Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Beth Phoenix On A Possible Return, Adam Copeland, Santino Marella, Taking An RKO, Hall Of Fame

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

Beth Phoenix (@TheBethPhoenix) is a professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Asheville, NC to discuss how winning a coloring contest ignited her passion for WWE, the inspiration behind The Glamazon character, breaking her jaw in her first singles match, entering the Men's Royal Rumble and eliminating The Great Khali, getting hit with an RKO by Randy Orton and a con-chair-to by Rhea Ripley, Adam Copeland's recent cage dive at AEW Double or Nothing, not currently being signed to WWE, if there could be one more match and more! Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv MAREK HEALTH: Get a 10% discount on Marek Health's Optimization Package with code CVV: https://marekhealth.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, welcome back to another one here on Insight. Man, that song gets me so pumped up every single time. It's your friendly neighborhood, CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and out of all the podcasts that you could be listening to right now, thank you for being here. And thank you for helping to make Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. I'm guessing you're already following the show because that's why you're here right now. but if you're one of the tens of thousands of people who just listen to the show, but don't follow, ah, you're breaking my heart.

If you've ever enjoyed any of the interviews that we've ever done here, please, could you show your appreciation by just hitting that follow button? I don't have a Patreon. I'm never going to ask you to pay for a subscription to anything. These episodes are free. Following the show is the only request that I have for you.

So I appreciate you. We had Adam Copeland on the show a few months ago, episode number 600, to be exact. And now we have the honor of sitting down with his Hall of Fame wife, the legend herself, Beth Phoenix. And if you watch this interview on YouTube, you will recognize the setting. We recorded it in the exact same spot in their home gym in Asheville, North Carolina.

And man, what a career Beth Phoenix has had. It's amazing. I mean, think of all the wrestlers that are currently in WW or AEW or elsewhere that are wrestling because they were inspired by her in the work that she did. She did tell me during this interview that she is no longer under contract with WWE. She's a free agent. And it sounds like maybe she has one more match left in her.

I mean, we haven't seen her in the ring since last February. She was in there doing some mixed tag stuff with Edge when he was still in WWE, still part of the judgment day. Isn't that funny that just that sentence itself? It was just a year and a bit ago that Edge was in WWE still and part of the judgment day. And none of the original members of the judgment day are still part of the judgment day. We also talked about how much Pure Plank has changed her core workouts. It was invented by Adam Copeland and Christian Cage.

If you listened to those interviews, you heard us talk about how much of a tool that was to help them get in the best shape of their life. They created the code CVV if you guys want to save some money, if you're interested. in getting one yourself. I will say they sold out for a while after the interviews with Adam and Christian, but they are back in stock as of last week, I believe. It's gopureplank.com. There's also a link in the show notes. If you want to check it out, the code is CVV.

Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening to this and tag us on social media so we can share it out. She's at The Beth Phoenix. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And let's do it. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only, Beth Phoenix. Well, it's good to be back here. Hey, good to see you.

It's been so long. Two months. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This is one of my favorite spots to ever do an interview. I know. We've got this little nook in the woods, like this private little wooded area. But then inside, we've got this like nest of wrestling with all of our fun stuff in memorabilia. You're the top of a mountain.

We are. We are. We have a lot of privacy here, but we're still. really close to everything that the kids need, you know, and their schooling and social and community. We've got all that here. So that's why this is kind of like the perfect area. So many people were like, when I did the interview with Adam? They're like, when's the interview with Beth happened? Oh. Here we are. So thank you for letting us come back. Oh, no. My pleasure. Like, I'm just, it's really exciting to watch Adam cruising and like kind of on the run of his life.

Yeah. And in order to do that, like, I feel like I've kind of had to like really get in the driver's seat at home. and I love it. But it's been exciting for myself to get back on camera. I'm like, it was kind of cool to put on the glam makeup a little bit and just remember what it's like to have that camera in your face. Is this the glamazon sitting in front of us? Maybe a portion of her. You know, a dialed back version.

Yeah, it's a lot of work to look good for TV. So definitely on the daily when I'm dropping kids off and going to, you know, soccer practice or play dates. It's definitely a different look. let's put it that way. I saw on Instagram, you've been working out a lot with Pure Plank, and you're shredded right now. Oh my gosh. Thank you. Yeah. So my secret weapon, as I have gotten heavily into hot yoga, I love yoga. For the mental aspect, the emotional aspect, it's been just this wonderful journey for me. And also, it's very physical. It requires so

much strength, which, you know, initially when I walked in there, I was concerned. Like, I like being fit and strong. And I was like, is this going to help me maintain? So yoga, really, really opened a door up with a new style of fitness. And I like where it's been taking my physique. And the craziest thing with yoga is there's so much planking, tons and tons and tons of planking, which even with a yoga mat can get tough on your elbows. So, you know, with Adam and Jay creating this pure plank and starting this new brand, this is something that I've leaned on quite a bit.

And I use in my yoga practice too here at home. And it's just, it's a way to make things more challenging. and also really correct your form, which that was what I struggled with a lot, having, as I like to call, the wrestlers back, which I'm sure a lot of us in the business understand what that means, you know, just from years of abuse and taking bumps, takes a toll. And so it's really helped me with my posture and being able to build my core strength, which just even in daily life and mobility as we get older, it's a huge, huge thing. So I love Pure Plank.

It's part of my routine. And it's really helped me a lot with my yoga routine, too. I love how Adam can't walk, but fresh out of surgery, he's like, well, I can still plank. Well, this was my concern when he got injured with a lower body injury is like when he had his triceps care recently, I was like, at least he was up and moving and he was figuring everything out with one arm. I was like, he's going to be non-weight bearing for two to three months, you know, and he can't walk. This guy is not somebody that you can keep on the couch. Like I was concerned for the level of boredom that was going to hit and how quickly that was

going to hit, which it did very fast. So luckily, Pure Plank is something you can do from the ground and you can do, you know, really at any level of fitness, which has been wonderful. So he uses it quite a bit to maintain his physique while he's on one leg. Well, you guys were so kind to set us up with a discount code. CBV for anybody that's listening can go to gopureplank.com and save some money by using that code. So thank you for that. Oh, yeah. And we love the feedback. Like it's been so awesome people that are buying it and using it and giving us feedback. And showing us their success stories. Like, that's been the coolest part is to just see that it works.

