WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix's Definitive List of Must-Watch Matches (2024)

Beth Phoenix is a trailblazer, a woman who broke down doors and championed the Women's Evolution long before it became a tagline or buzz phrase on WWE television.

She was a wrestler's wrestler, a woman who could hang with any opponent and elevate the talent around her. At a time when women were shortchanged in terms of match time, she maximized her minutes and cemented her legacy as one of the best of all time, not to mention the face of an entire era of women's wrestling.

As she prepares to return to the ring to partner with husband Edge against The Miz and Maryse at the Royal Rumble, relive these 10 must-watch matches from the WWE Hall of Famer.

The Glamazon's first Women's Championship victory didn't come in the best match of her career, but excluding it from this list would make it incomplete. You always remember your first, and to accomplish that feat in front of a red-hot Chicago audience in the historic Allstate Arena is special.

Phoenix entered the match coming off a shocking upset at the hands of Candice Michelle at Unforgiven and was hellbent on making sure that did not happen again. It did not.

The Glamazon ended the reign of the unlikely champion, driving Michelle to the mat with a fisherman buster to claim the gold.

After a setback a year earlier put her future in WWE in doubt, her coronation was a long time coming and well deserved. It was also the start of a career that would blaze trails, rewrite history books and end up with The Glamazon in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Two best friends clashed in Phoenix's hometown as The Glamazon battled Natalya in singles competition.

On the surface, the idea of a 4:41 match making anyone's list of their most must-see is laughable. For Phoenix and Natalya, though, it was the culmination of a long and arduous journey through an era that wasn't always kind to wrestlers but one that they championed anyway.

Longtime tag team partners and real-life best friends, they made all the towns together, battled both on-screen foes and behind the scenes preconceptions, and rose to the top of their profession anyway.

For The Glamazon, it was a homecoming, wrestling in front of the friends and family that supported her on her journey to pro wrestling stardom.

So, short match or not, the raw emotion that went into the match trumps everything.

Phoenix entered the 2009 Royal Rumble the WWE Women's champion for a showdown with familiar foe Melina, and while the match didn't have a ton of time to work with, The Glamazon and her challenger made the most of it.

Phoenix bear-hugged and rag-dolled Melinawith intensity, putting her opponentin jeopardy early. The jaw-dropping display of flexibility moments later—when Phoenix applied an ankle lock, then kicked Melina in the back of her head with her own foot—was outstanding.

Melina would fight from behind to win the match and title in what was yet another example of the women's division laying the groundwork for the revolution that was yet to come. The style worked between the two was something not happening elsewhere on the show. It was intense, aggressive and powerful, and it was indicative of two women who were ahead of their time.

One step forward. Two steps back.

Phoenix exploded onto the scene in the summer of 2006, backing up Trish Stratus in her feud with Mickie James. Her first match on Monday Night Raw should have been a magical experience that skyrocketed her to the top of the industry and made Phoenix a star instantly.

Instead, it was filled with both a broken heart and a broken jaw.

The physical encounter with Victoria, herself worthy of the Hall of Fame and way past due for induction, saw the former women's champion rock her with an elbow that broke Phoenix's jaw. The future Glamazon would go on to win the match, but it would be the one and only time she would get to compete in front of the cameras.

A night in the hospital and recovery time would stunt her main-roster run and result in her returning to OVW for another year before she returned to the bright lights and big stages of Monday nights.

Much like the first women's title victory, the quality of the match is almost secondary to what it meant to Phoenix's story and career, accounting for its placement on this list.

It is not every day that two of the greatest women's wrestlers to ever lace a pair of boots get to share the ring in a clash of generations, but that was the case on the December 22, 2008, episode of Raw.

Phoenix and Marella, one of the most creative and fun acts on the show, battled top star John Cena and Stratus in a blockbuster main event from Trish's hometown of Toronto.

The match was a fun one in which Phoenix and Stratus sparred, giving fans a taste of what might have been had the six-time champion not retired in September of 2006. The Glamazon proved herself Stratus' equal, hanging in there with the golden-era icon and establishing herself as the measuring stick for women's wrestling in her own era.

