength could easily put her in this position among the WWE Divas but she backs it up with technical skill. She also gets knocked around a surprising bit. She did the whole immovability thing after her first Raw heel run against Maria, Ashley, Layla and Candice but Mickie James and Santino proved more than capable of budging her, forcing Phoenix back to technical wrestling.
- Gimmick Matches
- On the losing side of a tug of war in Ohio Valley despite having fellow power house Jennifer Mae(Thomas) and a 250 lbs man(Dewey) on her team and a five to four advantage.
- She won a series of leg wrestling matches in Ohio Valley, beating Jennifer Thomas, She Nay Nay and "Sinnderella"(Nick Sinn in drag).
- Then there was the ladder match that decided an official OVW Women's Champion once and for all after Phoenix created her own belt to contest the reign of Katie Lea(Katie won)
- Girlish Pigtails: Prior to her "Glamazon" phase
- Hidden Depths: Kayfabe example when she and Natalya found each other on opposing teams on Superstars, Beth (who was the heel) didn't want to hit her. Nattie had other ideas...
- Hypocrite
- She and Natalya (as the heel Divas of Doom) claim that they strive to prove that women can be real wrestlers, but they can't seem to win without cheating and are total Sore Losers when they lose.
- She was incredibly offended when Kaitlyn suspected her of attacking her at Night of Champions. Considering Beth's track record, she was indeed a likely suspect.
- There was also the time she gave Triple H a vote of no confidence by claiming that the Divas couldn't defend themselves in chaos because "Hunter, we're girls," while she and Natalya were responsible for the ongoing chaos in the Divas division at the time. Coming from a woman who entered the Royal Freaking Rumble, that's even more hypocritical.
- Important Haircut: She's gone brunette as of March 2015.
- Improbable Age: On the other end of the scale. She became the youngest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame at the age of 37. She was also the quickest female to be inducted after retirement - as she'd only left the company five years previously.
- It's All About Me: This is how Phoenix started before being forced to eat several slices of humble pie. Started to show again in several tag-team Divas matches she's participated in, tagging herself in rather forcefully to hit her Glam Slam and take the victory for herself. Then, to top it all off, she doesn't interact with her teammate(s) much at all, leaving them in the ring wondering what the hell the problem was.
- Kick the Dog: During her Divas of Doom heel run with Natalya, Beth was very fond of announcing that it was "cry time" for some unfortunate face diva (especially A.J. Lee, Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres), locking her in a painful-looking submission hold while Natalya held the microphone to her face so the crowd could hear her scream.
- Kneel Before Zod: In WWE, her plans for Candice Michelle was to make her get down on her knees and "Worship the Glamazon". This never happened, as Beth ended up settling for injuring Candice.
- Lady of War: In contrast with Natalya, who's a fellow powerhouse but more of a brute, Beth is a little more elegant with her offense. Diva Dirt even wrote an article titled Beth Phoenix: A Lady Amongst Divas:"Beth has made her character come across elegant — even though she slams girls into the mat — and you’d never dream to hear the word ‘whore’ come out of this Diva’s mouth."
- Loony Fan/Psycho Supporter: Had one in Rosa Mendes. Had. With Beth's complete lack of hesitation in attacking her despite Rosa not doing anything at all to hinder Beth even in battle royals it's a wonder she did not break away sooner.
- Lovely Angels: With Natalya. First as faces when Beth returned from injury in 2010, and then as heels the next year - calling themselves 'Divas of Doom'.
- Made of Iron: When she broke her jaw, she gave no indication anything was wrong, and in fact thought she had simply had a tooth knocked out. It was only when everyone checking on her in medical gave a Mass "Oh, Crap!" that she realized that she was injured more seriously than she thought.
- Make an Example of Them: Did this to Melina once during a triple threat match for Beth's championship, when Beth, instead of pinning an already unconscious Melina, hit her with Beth's fisherman's suplex finisher instead, for the sole reason of humiliating her. Might count as Break the Haughty as, at the time, Melina was an incredibly arrogant character who assumed she was the top Diva.
- Perky Female Minion: First to "The Masterpiece" Chris Masters, then to Aaron "The Idol" Stevens in OVW.
- Progressively Prettier: From a borderline Brawn Hilda on her first WWE appearance in 2006, she's now become just as beautiful as any other woman on the WWE roster. They don't call her "The Glamazon" for nothing.
- Put on a Bus: Had her last match on October 29, 2012, and was then fired by Vickie Guerrero, as she wanted to take a break from wrestling.
- When she broke her jaw, she was sent back to OVW for a year before being brought back up.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: She's targeted "plastic excuses for women" since day one, though this attitude faded in OVW. Then it returned full force in her Raw feud with Kelly Kelly.
- Red Baron: The Glamazon. In her indy days as Phoenix, she was "The Fabulous Firebird."