It functions. It works. Did you watch that match live when Adam jumped off the cage? Yes, I did. I was, so earlier, I barely talked to Adam that day. And I assumed, you know, any sort of gimmick match like that, there's a lot of inner workings going on. And so, like, I didn't assume I'd talk to him with any length of detail before the match. And we happened to have been, I had my family with us.

And my family is like, oh, we want to watch. Adam's match and I'm like, this might not be the one to show the kids because I knew there was a level of violence and Barb wire and all those things. I just didn't want to traumatize them any more than we do with watching wrestling. But we, there was, you know, a brief opportunity. It was, I think it aired like 1130 at night or whatever. And I had it on my little cell phone and I was watching it while the kids were asleep, like kind of in bed quietly. And when he began climbing up to the top of the cage, which I was unaware it was going to happen, kind of I had this like pit in my stomach and dread, which I do with, you know, all.

high-risk things. I'm his wife, like wife first, wrestler second. So, you know, everything was set up to go well. Like I could see, like everybody was in their place. And it was just one of those things, like those unpredictable, sometimes things happen in wrestling. And no matter how well trained we are, how well we try to minimize risk and minimize injury, like crap happens. And so when he landed, I was pretty sure something was up just from the way he landed. I was like, I don't think that's kind of how we wanted it to go. And then the rest of the match I could see was a little heavy footed on that left foot. So I was like, oh, something's up.

Then we always text after the match. And he texts me and said, I think I tweaked my ankle. And I was like, okay. And I just kind of was like, we'll see what happens. And then, you know, as he got, he had to go to the hospital, get looked at. So I got more information. And then we were wrapping our minds around. Okay, it's tough news to get that MRI or that x-ray back and show, okay, I'm injured.

I'm not just hurt and I can't work through it. I'm injured. So like I said, it was a bit life-changing in that way, especially having injury this late in the game, if his career, what does that look? What does that recovery look like? It's entirely different. We're all, we're finding this out for, you know, all brand new one step at a time because we've never wrestled at these ages before. So when things come up, this is a learning curve. So yeah, I was, I had a lot of mixed emotion watching that live. It was a, it was a tough thing to see. But we just saw him before we hit record here. He's in great spirits. He is, and I think that's how he has managed a 30-plus-year career. He's so resilient emotionally and physically. The second he gets that news that you're injured, you require surgery, it's going to be X amount of months. Like, he's already on the next step.

Okay, let's get that surgery done. Now that the surgery's done, okay, what's the next milestone? All right, I want to be weight-bearing again. And once I'm weight-bearing, what can I do? What can I do in the meantime? I can use my arms? like there's a constant problem solving going on in his mind that is that keeps him going. And, and I think that that's, that's what's kept him performing at a high level for so long.

And I truly, when I was watching his matches in AEW, you know, up to this point, like, I've like, you're, you're performing at the best in, the best in ring performances I think you ever have from a psychology standpoint and a storytelling standpoint and physicality. It's just finding now the balance between preservation and still being able to tell quality stories. How's life after wrestling treating you? It's great. You know, there's only two things in life I ever wanted to be, and that was a pro wrestler and a mom. And I've at this age, you know, I'm 43 years old. I've been able to do both, I feel like with my whole heart and soul. When I was full-time wrestling, that was my life.

That was everything to me. And nothing else mattered but, you know, my success in that and checking all my boxes. And then when I had my children, you know, nothing mattered more to me than being a good mom. And that meant putting wrestling on the back burner at times. Like I went back, you know, for a long run as a commentator for a couple years. I came back for a couple runs here and there with WWE. And it was so fulfilling and so awesome. But it put a strain, especially when Adam started wrestling full time, it put quite a strain on our kids,

which, you know, that was where I was like, I need to re, I got to shovel the deck here a little bit and reprioritize where I'm spending my time because the kids right now need me. They're at a real, you know, an age that's very demanding. And so I'm so happy in life after wrestling, although, you know, I've heard we're a little bit like Hotel California. I can check out, but you can never leave. So like once a wrestler, always a wrestler, I love my career. I love my presence and the brand and and, you know, my representation in wrestling, I loved it. I love everything about it. I'm still a fan.

I still watch it as a fan. And I still have heated conversations with Adam about our opinions on stories and this and that, which is, it's a blessing and a curse to be married to a wrestler. When you see Adam doing what he's doing in the ring now, do you go, man, that looks like fun. I want to do that. Always. Always. That never leaves.

And I'm not going to, I'll be transparent about that. Like, it's, I think that's at this age been really tough for me to like step back and step away because I truly like get lit up when I see it. And as much as I love all the things in my life, my family excluded, like nothing lights me up, you know, career wise like wrestling. I've tried, you know, a variety of different things to, you know, what's the next chapter? What does this look like? And I find wonderful things, but nothing, nothing's like performing in front of thousands of people and being able to pull those emotional strings and connecting with people. Like in today's world where I feel like connection has a buffer right now of technology. Wrestling is a very like just primal

connection with audience and community. And it still brings that. If you go to a local indie show and you get your box of popcorn and you're sitting with others, I guarantee you at some point you're going to hoot and holler and yell and scream and you're going to lose yourself in the story, you know, just because it's built in our emotional makeup. Sounds like you can have another match. That's what all this sounds like right here. Um, yeah, I, I don't know. Like, it's, it's really hard to say you're retired, which like, when I left in 2012, that was the word I threw around a lot. I'm retired. Um, because I wanted to have a family and I just knew, I knew for myself that wasn't going to be incongruence to perform and to have kids. I needed to, like, devote myself to the kids at that time. And, um, and, you know, I, I give the ageful cliche answer that everybody hates is like, never say never. But it really just depends on the opportunities and what suits our family. You know, that's, that's really it.

