“What If?” is a weekly column where I discuss the “what ifs” of women’s wrestling that could’ve/would’ve/should’ve happened, from championship reigns to returns/debuts to storyline options.
This week’s What If is:
Beth Phoenix had never broken her jaw?
Beth Phoenix made her WWE debut when she attacked Mickie James after Mickie had just defended her Women’s Championship against Maria and went after Trish and her shoulder injury. In the coming weeks, Beth continued to go after Mickie, eventually leading to the fans finding out that Beth and Mickie had bad history with each other and Beth becoming Trish’s new friend and RAW’s newest diva. Beth Phoenix won her first WWE match when she teamed up with Torrie Wilson to defeat Victoria and Candice Michelle.
The next week on RAW, Beth Phoenix was in action agaist Victoria. During the match, Beth Phoenix suffered a jaw injury at the hands of Victoria, but ultimately won the match. This was the last time Beth Phoenix was seen on TV for a while because she spent a year getting surgeries on her jaw and was sent back to OVW during her year long absence. It was pretty tragic that a potential feud between Beth Phoenix and Mickie James was cut short due to Beth’s jaw injury.
But what if Beth Phoenix had never broken her jaw? Here’s what I think would have happened:
WWE would’ve continued to have built up the feud between Mickie James and Beth Phoenix by having Beth reveal their history with each other, including what Mickie did to her that was so bad. Beth would declare that since Mickie James made her life miserable, she’s now going to turn the tables on her and make her life miserable. Their feud would lead to a non-title match at the PPV, where Beth emerges victorious.
Beth and Mickie continue their feud after Mickie is unhappy about her loss at the PPV and wants revenge. She doesn’t want to deal with Beth anymore and wants her out of her life. Beth wants Mickie out of her life for good as well. This leads to Beth challenging Mickie James to a match at the next PPV for the Women’s Championship. Mickie James accepts the challenge, but under one condition: the loser will be fired (kayfabe) from WWE.
The PPV match takes place, and Mickie James retains the Women’s Championship. Beth is kayfabe fired from WWE. After a one year absence, she returns to the WWE as The Glamazon, and the rest is history.
If Beth Phoenix had never broken her jaw, we could have seen a great feud between her and Mickie James at the time. Although we didn’t get to see Mickie vs. Beth when it was supposed to happen, we were luckily able to see these two renew their rivalry later down the road when Beth returned to WWE from her injury and OVW, but this time, the roles were reversed. Mickie was a face, while Beth was a heel. Do you have any thoughts/comments/suggestions about what you think would’ve happened if Beth Phoenix had never broken her jaw? Let me know in the comments section below!
That’s it for this edition of “What If?”. Come back next week to see what the next What If will be.
— Eric Holt
Follow me on Twitter: @_ericholt_