- The Rival: Traci Brooks (ally turned rival), The Canadian Hard Body Angel Williams (enemy turned worthy opponent), Macaela Mercedes, Shelly Martinez (who feuded regarding Idol Stevens but worked together against Alexis Laree, then terrorized Phoenix after Kevin Thorn turned her into the vampire, Ariel), alternated between Evil Versus Evil and Villain Teamup with Katie Lea.
- Run the Gauntlet: The match where she lost ODB's Women's title. Beth got pretty far through luck and treachery (attacking Kelly Kelly before the match started, Roni Jona before she got in the ring, a lucky shot on Ariel,Jenny Mae knocked Beth around but was pinned after a missed missile dropkick and then Beth rolled up ODB and put her feet on the ropes...simply squashing Melody) but her streak was ended by Katie Lea, who went on to win the whole thing when Beth hit Serena Deeb with the belt.
- Shipper on Deck: A HUGE one for Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis, in contrast to Wade Barrett who's a Shipping Torpedo.
- Signature Move: Early on, a Texas Cloverleaf and a missile dropkick. Later, a suplex assisted by the top rope. She and Natalya later employed what could be called an upside down surfboard in attempts to make people cry. Beth also likes the military press.
- Slasher Smile: As a heel, Beth had a pretty effective one.◊ It doesn't seem right that a woman that gorgeous can look that sinister.
- Smurfette Principle: Laree stopped by but didn't stay, leaving Phoenix the only woman in FNW. She eventually won their cruiserweight title belt.
- Start My Own
- ODB declared herself the best wrestler in OVW and made her own title belt to defend...which she lost to Serena Deeb, which she lost to Beth Phoenix, which she lost to Katie Lea. Unconvinced that she actually lost, Beth made her own title and called it the real one, which caused management to relent and give Beth and Katie Lea a shot for an official OVW belt. (Which Katie won but OVW decided to be nice and leave everyone else's "reign" on record...except Victoria Crawford's)
- "Pin-up Strong Illustrated", started by herself and Natalya in protest to Kelly Kelly being featured in Maxim Magazine.
- Stocking Filler: Sometimes sports fishnet stockings as part of her attire.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Her first husband was her wrestling coach, Joey Knight.
- Tempting Fate: In the 2018 Women's Royal Rumble, Nia Jax dominated and commentators wondered if there was anyone who could stand with her. Cue Beth's music playing as soon as the countdown finished.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The Glamarella storyline. Not too much taller, but obviously stronger and more skilled.
- Ur-Example: Besides being the first GLORY champion, Phoenix claims to be the first female to win a battle royal in Ontario, Canada. She had to outlast 14 guys to do so.
- Villainous Cheekbones: The primary reason Allison Danger wanted WWE to pick up Phoenix, because no other woman they employed at the time had a comparable look. Despite these features, Phoenix tended to debut innocently enough in most places before sliding into "villainy". Allison Danger's SHIMMER would not be one of those promotions though, as Phoenix wasted no time using Danger to set an example of how cruel she could be and tauntingly kissed the referee trying to stop her.
- Villain Team-Up: With Passion in OVW. With Natalya to form the Divas of Doom.
- Wardrobe Malfunction
- On the 10-21-11 episode of Smackdown, after a bit of trash talking with Eve Torres, she begins to provoke her. Eve gives Beth a good hard shove, sending her head over heels to the mat. Beth, in a very billowy dress, accidentally flashes her underpants to half of Mexico City, and she came perilously close to flashing the other half with her... other assets.
- Beth often wears a kilt-like flared skirt as part of her "warrior" persona, and it whooshes up quite a bit when she is jumping or executing moves, so seeing her undies is pretty much business as usual these days.
- Wild Card
- When she was first moved to SmackDown and got in a three-way feud with Michelle McCool and Mickie James. She started off most interested in winning Michelle's championship but as time went on increasingly focused on attacking Mickie James, until Beth joined forces with Laycool and willingly helped them force feed her cake and punch in a "going away party".
- After her turning on Kelly Kelly, Beth still had a sympathetic point of view and Beth was given hometown advantage against Kelly in Buffalo New York. Beth's partner, Natalya, became more of a full blown heel.
- Worthy Opponent: Nia Jax. The two of them faced off at the 2018 Women's Royal Rumble, where they quickly proved to be each other's equals in terms of physical strength and endurance. They fought each other to a standstill, and in the end neither eliminated the other.note Ever since, Beth has not hesitated to speak enthusiastically about how much of a threat Nia is when on commentary in a match she's a part of.
- Wrestling Doesn't Pay: While not her gimmick in WWE, it is the source of the waitress uniforms she had an abundance of after her heel turn around Summer Slam. She did work as a waitress while at OVW.