We weigh out everything. That's where Adam's opportunities too. And, you know, I remember when Percy Jackson came on the table and he was full time in WWE. And it was really, really hard to take that on. But we weighed out everything. We sat as a family and we made that decision and we're like, this is huge. This is like the biggest acting opportunity that's come our way, you know, and you need to

go do this. This is massive. And, you know, we talked about saying no to that. that. And we, you know, we've just talked, we talk about everything that comes our way as a family and does that serve us now. How does that affect the kids? How does it affect our marriage? That, that matters too. You were doing stuff in WWE up until two years ago, I guess. Are you still under contract there? I am not. I am currently a free agent. I have a great relationship with WWE. I, I, I, uh, I treasured my time there. Um, I feel like there's, there's more, there's other opportunities

that have presented themselves. And like I just, I feel, I feel the motivation right now to kind of explore and explore what else is out there and explore myself. But my, my relationship with WGB isn't changed. I have so many friends there. And I appreciate and I enjoy the product as I always have. And I just, I love, you know, I love NXT. I have a special place in my heart for NXT, of course, and just the system and seeing

young people come up and go through that excitement of like developing. themselves for the big time. So I just, I love, I love WBO as well. So is this, when you're talking about opportunities that are available out there, are we talking wrestling opportunities? Are we talking everything else you have going on? Everything else. And wrestling opportunities in there too. You know, I, I haven't closed the door on the thought of offering maybe a wrestling school or, you know, offering what myself and my husband have so many years of television experience. And, you know, we can teach top wrist locks and such. But there's a difference in teaching, working for, you know, cameras and, and promos and, and even just creating a story that's compelling and leaves

people talking about it and wanting to come back for more. The storytelling nuances of the business, I feel like we have a lot to share and teach. So if the career was driven by wrestling, you know, the whole time since you took your first bump to now, what drives you career-wise now? I think happiness and excitement and putting some good in the world. Like I loved the, like my sole motivation for getting into wrestling was like, I was a wrestling fan. I loved Brett and Owen. Like, I was a fan. And watching those matches, I just knew there was some magic that was happening when I was watching that, watching their matches, watching their story

develop that made me feel so happy and excited when maybe like things in my home life weren't great. It was more than a distraction. It was just kind of like, I don't know. It brought happiness into my household and into my world when I was a kid that was struggling. So I knew I wanted to do that. Like, I wanted to bring happiness to others or just, you know, excitement or entertainment to others the way I experienced. Yeah. I'm fascinated by how certain moments can shape our life and how you winning a coloring contest meant that you got to go to your very first WWE show. Do you remember seeing that page in the newspaper and being like, I need to win this thing? Oh, 100%. You know, I, you know, back then it was, you know, print newspapers. This is archaic

for our for our gen zers like the news used to come we used to scroll on newspaper um but yeah i remember it there and just having my mind blown because you know wrestling wasn't in the newspaper a whole lot so i i saw that it was undertaker and paul bearer and i just to me a kid that we didn't we couldn't afford we didn't have the finances to buy tickets to a wf show at that time um so uh it to me it was a window of opportunity. That was my chance to take the financial part of ACS accessibility to get to that show. And once it happened for me, I was like, oh, my God, now I can see if in person, if it is everything that I feel when I'm watching it on the screen. So where did it go from there? Where did it go from, I'm here, it's right in front of me, I'm watching this, to I think I can do that. You know, I always just, it was the wild and crazy dream that I had from the time I was little.

But I think it was WrestleMania 10 seeing Brett versus Owen where I was like, I don't, I was just so stunned by the performance and the emotional aspect. It felt so real to me. Like these characters weren't just characters to me. They were, like they literally are brothers. And whatever magic they created in the ring together was a light bulb moment for me that like, I got to figure out. how to do this. I don't know anyone in the business. I live in a tiny little town, Elmira, New York. You know, I don't, I have no access to anything. I've never been even out of my town. Like, how am I going to do this? There's no manual written on it. I don't, you know,

I had no contacts. Um, but I just, I had to figure out little by little how that was done. That was just, it was, it was a light bulb. But at that time, there wasn't really this precedent that have been said. Like, the word gets thrown around for you all the time, Trailblazer, right? And you absolutely are that. But when you were watching wrestling at that time, there weren't people like you that were just going in there and kicking ass. It was a completely different era. But there was, there was a Lundra Blaze. There was Bolmecano. There was Heidi Lee Morgan. There was Leilani Kai. There was a few, there was Sherry Martel. There was a few, very small, tiny little, incredible group of women that were doing things that, like, I couldn't, like, I couldn't wrap my head around at that time.

I was just telling my husband because Medusa, Deb Olander Blaze, had seen the motorcycle, we have the motorcycle here in the back of my Instagram video. And she wrote a little thing, wait, whose motorcycle is that? And I was like, Deb, will you come up here and teach me to ride the motorcycle? And I said, Adam, I used to have her poster on my wall sitting on a pink motorcycle. Like, it was from WWF magazine. And I was, I remember looking at that picture and being like, she's doing what the men are doing, but she's making it her own. She's making it girly.

She's making it womanly. And I just, I was like, okay, like, I can do that. Like she was somebody, and Bill McConnell, their matches together were just, they hold up today. Absolutely. They put the idea in my head that I wasn't going to be limited by being a female in this really male-dominated sport. Where did you start to see it shifting and changing and I guess be more receptive to, it was the Divas era at that time, but be more receptive to the in-ring work? Oh, it was definitely the, I guess we coined it the golden era, Trish, Victoria, Lita, jazz. And there was a little bit of that in ECW. We were seeing the women being much more physical, like a jazz appearing in ECW. And I was like, who is this woman? And then, you know, when we saw Fit Finley come on this, come on this.

scene and as a producer behind the scenes. And at the time, like WWF or WB, excuse me, had released some divas videos, you know, and there was a lot of juxtaposition of the women as these sex symbols, which was the brand, these beautiful sexy women. And then on the other end, they were being coached and trained to become these incredible performers. And, you know, fit was the most, he was such an integral part of that. And he was such an integral part of that. And he was such a big proponent of it doesn't matter what we're given tonight. If it's, you know, if it's something that's really sexualized, like you're going to have a gravy bowl match. We're going to make it competitive. And we're going to make it something that the audience can't

take their eyes off of because it's physical and competitive, not because you guys are in brown panties because that was part of it. Was it the idea of like making the best of what we've got? 100%. Making chicken salad all the time. And when I, when I was full time, there was a lot of that because our time was very limited. The brand was a certain brand. They rebranded us with a pink title. We were really being marketed toward young women and still, and I think they were kind of starting to get away from the real sexualization, the male 18 to 25 or 30 audience that we were really driving toward and then gently stepping toward PG where even the costuming was being reflected. Like they were changing what they wanted us to wear because

