At the moment, male wrestlers might be the most popular names in the world of wrestling entertainment but in recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the popularity of female wrestlers with major wrestling companies like WWE boasting of big names like Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch. Another name on the roster is Beth Phoenix, a wrestler who has been performing since she was in high school.
Beth Phoenix has had a career that has spanned through a number of promotion companies, including independent promotions like Apocalypse Wrestling, and has worked her way up to the biggest promotional wrestling franchise, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Her career, since she made her debut in 2001, has been an interesting one and in this article, we cover her journey from high school to the biggest stage of global wrestling. Read all about Beth Phoenix by scrolling below.
Beth Phoenix’s Age & Biography
The world of wrestling knows her as Beth Phoenix but she was born as Elizabeth Kocianski in Elmira, New York on the 24th of November, 1980 to parents who were of Polish origin.
Victory at a coloring contest, which resulted in tickets to a taping of the World Wrestling Federation when she was a child, led Beth Phoenix to fall in love with wrestling, and a dream to become a wrestler.
She attended Notre Dame High School in Elmira where she achieved several accolades like being named prom queen and becoming the first female varsity wrestler in the school’s history. She also achieved other accolades like becoming the North-East freestyle women’s champion and winning the New York State Fair Tournament.
Through her high school, Beth Phoenix began to set the foundations of a career as a wrestler. She also competed in tennis and track sports. Post high school, while she pursued a career as a wrestler, she attended and graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice and Public Relations at Canisius College in New York.
Before she began her professional wrestling career, Beth Phoenix also attended a professional wrestling school.
Wrestling Career
After completing her high school years of being an amateur wrestler, Beth Phoenix began her professional career in May 2001, working for a variety of independent wrestling promotions that included the Cleveland All Pro Wrestling and Apocalypse Wrestling.
Her first professional wrestling match was against Alexis Laree and she hasn’t relented ever since. Working her way up in various competitions, Beth Phoenix soon made her way to World Wrestling Entertainment, starting from the promotion’s developmental company, Ohio Valley Wrestling where she impressed major players enough to join the WWE’s main roster in May 2006, debuting on Raw.
Despite dealing setbacks in the form of injuries, Beth Phoenix has been able to maintain her place in WWE, returning from injuries to compete in major shows like WrestleMania and SmackDown. After six years between 2006 and 2012, Beth Phoenix temporarily left WWE before returning in 2017 as a part-time commentator. She finally returned to the ring in March 2019.
As part of her career as a colour commentator, she is also a commentator for NXT, another promotion company.
Over the course of her career, Beth Phoenix has won the WWE Divas Championship once and has been Women’s Champion three times. She won other accolades at other promotion companies like GLORY Wrestling where she won the championship once. She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.
