PROFILE
BIOGRAPHY
Elizabeth Carolan née Elizabeth Kocanski (born on November 24, 1980 in Elmira, New York) is a professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment on its RAW brand as Beth Phoenix. After getting invited to a WWE tryout in May 2004, she began working full time at their developmental area Ohio Valley Wrestling, where she worked as a wrestler as well as a valet for Aaron Stevens along with Shelly Martinez. In October 2005, after working a SHIMMER event she was signed to a developmental contract with WWE.
Beth began wrestling on the Elmira, New York Notre Dame High School amateur wrestling team. She was the first female varsity wrestler in her high school's history. She became the North-East freestyle women's champion (72 kg weight class) in 1999. She also became the women's champion (72 kg weight class) at the New York State Fair Tournament in 1999, and was named the most outstanding wrestler that same year in the Brockport Freestyle Tournament. At the time she was also a member of USA Wrestling (a freestyle wrestling club). Her life goal was, according to her, to become a professional wrestler and she believed that having a solid amateur background would help her reach it. After graduating from High School in 1999 she enrolled in both a professional wrestling school and Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. Her first choice for wrestling school was Stu Harts Dungeon, but because of the location she decided on a more local school. At the school she ended up at she was trained by the All Knighters—Joey Knight and Robin Knightwing, who themselves were trained in the Hart Dungeon.
In 2004 Beth was the manager of Chris Masters and Brent Albright in Ohio Valley Wrestling but she suffered a broken hand that October. During her recovery Chris Masters was called up to WWE, ending that combination.
Beth returned & joined forces with Aaron "The Idol" Stevens in March of 2005, after he had just left the Jersey Shore Crew (which consisted of himself, Danny Inferno, Trudi Denucci and Nova). Beth and Stevens fought Danny Inferno and Trudi Denucci in the first ever intergender Jersey Shore street fight. After the match, Stevens attacked Trudi and hit her with the (banned) piledriver. Inferno then made it his mission to destroy Stevens and Beth for putting out his (kayfabe) girlfriend. Beth and Stevens eventually appeared after Inferno had been informed his house had been "robbed". He eventually made his way back to the arena and chased Beth and Stevens off. The next week Stevie Richards showed up and said Stevens' dad had placed a bounty on Inferno's head and Richards was in OVW to collect.
While wrestling for OVW Beth had her first match as a developmental diva in a tag team with Shelly Martinez, beating newcomers Fuji Cakes and Serena. Beth and Martinez were both featured on a SmackDown! house show card in December 2005 and made an appearance on the January 28, 2006 edition of WWE HEAT as part of the Heart Throbs Throb-o-meter section. They began to dance in the ring with the Heart Throbs before teasing a kiss which Trevor Murdoch interrupted to jump start the match. The duo were also feautured in early February 2006 on a Raw House Show Card accompanying Aaron Stevens to the ring.
Having not been called up to WWE full time Beth returned to OVW. At the March 4, 2006 OVW TV Tapings, Beth and Aaron Stevens were holding Shelly Martinez so she wouldn't interfere in a match that featured Paul Burchill vs Deuce Shade (w/ Cherry and Cliff Compton). During the match Cherry interfered and an angry Shelly tackled her. Later, after the match, Beth held back Shelly from continuing to attack Cherry. This led to the two of them arguing and the next week getting into a catfight when Beth started slapping Paul Burchill.
Beth Phoenix debuted on the May 8, 2006 episode of RAW attacking Mickie James during her assault on Trish Stratus. After this incident James began berating her for "ruining everything" and questioning why she even showed up in the first place.
A week later, Beth was formally introduced by Trish Stratus and then battered a distracted Mickie on Trish's behalf. When Mickie finally escaped Beth claimed that Mickie had ruined her life and she wouldn't let her get away with it before calling her a psycho. In the following edition of RAW Beth, now an official RAW diva, again attacked the Women's Champion at that time after her match with Torrie Wilson.
On the May 29, 2006 episode of RAW, Beth teamed up with WWE Diva Torrie Wilson to take on Candice Michelle and Victoria. Also, Trish Stratus was in Beth and Torrie's corner and Mickie James was in Candice and Victoria's corner. Beth pinned Candice after a Down In Flames.
The following week, on the June 5, 2006 episode of RAW (in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Beth came out to the ring with a new theme. She suffered a fractured mandible during a match with Victoria (she was victorious despite the injury). The injury required surgery to place a titanium plate into her jaw, which was a success yet still forced her out of action for an estimated two months. On the June 12, 2006 episode of RAW Mickie was interviewed by Todd Grisham and revealed that she and Beth were grade school friends before but Beth started to "become mean". Since then, Beth has not appeared on any RAW shows, however her profile still remains on WWE.com.
In August 2006, Beth returned to action in OVW as the surprise opponent for Serena in a number one contenders match - she was hand picked by OVW women's champion ODB herself to be the opponent. After a distraction from Charles Evans, Phoenix picked up the win hitting Serena with her Down in Flames finisher.
The following week, both Serena & Phoenix wanted a title shot, so ODB said if they can beat her in a tag match, the pinfall winner will receive a shot. Serena won the match for her and Beth's team by pinning newcomer Katie Lea (but only after Beth hit the Down in Flames on Lea and was forced to leave the ring as she wasn't the legal woman in the match). So, in the interest of fairness, the following week, it was announced that there would be a women's battle royal with the title on the line - Beth, Serena, Katie Lea & ODB were the final four women in the ring, with ODB eventually coming out on top.
The following week ODB put her women's title on the line in a four-way that also featured Beth, Serena & Katie Lea. Serena won the match following a spear on ODB, but after the match Phoenix laid out Serena with her newly won belt. At the October 4, 2006 OVW TV Tapings, Beth defeated Serena to capture the OVW Women's Championship. On the November 4th show, Beth lost the OVW women's title to Katie Lea in a gauntlet match - defeating the likes of Roni Jonah, Meloday, Ariel and Jenny Mae first. Lea, Serena, ODB & Beth were the final four in the match with Lea coming out on top.