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Timeline.com slash insight. When you debuted or had your singles debut and you break your jaw on this match, are you just like, no, I've worked so hard

and now I'm injured? Oh, heck yeah. It's like, it's pretty much worst case scenario. And I felt my whole world crumble all around me. And, you know, I go in the ambulance and they did the x-ray and they're like, oh my God, your jaw shattered. Do you need surgery? I went to a UPMC in Pittsburgh where this was Monday night on Raw. And they couldn't get me into surgery until Wednesday after noon. So I had to sit in a hospital bed for essentially two full days,

just thinking about how my life is, I've ruined everything. Like, I've sacrificed everything. At that time, I really hadn't had a chance to start making any money. Like my family, like put my family second, like everything. My whole life, I had put all my eggs in the basket of wrestling and it blew up right in front of me. And I, this was my moment. I'm standing beside Tristratus, you know, and I'm working with Mickey James and everything crashed. And two people called me in the hospital that, like, really, I really, really remember so, so much. And one was Stephanie McMahon to check on me and, you know, just extend her, her remorse for what happened and give me a pep talk that, you know, you can do this, you can come back from this. And the other was Howard Finkel. And Howard was so sweet. And he, he recounted how

he remembered me coming in as an extra and how this was my dream. And he goes, I remember you, you know, wanting to do this for the last three years, driving all over the place as an extra, and he goes, don't give up. And he said, he said, it feels terrible now, but he told me, don't give up. And in, in that really dark moment for me, like, I am so grateful that I got those two phone calls, but particularly Howard, who it was a very special call. Did you think there'd be another opportunity? Like, once you got healed up? You know, I had doubts, but I guess in my heart of hearts, I was like, I got to figure this out. And I actually had, there was a crazy thing that happened to me. So when I, when I got, I thought initially, oh, I'm on raw. I'm officially on raw. Once I get the clearance, because

they told me about two months with the broken jaw, once I got the clearance, I'm right back where I started. And I thought I was going to be plugged right back in and, you know, be off to the races. Well, those two months came and went. I got cleared and I'm back in the developmental system. And I wasn't plugged back in. The, the machine had moved on. And they didn't have room for me. And maybe they look at me like injury prone now. So I guess like month after month started rolling and I was like, oh my God, I got to get myself back over. Like what I, the work, all the prior work I had done was kind of erased. And now I've got to get myself back over. So that's where I went back to the drawing board. And I was like, I need to create a character. I can't just be Beth

Phoenix, blonde girl. I have to create something that they don't have right now. And that's where the glamazon came from. So I was like, I'm going to start working and, um, I'm going to start presenting myself like I feel inside, like the person that I know I am, rather than trying to jam myself a square peg into a round hole of being, you know, the next Trish Stratus, which nobody can be the next Trish. Trish is Trish. And that's what made you stand out. Well, and that's what I learned, too, was I had to look at the landscape and be like, what do they not have?

Well, they don't have a powerhouse right now. I can do that stuff. And I don't, and I felt excited because that was stuff I was doing on the independence. But when I came to OVW, I felt like I really need to pull back on that because I needed to look, I needed to present myself more on brand of being like this, you know, beautiful diva and emphasize that, not my strength. Did Victoria feel awful? It was a slap that led to your jawbreaking. Oh, it was absolutely. She felt horrible.

And it was not her fault. It was literally that I had my mouth slightly open. It was my fault. When you take a hit to the face, you're supposed to. your jaw so that you that doesn't happen and I was standing there probably because it was my first match and I was stunned and and just pure ignorance. I had my mouth slightly open and boom. And yeah, she felt terrible. She still, she still feels terrible about it and she shouldn't. I love her to death. She's maybe one of the kindest women in this business. Next to you maybe.

She sets the standard really high. I'm always shooting for it. What did the conversation look like when they told you you're going to be in the men's Royal Rumble? So that was a private conversation between myself and Dean Malenko. He pulled me aside, and he at that time was putting together the men's royal rumble. And again, like China was a huge influence of mine. Glamazon was pretty much China 2.0. And that's what I was modeling it after. I felt like we needed a new, you know, strong woman in the group.

And so to be able to be like her, you know, the successor to her in that particular moment, was just, it was mind-blowing because it was very sentimental to me and special to me because of her. But also, it was this incredible gift that I kept so guarded because Dean had told me this, like about five or six weeks out. So I was given this secret. And Dean said, look, we pitched this. Everybody likes it. It's dependent on you keeping this secret. So if it had leaked before, like they basically weren't going to do it. I did not even tell. my parents. I told no one. I did not tell Natty. And I tell Natty everything. And I just, I was carrying this around like this golden goose. And it was such a sigh of relief when I walked up

to gorilla and I got to like look around me like, okay, they know now. I can like, but right, you know, when they were on number five or whatever and I was number six before they hit the, hit the music. But it was, it was one of the most outstanding moments of my life to be able to be a part of that page in history, you know, opening more doors for the women. And it was so much fun. It was so much fun. I've never experienced a crowd reaction like that. But it's not just being in the match. It's then eliminating the guy who looks like you can't even eliminate him. Oh, yeah. They definitely set me up for success and put me in there with Kali who, you know, that moment of getting to stand toe to tote with him and be fearless. Whereas inside I was just like, it was an out-of-body

experience. That's all, that's the only way I can ever describe that moment. It was just so intensely emotional that I felt like I was floating. And it's a great moment because it makes Collie look massive, right? Next to you. Yes. And you eliminating him makes you look like such a star. It really was. It was a moment that I knew like, you know, in wrestling, it's a fleeting, a fleeting part of the history book we have, right? We're only there so long. It moves on fast. And the next generations that come bring so much more to the table than we did, right? But I knew in that little moment, I was like, no matter what, nobody can take this special, special moment for me. It's what I wanted to do here. I wanted to have these moments. I wanted to be a successor from these