The babyfaces would win the match, as expected, but there was no denying how much working with Stratus helped to elevate Phoenix and announce to the world that she was the face of women's wrestling toward the end of the 2000s.

Before she was tearing up the competition on the WWE main roster, Phoenix was making history in Ohio Valley Wrestling, the company's official developmental territory.

There, she battled Katie Lea in a ladder match, another gimmick bout that women were not privy to in the mid-2000s. It wasn't the type of match that was open to them, thanks to antiquated opinions about their role in wrestling.

This was at a time when four-minute matches, with entrances, were the norm. The idea that Phoenix—or any woman, really—would be allowed to compete in a ladder match was unheard of.

That makes her OVW clash with Katie Lea that much more interesting.

Is it a polished, pretty match? Absolutely not, but it is two women taking big risks, bigger bumps and competing in matches made famous previously by the likes of Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Bret Hart, The Hardy Boyz, Christian and Phoenix's future husband, Edge.

It's a fascinating watch and yet another one of those moments in Phoenix's career where it became clear that she was going to break the mold and be unlike any other performer on the roster.

The on-screen pairing of Phoenix and Santino Marella brought with it comedy gold, but it also led to a historic match at the 2008 SummerSlam pay-per-view.

Intercontinental champion Kofi Kingston and women's champion Mickie James teamed up to defend their respective titles in a Mixed Tag Team Match against The Glamazon and her pipsqueak boyfriend, the first time that had ever happened on WWE pay-per-view.

In what was a fun match that played up to the characters involved, Phoenix would down James with the Glam Slam and win her team the gold. The imagery of her carrying Marella out of the arena on her shoulders highlighted the dynamic of their relationship, Santino's comedic genius and Phoenix's role as the traditional straight woman.

Fans in 2008 were not ready for the "I Quit" match that Phoenix and Melina delivered at June's One Night Stand pay-per-view. There wasn't that sort of women's match at that time in WWE's history.

The physicality on display as they took the fight to one another, Melina looking to force submission with a cross armbar and Phoenix targeting the back of her opponent, was a far cry from the notorious gimmick matches that had dominated the company's history to that point.

There were no pillows or water balloons, giant bowls of gravy, or lingerie. This featured two badass women looking to beat the hell out of each other to the point that one could no longer physically compete and had to say the words "I quit."

It was Melina who uttered them on that night as Phoenix folded her body backward, her head touching the bottoms of her boots.

For Phoenix, it was another extraordinary display of toughness, grit and power and a major reason why her star continued to shine brightly despite not holding the women's title at the time. It was also another entry in the underrated series of matches she had against Melina, herself one of those unsung heroes of that era.

By 2010, it was still rare for women to be given the opportunity to culminate their rivalries, no matter how intense, in a gimmick match befitting the tone. That's why Phoenix and Natalya's Tables Match against Michelle McCool and Layla was such a big deal.

The result of a months-long rivalry, it forced the sarcastic-yet-dangerous LayCool to confront the women whose lives they made a living hell, in a situation that likely would not end well for them.

Despite an uncooperative table or two, Phoenix and Natalya silenced the heels en route to a big pay-per-view win.

It remains one of the best, most fun and rewarding matches in the Hall of Fame career of The Glamazon.

Phoenix made history at the 2010 Royal Rumble, becoming just the second woman in event history to enter the prestigious 30-man over-the-top-rope classic.

While her stint in the match was short-lived, her legacy will live forever.

She goaded The Great Khali into kissing her, pulled the massive competitor over the top rope and to the floor, and eliminated one of the true threats to win the match, and she earned a huge ovation while doing so. As if that wasn't enough, she ran through CM Punk, rocking him with a big clothesline before her night came to an abrupt end, courtesy of the Go To Sleep.

In a Hall of Fame career of titles, pay-per-views and individual achievements, Phoenix, like Chyna before her, further established herself as a trailblazer by accomplishing something women were not allowed to at the time, and for that, the 2010 Rumble match remains one of her greatest accomplishments.