page_title: Beth Phoenix
section_title: Divas Champion and departure (2011–2012)
hierarchical_section_title: Beth Phoenix / Professional wrestling career / World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE / Divas Champion and departure (2011–2012)
caption_attribution_description: English: Eve with Beth Phoenix at WM 28.
context_page_description: Elizabeth Copeland, known professionally as Beth Phoenix, is an American professional wrestling commentator, professional wrestler and retired amateur wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE and performs as color commentator on the NXT brand. As a wrestler, she is a former WWE Divas Champion, a three-time WWE Women's Champion, and the youngest person to ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
  Kociański had a successful amateur wrestling career in high school, winning several tournaments before being trained for professional wrestling by the All Knighters. After her debut in May 2001, she wrestled for numerous independent promotions. She also appeared at the inaugural Shimmer Women Athletes shows. In 2004, she began working for Ohio Valley Wrestling and signed a developmental contract with WWE in October 2005. She debuted on WWE's Raw brand in May 2006 but suffered a legitimate broken jaw the following month. As a result, she had numerous surgeries and returned to OVW for further training. While there, she won the OVW Women's Championship twice, although her second reign is not officially recognized by OVW.
context_section_description: As part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft on April 26, 2011, Phoenix returned to the Raw brand. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Phoenix won a battle royal to become the number one contender to the WWE Divas Championship, and afterward attacked champion Kelly Kelly to provoke a feud and turning heel in the process. Phoenix later declared that she was tired of the "perky bimbos" that comprised the rest of the Divas division, and was on a mission to make a mockery of the other Divas, and was joined by Natalya to form The Divas of Doom. Phoenix went on to unsuccessfully challenge Kelly for the championship at SummerSlam. Throughout September, The Divas of Doom feuded with Kelly and Eve Torres on Raw and The Chickbusters (AJ and Kaitlyn) on SmackDown. Phoenix challenged Kelly for the Divas Championship again at Night of Champions, but was unsuccessful. At Hell in a Cell in October, Phoenix defeated Kelly to win the Divas Championship for the first time, with help from Natalya. In a rematch on the October 14 episode of SmackDown, Phoenix successfully retained the championship. At Vengeance, Phoenix successfully defended the championship against Eve Torres, with both Natalya and Kelly banned from ringside. Phoenix successfully retained her championship against Torres again at Survivor Series on November 20 in a Lumberjill match, and against Kelly at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 18.
  Further successful defenses followed against Torres on the January 30, 2012, episode of Raw and Tamina Snuka at Elimination Chamber on February 19. After this, Phoenix competed only sporadically for a few months, including a tag team match at WrestleMania XXVIII, where she and Eve Torres were defeated by Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos. On the April 6 episode of SmackDown, Phoenix lost to Nikki Bella in a non-title match, following Kelly's interference. On the April 23 episode of Raw, Phoenix lost her Divas Championship to Nikki Bella in a Lumberjill match, after suffering a storyline ankle injury. At Extreme Rules, Phoenix was scheduled to face Nikki in a rematch for the Divas Championship, however she was not medically cleared to compete and was replaced by the returning Layla, who ended up winning the title. Phoenix made two unsuccessful attempts at regaining the Divas Championship from Layla at Over the Limit in May and at No Way Out in June, respectively. Phoenix lost 19 times against Divas champion Layla in various live events. 
  In September, Kaitlyn was attacked by an unknown assailant before her championship match at Night of Champions. Upon her return, she announced her assailant had blonde hair, and Assistant SmackDown General Manager Eve Torres accused Phoenix before attacking her. On the September 28 episode of SmackDown, after defeating Natalya, Phoenix was suspended by Torres, but the suspension was later reversed by SmackDown General manager Booker T. On the October 1 episode of Raw, Phoenix lost to Torres. Phoenix turned heel again on the October 18 episode of Superstars, when she berated Kaitlyn for thinking that Phoenix attacked her and demanded respect from Kaitlyn, before losing to her in a singles match. On the October 29 episode of Raw, Phoenix was defeated by AJ Lee in a singles match, but the match was restarted by Raw Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero, allowing Phoenix to win. After the match, in the storyline, Guerrero fired Phoenix for her poor performance. In reality, Phoenix had given her notice to WWE in September and had decided to leave the company; although she originally claimed that she had left to focus on her family, in September 2019, she revealed that she had been "really frustrated with where the women were at from a company standpoint, and the investment that was being made in us. I felt in my heart I had done my best, and I'd try hard to change things but, at some point, I just got frustrated."
caption: Phoenix and Eve Torres at WrestleMania 28 in April 2012
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