stars that I looked up to. And to me, in that moment, I did it. And if it all ended, ended the following day, I would have been okay with that. And then when they end up having a women's Royal Rumble, you then make this record of like, the only person enter the women's men's Royal Rumble and the Women's Royal Rumble. Well, now Naya Jaxe joins me in that as well. But you were the first. Well, you know, again, I, I debated with myself whether or not I was even, they had asked me to do the Women's Roll Rumble and I was like, Adam was getting ready for his return. It was just a really, it was a lot of stuff going on. So for me to make like that in ring return in that moment, I was, I had a lot of self-doubt. But again, like, I just, once I walked out there and I saw how excited people were for me to face off with Naya

and the crowd reaction, again, it just takes you to a different place where you can do things you can't do in your normal life. Like, I'll bend over to, like, pick up a backpack and hurt my back. But for some reason, I can pick up Naya Jackson from 40,000 people. You know, it's just, there's some magic to it. And that's why we're, that's why myself, I can't speak for others, but that's why I'm, I've been chasing that feeling for many, many years. When you went back for that women's Royal Rumble, you're now at a point in your career where a lot of people in the locker room are going, I got into this because of you. Oh, so, you know, that is an outstanding feeling that's so special.

And, you know, when I retired in 2012, retired the first time, when I left in 2012 to have the kids, you know, I was really disillusioned. I felt super frustrated. It was like, it was at a pocket where things for the women were really just stressed out, strung out. It wasn't great. We were, we really wanted more. and that need wasn't being met. I feel like even the audience was frustrated at that point. That's the give divas a chance kind of, you know,

was birthed from that very shortly thereafter. But I found that, sorry, Chris, remember me the question again? So all these people that were inspired by you. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. So like when I had left at that point, I was bummed. I was sad. I almost wanted to like never watch wrestling again. And Adam told me he said, you know,

one day, he said, it's not going to be now, but in a few years, he's like, you're going to see your impact. It's just not now. And I was like, ah, I didn't matter. You know, I was barely there. I barely was on the show. Like, I just, I was really being in my own head. And then, you know, getting to come back and I got to work WrestleMania with like Sasha and Bailey and tiptoe in the locker room a little bit and meet Becky. And have all those girls, like, tell me how much they appreciated the women fighting so hard during the lean times because they knew. You could watch the product and knew, like, you've got these talents and girls, we're frustrated. We don't want to go out there and have a 30-second match. We wanted more. And, you know, lo and behold, the audience could tell. The audience knew we weren't,

like, I just want to phone it in tonight and do a one-minute match, you know, like, they knew we wanted more. And they knew. We just didn't really have the voice yet to say it. And it was so special to me to even have been a part of the big movement to like just, you know, make a better landscape for the women. And where did that really start from? Where did the give div is a chance? Just the better landscape because we're feeling it now as a result of, you know, the times not being so good tennis years ago. Yeah. And I think culture helped. Like, I think, you know, there was just a movement to see women in media treated better.

I mean, across the board. But just like, you know, even being paid. more equitably with men. And I just think our culture was ready for it. Our audience was ready for it. And I think that you had the group of girls that were ready to, the audience was ready to hear the voice too. The women were always ready to say it. Yeah.

We were ready to say it. And the only way we could speak previously was our performances, you know. And when you had Trish having a TV, Trish versus Leader having that first, you know, Monday night raw main event, that was their voice. That was them saying, we're ready. We want more. And we want change. And so then we started actually saying those words on social media and the microphone. Social media help too because girls could go on their own and be their own brand and speak up and be like we need more.

The audience needs more. Where did you come up with the idea that you want to be paired with Santino? Okay. So I kind of had my run as the glamazon, the big, big dragon to be slayed. And then the dragon was slayed. You know, I was beaten. And after the dragon gets beat the first time, you got to reinvent a little bit. I found myself, like, in catering a lot. And I found myself not really being used on television. I was like, oh, my God, they're moving on for me. I'm done. My character's done. What now?

And so my thought was like, okay, what have I not done? I was like, I haven't been paired. I could be a valet or a manager, but that kind of doesn't make sense for this, like, big, tough character I've created. and Santina was just on the cusp of kind of some of the finding some comedic beats. He was no longer, you know, the Boris Alexia of tough, tough guy. He was, he was kind of, you know, doing the unibrow and like, you know, finding some comedic beats. And I'm like, I had seen the Eddie Murphy movie, Norbit. I don't, it's a, it's a, it's vintage. But the whole premise is this, you know, big, mean girlfriend and this kind of like wimpy, like, almost like abused boyfriend.

And so I wrote up a one-page pitch, and I walked into Vince's office, and I said, Vince, I have this idea. I didn't even tell Santino. So I was just kind of hoping and praying that he'd be okay with it. And I handed him the paper, and I said, Vince, if you could just take a look at this, I made sure it was concise. And the next week, Vince came up and found me. He goes, we're going with your idea. And it starts tonight. And I was like, oh, my God.

First I was like, it was that easy. It wasn't that easy. It was a lot of stars aligned. but I found a place on the show that was independent of what was going on with the women's title because really that was the only spot for the girls to be on every week or a valet. And if I wasn't the contender and I wasn't the champ, what could I be doing? And so Santino and I kind of started building this little alliance and relationship and it ended up going off the rails. It was magic.

It was super special. I think like I was very good at being the straight man. and he was very good at just doing everything he could in his power to make me crack. And, you know, other than, like, my wonderful time I got to spend with Natty as my tag partner and, you know, the Royal Rumbles. And my time with Santina was by far my favorite, favorite memories from WW. How often do you get you to break character? Oh, my God, it's terrible. The worst, so, like, I was, it was terrible.

