I'm a four-time champion. The second female to ever compete in the Royal Rumble, amongst many, many other accolades.
— Beth Phoenix
A beach date would be awesome, with like a little picnic basket, some fruit and bread - just something really, really relaxed and laid-back. I like just relaxing all day, maybe playing in the water a little bit. It's just totally a day to chill.
I've been classically trained in piano since I was little. My father was a pianist, so they started me early.
They say that you never forget your first love and my first love was wrestling. My grandmother taught me wrestling, but it was not until Wrestlemania 10, Bret Hart Vs. Owen Hart, who made a work of art.
When I was a wrestler, my job was mostly looking mean and throwing punches and kicks.
A boy on the team, who shall remain nameless, constantly picked on me during practice. I bided my time, and when I had the chance to wrestle him, I took every advantage I could. I bent fingers, dug my nails into his skin and rammed my elbow into various, tender, parts of him. I basically beat him down in front of the whole team.
My parents wanted me to protect myself and have something to fall back on. I even remember reading a quote from Razor Ramon in WWF magazine where he talked about the importance of getting an education if you wanted to pursue a career in pro wrestling.
I've always wanted to be one of the guys, and don't expect to treated any differently.
There are so many X-factors going on in the ring. You have to protect your opponent. You have to be conscious of what your opponent is going through and make sure they're safe.
I had an opportunity to work for the US Department of Probation in Buffalo.
I'm not a super social person.
It's no secret that I've been influenced by Chyna.
I loved being a stay-at-home mom.
I left wrestling to spend more time at home with family.
Respect is important, and if you don't have it you won't be on the professional level very long.
We're moving away from the one-dimensional nature for women. It used to be that you were known for one thing - a cultural thing, the way you walk, talk or look. Now everybody is allowed to be a layer cake.
The challenge with WWE was keeping up with the schedule and trying to stay healthy and uninjured during that time. Now, with motherhood, the biggest responsibility is trying to protect this little baby and care for her and her needs.
Obviously, The Glamazon has been covered in every wrestling magazine known to man, including WWE Magazine, however, I've always wanted to do a fitness magazine.
My ideal summer date would definitely be outdoors, something by the water.
All the time I was in college, I was going to wrestling school on the weekends.
Chyna was the woman that made me say 'Whoa, I want to do something like that. I want to change the game.'
I have to look my best, so I've been going to the gym, training extra hard. I've been doing all the things that Glamazons do to look as good as I do.
The first time I won a medal at a female wrestling tournament, all of the other girls there had coaches and family members cheering them on. I went in alone, said nothing, wrestled three girls and beat three girls - convincingly.
In fact, I was voted Prom Queen by my classmates in my senior year. So I went from being a wrestler to the prom queen in a year.
What's the quality of my life? Often times, when you're in there, you're not thinking about that. You're thinking, 'I want this match at WrestleMania to be the most incredible thing anyone has ever seen.'
We're on the road 300 days a year. There's no recovery time. It's a test of your physical and mental endurance.
I think it will be quite the spectacle to have Awesome Kong and Beth Phoenix in the same ring at the same time.
It takes a while to condition people to a different product, as opposed to what they're used to seeing.
I started wrestling when I was 19 years old, and I spent my entire adult life on the road chasing this dream, and I loved it.
This isn't a business that you can pick up in a few weeks. This takes years of commitment, dedication, passion, and hard work. With that is WWE's road schedule that doesn't provide for enough in-ring time for the divas to develop.
You can disagree with someone and still do business as a professional.
My parents didn't have any money.
I wanted to be a female like Chyna, who broke boundaries and did things that were really special.
I got pregnant five or six months after I retired, and then it was off to the races! It was a complete change of gears, and I was refocusing my life on my family.
The 'Flex' shoot was incredibly amazing. It was a total dream come true for me, because it was my first media magazine of that sort outside of wrestling.
I could read music before I could read words.
Male, female, it doesn't matter. All I see when I look across the ring is an opponent.
Being married to a wrestler has its unique challenges, being a wrestler married to a wrestler is next level.
I've always been alone, done things by myself and stood stronger than the others.
My entire life I've proved that I'm able to overcome people's negativity toward me.
I'm very proud to represent Buffalo in the WWE.
You don't know what a broken jaw feels like until it happens.
When I first came into the WWE I enjoyed working with Candice Michelle, a girl who was a model and seemed to live a carefree life and worked really hard to become a WWE Diva.
I have my best friend in Natalya. That's who I stick to and I don't go out and party or anything like that or socialize a lot with the other divas.
Wrestling goes through seasons. Some things become trends for a while or other things become a trend or the style.
I followed wrestling, but I had just kind of made peace with, like, that was my career. I'm now a mom, and I'm going to find other things to do with my life.
As far as the experience level of some of the WWE divas, there are girls who get rushed along in the process. They're beautiful and we want to get them on TV as soon as possible. Sometimes that doesn't leave for a lot of time for wrestling training.
I was able to be influential and create a mold. There was no one else who was shaped like me or looked like me.
Things that used to be a glass ceiling aren't anymore. Now not only is it a possibility that women are going to main event WrestleMania, I know that they are going to do it.
I always enjoyed being a villain more, probably because you get to do and say a lot of things you wouldn't do in real life.
