By: Josh Barnett: “The Glamazon” Beth Phoenix, a 2015 CAC honoree, whose dominating physical style was a precursor to the current women’s wrestling revolution, is heading to the WWE Hall of Fame.
Phoenix, a Divas champion and three-time WWE women’s champion, will be inducted March 31 in Orlando as part of the Class of 2017 with Kurt Angle, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Teddy Long and Diamond Dallas Page.
“When you are in WWE, you dream of that moment (in the future) when you get to reflect on your career and the things that you did and you get that wonderful individual honor,” Phoenix told For the Win in an exclusive interview. “It seemed so far off in the distance for me (when I was wrestling). I didn’t know when — or if — I’d ever experience that feeling. I certainly didn’t think I’d have that opportunity this early in my life. It’s amazing and very, very humbling.”
Phoenix, who retired in 2012 at age 31, said she received a call from Mark Carano, WWE’s vice president of talent relations, in January with the news. Carano said WWE boss Vince McMahon and executive vice president Paul “Triple H” Levesque made the decision
“To hear they find my career was worthy enough and that I did well enough in the ring to be honored among the greatest of all time was incredible and the biggest compliment I could ever ask for,” Phoenix said. “It’s still sinking in and is very surreal.”
Her first move was to head to the next room and share the news with her husband, who knows something about the WWE Hall of Fame. Adam “Edge” Copeland was inducted in 2012. Phoenix, his then-girlfriend, was in the audience. Now, they will be the only spouses to be WWE Hall of Famers. The two married in October 2016 on Edge’s 43rd birthday.
Read the rest of the article here.
Photo courtesy of David Buckler, CAC Executive Board Member