But the worst was when he was trying to do Molina's entrance on the apron. And he would not tell me any of the stuff that he'd be. saying or yelling. He'd make sure he kept that close to the vest to just try to make me laugh. And he tried just to do the split. And then he falls off and takes this huge bump. And he's got his feet in the air and they're like shaking like he's being electrocuted. And I'm going to him like, I'm consoling him. And he goes, my meatballs. And he's just yelling about his meatballs. And I'm like, you can just see me like cover my face like this. I'm like, oh my God. And that's how it was every week. And we had so much fun. And the audience absolutely had fun with us. Like they just

just loved that dynamic of me trying to be the spoiler, the ruiner, and him always trying to push boundaries. He was like a naughty kid. Even after your characters broke up, it was still fun. It was still entertaining because he's still so in love with you. Oh, he was funny. We just, like I said, we went off the rails quite a bit with that story. But we had such a good rapport backstage too. He's just a wonderful person. We've always got along. And he was somebody that came up and worked his butt off and very similarly similarly to me kind of somebody that was oh you know we don't know if you have fit the bright mold and and he he just busted through that ceiling and no matter what roadblock was put in front of him he found a way around it and became such a memorable character i feel like he

deserves a spot on the w w w w w w w holl of pha pha man oh a hundred percent and i will be front row no you'll be inducting i would hope so when we talk about how wrestling retirements are never final When Adam retired with his injury, did you think there'd ever be a chance we'd be seeing him back in the ring? No, no, no. So the original retirement in 2011, I left WWE. My contract expired in 2012. And like literally the next, I think it was like five, six days later, I was going with him right back to UPMC to have his neck surgically, you know, fused. He had his second neck surgery. And we thought that was it. And I, you know, I was talking to the doctor and we were just talking. about what life looks like. And we just never looked back. We didn't really talk about it. We were just talking about maintaining health and family. And then at that point, he had been doing

a little bit with Haven, the sci-fi show, that he had had a guest spot on. And they liked him so much, they kept bringing him back. And so then after he recovered from that next surgery, we were like having a serious conversation, like, I think, I think you want to go all in on this acting thing. Like, you're great at it. Everybody likes you. You know, when you show up for a guest spot, you end up being a full-time character. So, So that's what we did. We got his agent in Toronto, his manager, and then we just put all our eggs in the acting basket. So there was never a point where I was like, oh, yeah, he's going to go back and have a match.

But then when did it get to a point of like, this is a, there's a possibility here? So, you know, he'll tell you the whole story. You know, he was doing the Celtic Warrior Workout show with Seamus, with Stephen, and they were mountain biking. and he had a terrible fall. My brother was there. My brother had the GoPro on his bike. And he had a terrible fall right over the handlebars of the bike. It was like a serious, serious fall where he ended up like basically, you know,

what is it, muscle memory, like taking a bump, like taking a wrestling bump on the, you know, on the leaves and roots of the, of Bent Creek. So Adam took this big fall and got up. And like my brother was prepared to like, you know, take him to the hospital. And he got up, he goes, I'm okay. I'm okay. The look on his face when he says that, too, like, I'm okay. I know. That's where like, that's where the spark went off. You know it did. And I think he just, he felt it and knew. And he was just getting so much feedback over the years. If he went to a signing or if wrestling fans saw

him, they're like, you look great. Why can't you wrestle? And there's one more match. You can do it. Everybody does it. And so then he started exploring that. And, you know, I was really, you know, hesitant in the beginning, but I'm like, well, if you get the proper medical clearance and you, you know, and you, if they say it's okay, if I'm no doctor, if the doctor says it's okay. And, you know, and then I see you okay. And we don't see those symptoms again that you were having, then, you know, then I'm, of course I'm here to support you. But every time he wrestled after that, was there a party that's like, oh, man, like the worst could happen here? It took me, It took me a long time to be okay with it. And I mean, by okay with it, I mean like not having a panic attack. And, you know, I had the WB medical on speed dial. Like they would call me and text me as soon as he got done or if something, you know, he took a big bump. They would just text me and let me know because I wasn't all. But in the beginning, I was going to the matches. I wanted to be there. Like not that I could do anything, but I just was, it really was nervous. And he needed the support too. So we were just kind of like walking through that.

that new path together. We didn't know what that was going to look like. But yeah, I was super, super, super anxious for a long time. How did you becoming a commentator even fall into the story of yours? So it was my Hall of Fame speech. So, you know, being given the limited amount of time. And I think, like, I think I was so, that was, you know, I was very confident in my wrestling, very confident in my wrestling.

But my promo work when I was full time with WWE, my promo work was weak. And being given the opportunities that I had to speak, I could speak. You know, I could get from A to Z. But I think I was missing a big component of like emotion. And for whatever reason, the creatives didn't give me a lot of microphone time. And I think it was just because they thought I was weak. And I admit that I was. So when I had my Hall of Fame speech, I thought that.

the last appearance in WW. I'll never be seen again. Hall of Fame is your sendoff, right? So I had, it was to me, all bets are off. And I was like, I am going to pour my guts out into this speech. It is my, what are they going to do? Fire me? They can't. This is my Hall of Fame. So I poured my guts out in that Hall of Fame speech. And Michael Cole saw that. And he was like, we want to try you as maybe a voice. And I was like, okay. So then they gave me like a little opportunity to be on the panels, the pay-per-view panels. And I, I did a little bit of learning and talking on those. And then they would put me, I did the mixed match challenge. And I think, because it was a very brief show, and they always set me up to

succeed. Michael Cole, Corey, Nigel, Marrow, everybody that, you know, Vic and Wade, everybody that I worked with on the commentary end of things, Tom Phillips, and I know I'm missing the tons of people that poured into me. They set me up to succeed. And I grew. and grew as a commentary and I really enjoyed it. Like by the time it was me, Wick and Vic, excuse me, me, Vic and Wade at NXT. I felt like I really hit a groove and I was having a lot of fun. I felt like the audience kind of saw me as like a fun like regular character that was like comfortable. And so they, you know, they, they enjoyed my voice. And we got into a good groove. But what happened was it was hard on the kids for me to go every week. And then

when Adam was traveling too, now you've got both parents on the road a lot. And they were home with, we had wonderful child care, but it just was hard on them. So the weekly schedule wasn't going to work. So that's why I ended up. It looked like you and Adam were having so much fun together with the Judgment Day stuff and everything around that. Oh my gosh. It was just such a simple story. Like the I quit match. There's a crazy story behind the I quit match, honestly. So Adam was, of course, Percy Jackson filming was booked right, it was budded right up to the pay-per-view, the I-quit pay-per-view that was, or excuse me, the I-quit match that was in Philadelphia on pay-per-view. And so Adam had to fly all the way from Vancouver to Philadelphia overnight, basically, not sleep, and then have a 40-minute match with Finn Baller, which was, you know, an I-quit match was, which is not always the easiest. type of a match. So we were sitting and talking about that and he's like, I don't know, maybe I

