At WWE Day 1, Beth Phoenix made her long-awaited return to the main roster when she marched down to the ring during her husband Edge’s match with The Miz. Phoenix made her presence known immediately by chasing off Maryse, which allowed “The Rated R Superstar” to spear Miz and pick up the victory. After the match, Edge and “The Glamazon” celebrated on the entrance ramp to a chorus of cheers. This begged the question: what matches could Beth Phoenix take part in now?
As somebody who started watching wrestling around the 2010 mark, Phoenix used to be my favorite women’s wrestler. She didn’t fit in with the “model” stereotype and stood out from the other women with her menacing presence and superb wrestling ability. I truly believe that if Phoenix was around during the peak of the Women’s Revolution, she’d be a part of some of the best storylines and/or matches.
Aside from a short tag team run with Natalya in 2019, Phoenix has been retired from in-ring competition since 2012. Since then, she’s participated in the previously mentioned tag team run and two Royal Rumble matches.
With the mixed tag team match between Edge/Phoenix and Miz/Maryse being set for this year’s Royal Rumble event, there’s some optimism from fans that this could be more than a one-off and Phoenix could perhaps have her first singles match since 2012. If that scenario happens to come to fruition, here are three dream matches, and opponents, for the 3x WWE Women’s Champion, Beth Phoenix.
Beth Phoenix – 3 Potential Dream Matches
1. Sasha Banks
Although this list could easily just feature all four of the Horsewomen, Sasha Banks stands out amongst the others as the person who could create the best matchup with Beth Phoenix. We’ve seen Banks have really good matches with powerhouses like Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair in the past, so there’s no reason to believe that ‘The Boss’ and ‘The Glamazon’ wouldn’t create magic in the squared circle. When the two women matched up in their WrestleMania 35 four-way tag team bout, they seemed to have great chemistry together.
In the right circumstance, both Banks and Phoenix can be really good on the microphone as well. If they aren’t subjected to scripted, forced promos, there could be some genuinely memorable moments made there as well.
2. Rhea Ripley
Rhea Ripley has openly spoken about wanting this match, while Phoenix seemingly wants to face “all of them” when she was asked about facing anybody in particular in WWE. If both women want it — I think the company needs to get the ball rolling before it’s too late.
Ripley has felt unimportant since her run with the Raw Women’s Championship ended last year, and a big-time match with a WWE Hall Of Famer could change that. Both women’s wrestling styles complement each other very well, meaning the bout would be nothing short of fantastic.
The match/feud could be presented in a unique way. Ripley could present herself as the “present-day version” of Phoenix, while also reminding her that she doesn’t have to water her character down to fit in with the ‘divas era’. Although that probably won’t happen, it would be an interesting route to visit from a story perspective.
3. Io Shirai
When Beth Phoenix was in the commentary booth for NXT, she often would marvel over the talents that Io Shirai brought to the black and gold brand. If WWE wanted to send Phoenix down a path that would expose her true heel character, they could portray a jealous storyline where “The Glamazon” takes out her frustrations on Shirai, who got to be the best women’s wrestler in a much better time than when she held that mantle back in 2011-2012.
WWE rarely presents storylines that are deep and meaningful to this event, so it’s doubtful that this could happen. If the two women still faced off though, there’s no doubt that the match would be excellent.
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