I can't do Percy Jackson. We were like looking at it again, like weighing all the options. How do we do this? And I was like, you know, like, you can use me if you want. Like it may be using myself as a part of this story in this moment could help alleviate some of the stress on how to book this finish. Right. And so the I quit match like was crazy. I flew his gear. his, you know, everything that he needed for the match. I flew it from Asheville to Philadelphia and met him at 11 o'clock in the morning, pay-per-view day, after he had been filming Percy Jackson for like two weeks and charter flight straight to Philadelphia. Basically, he laid down in the hotel for about 30 minutes and then we had to go to the building and then put this whole thing together. And there was a lot of moving parts in this match. Like you had everybody, all judgment day was out there. Like it was just chaos and fun and crazy. And, but I was super excited because, you know, I'd watched Ria come up and I was just super excited, even if that was all we did. I just wanted the opportunity to like kind of get in there with, with her and, and, uh,

and get to be face to face. Ria gave you a concerto. He did. And again, they had never done that to a woman before. So that was really, we, we were like, are they going to let us do this? Like, it's a, it's a violent, violent thing to see. And it's a violent thing to see a woman doing it to another woman. So we just, there was just so much Shakespeare in that, in the ending of that match,

that it was just beautifully orchestrated and everybody played their role perfectly. But there was like something, there's a couple funny hitches. Like I was so nervous and I'm out of practice and they're all like, you know, on their game because they get so many reps and they're just doing wonderfully. And then my job was, of course, involving handcuffs, which, you know, anytime you have a prop, like the handcuffs can go wrong in so many ways. They're just, you know, they don't latch or they break or the key goes missing. So getting the key from Maria was a portion of this finish.

And then I had to unchain Adam from the handcuffs because he was handcuffed to the ropes. Well, of course, I'm so nervous. I grabbed the handcuffs and I'm trying to open the wrong handcuff, the one that's on the rope. And he's just like, what are you doing? He's like, grab the other handcuff on my wrist. Free me, free me, free me, free me. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm so sorry. So like it was just chaos.

But in the end, it was just so much fun. And I remember coming to the back and we all just kind of really. like reveling in the crowd reactions and just being like, you know, that's the story we told is what we wanted to tell. Like that, that played out as beautifully and as perfectly as it could. And it was really fun. It was great, great bad guy work. Great good guy work. There's an entrance where Adam slaps your ass and you look at him like, this is not the place or the time for that. Well, again, like I'm trying to play this character. I'm so tough and stoic. And it was funny because I feel like that went a little viral.

Yeah. And I think it went viral because, like, I feel like it's so relatable to so many people. Like, I think a lot of husbands, boyfriends, spouses do that to their, to their girl a lot. I do it all the time to my life. Yeah, I know, like, we're just staying there. We get, like, a little drive-by. Like, what is that, you know? So I think, like, it was just so relatable.

And also, Adam looking like, he's just trying to be naughty. He was just, like, being a bad doggy in that moment. I hear he's the rated R superstar. He does come with that moniker, yes. So sometimes I do have to put up with it. You nose to nose with Randy Orton is such a great moment. Oh, yeah. Because I don't think that in this era of WWE, anybody thought that he was going to give you an RKO.

Yeah. Again, like, it was one of those, like, if I think of my career highlights, that's absolutely up there. It was the main event of Raw again. And I've been in that in that spot a couple of times and they're so special to me. that the other one was tagging with Santina against John Sina and Trish, which was, you know, again, amazing moment for me because I got to meet him at Ro. But that moment with Randy was, there were so many emotions running deep in there. And also, he's an intimidating guy in person.

Like if you're just sitting with Randy and talking, like he's got an aura, as the kids say, an aura. But Randy Orton in the ring might be one of the most terrifying humans I've ever been opposite. Like, he just has such power. Like, he's a powerful, frightening character. And real Randy Orton backstage is totally hidden deep inside. And Randy Orton, the legend killer in front of you, is just, it added an element of fear that I could feel like I was having tremors in my body in that moment. I felt so present in that moment.

And then the audience, the crowd is chanting RKO. So, like, Randy's telling this story about, you know, he's trying to, like, kind of gaslight me and he's, and then he's making me cry. He called me a bitch. He's like just being this horrible person. Meanwhile, the audience is like, RKO. RKOR. I'm like, thanks, guys. So that, you know, but that's where in those moments you realize you're a part of that hook, that they're hooked. They are, they're, they're taken at hook line and sink. Yes. Yes. And when they got it. They all cheered, but then it got silent again. It's almost like, oh, what did we do, guys? What did we do? We wanted this. This is our fault. You know, and it was just, it was so cool to be, again, a part of that, like a real special reaction. Well, you took it so clean. You know, I didn't have a choice. No, but like he's, again, like, when I say, like, he's got that powerful aura. Also, he's just a, his preciseness in the ring as a performer is unmatched. And, you know, I could just give myself to his, you know, to his movement and his snap.

And it was just executed so well really because of him and his timing. Yeah, it was perfect. He's amazing. Speaking of giving finishers, you giving your finish to Dom? Oh, my gosh. His facials were so good. That on top of just yelling mommy at the top. Like, it's been a long time since we had somebody that was that easy to hate.

And to the point we're like, I'm like, he's going to end up a baby face just because you're like, look at this guy. Look at this. I mean, he's just, everything he does is entertaining. He's got that charisma. He's got charisma that shines. And yeah, you put him in, whatever position you put him in, he comes through. And he steps up.

And he was put in the deep fryer quite a bit in big positions, big, you know, promos and big moments on the show. And he debuted against Seth Roll. at a paper view. Yes. I mean, he's had to work his dad at WrestleMania, and that's a tough spot to be put in.

And very quickly. Like, Dom has progressed so, so well, so quickly. You know, him and Ray had a chance to come visit here and work in our ring with us together and meet our kids. And I just loved that they love Dom.

They love, like maybe a little crush on Dom. But they love Dom, they love Dom and they love Ray. And so it was awesome. to have them here. And yeah, just seeing Dom develop, like, he's the guy you'd love to hate. Like, I just want him to be at heel forever. When you look back on your career, what are, like, the top three moments that really stand out for you? Maybe it's for sentimental reasons, but what are the moments that, you know, will always stay with you? I can't rank them. But, yeah, there's a few that pop forward. Like, for sure,

the men's roll rumble. Like, that lives, that's personal and professional. Like, everything about that moment was perfect for me. But then Madison Square Garden wrestling Eve Torres for the Women's Championship where we did the super glam slam for the first time because it wasn't a time where the women were being handcuffed. And I remember we wanted to do that finish. We rehearsed it earlier in the day. And then we were just told that we don't want to do that. We're not going to do that finish. It's too dangerous. And it's not right for this match. And I took a risk in Eve took a risk. We took a risk in that. And we were like, we're doing it anyway. And we're, this is important. It's Madison Square Garden. Are you willing to get fired? Yep. I'm willing to get

fired. Let's do this. Wow. And so we took a risk and did the move. And it's definitely maybe one of my biggest highlight real moments, if not the biggest highlight real moments. It's also the arena where Brett versus Owen happened, WrestleMania 10. And so I was like, how can we not? If I'm going to go out, this is how I'm going to go out. And then my, you know, tag teaming with my husband, of course, getting to work with Mike and Maurice, getting to work with Judgment Day. You know, that was something we never thought would happen. Our kids were in the audience. It was amazing. And then honor, I have to pick four. I'm sorry. Plains. Honorable mention slash four, three and four tide is at WrestleMania. I got to tag team with Natty. Walk down the entrance way to the Heart Foundation

music and high-five Brett Hart at the top. Like, come on. Like, if you, like, you think of your favorite wrestler as a little kid. And then fast forward 25 years and tell, tell your little kid's self, oh, yeah, you're going to high-five them, walk down to their music, and it's going to be a WrestleMania, you know, with your best friend. And so, like, that, again, was like, I've had such a storybook career and life. Like, I got, I checked every box and then boxes I didn't even know existed. I've checked all those boxes for myself and I'm so proud of my career. Why was Brett your favorite? Brett, it was real. It was real. In a landscape of performances where we had larger than life characters that were colorful, what resonated with me was reality. I don't know why.

It was almost like Rocky. Like I know Rocky's fake. I know Sylvester Stallone's an actor playing Rocky Balboa, but for some reason when I'm watching those fights, it felt so real. And I had that same feeling when I was watching Brett, and Owen too, and they're a few together. There was a technique there that was very different than what everybody else was doing. And it just sucked me in. I've always wondered, what happened in the Royal Rumble match where we see blood gushing out of the back of your head? Yeah. What happened there?

Yeah. So, you know, when I had retired from wrestling, the rings, the ring post didn't have those big digital LED wraps on them. And, you know, they were a smaller post. And so I had never been, I'd never been in the new rings with all the cool technology and like all the upgrades. And I was in, this was really early after I came in. I had a little interaction with everybody. And then we kind of settled in. And I was working with Bianca a little bit. And I was sitting on the top turn buckle and Bianca and I were going back and forth or whatever. And then she gave me. you know, I'll punch the face. And I whipped my head back like that. And the back of my head hit the LED post, which was a little bit wider than what I was used to. You know, I feel like I just, you know, from not getting in the new ring and being rusty. I went, whoa, hit my head right on the edge of that. And I thought, oh, that hurt. And Bianca, to her credit, was like, are you okay? Are you okay? I'm like, I'm fine. Then I, you know, I'm working with somebody else in the Rumble, just doing my thing and I looked down and picked somebody up and I was like oh it was Charlotte actually I was like

Charlotte you're bleeding and she was just like no it's you dude and I'm like what because it was all in the back and I didn't see it and then I looked down and I saw the blood dripping and I'm like oh my god like I think I'm bleeding I don't I don't even know from where and then I touched the back on my head and I was like oh no and so I was I was in the rumble a good long while and you know a part of the whole story. So I was like, I was talking to the doctors there and they're like, are you okay? Are you dizzy or anything? I'm like, nope, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I was like, please can I stay? I was afraid they were going to pull me because of the injury. But they let me stay. And so, yeah, so I just stuck it out. And it made for like this badass warrior-looking performance that was just really me misjudging the ring post. But it turned out, it turned out great. And luckily, it was just a few staples in the back of the head. But immediately, as soon as you get to the back, staple your head up.

Oh, yeah, and everybody was so worried. And here's the crazy part. So, like, again, I was not even sure I should do the Royal Rumble because it was Adam's return. Like, I was there for his support, not to have my own performance. And then here I get my head split open. And he's watching from the back about to have his return after nine years. And then, like, he's worried about me.

And I'm like, I'm sorry. I just didn't, I just didn't want to add stress to the day. I'm so sorry. Just like, but you know, that's like the risks we take every time we get in the ring. Like you can't predict things to go smoothly. Fortunately, our children weren't there because I feel like that would have been kind of. And our littlest was like two or three. I would not want to want her to see that.

Maybe this is the explanation for the look on his face when he returns and he's like, bewildered. Maybe he's like, I hope Beth is okay. Possibly. Well, by that point, I had already been stapled and showered. So I saw him right before. So your hair is blonde again. It was blonde again.

Not red. I'd seen Dolph Ziegler, and he actually was just like, dude, I thought, I said, I thought you had like red extensions in the back. I was like, he's like, you look like Rick Flair. I was like, thanks. Thanks, I think. I think. I was surprised to find out that you're now the voice of Adam's entrance theme.

Yes, a little, you know. A little Easter egg. Little Easter egg, right? You know, WW owned the female's voice that was in his original song that you think you know me, and she was a model that had done work for his original vignettes in like the late 90s. And so, like, rather than track her down, and we couldn't take the voice recording with us from WWE, obviously, he's like, well, why don't have Beth do it? And I'm like, I can't do that.

I have, like, this hideous, like, Western New York accent. Like, I don't sound anything like this girl. Like, the fans are going to revolt. And so, like, we did a few takes of, like, me just. trying to do it like she did it and, you know, tweaking it a little bit, you think you know him, so it's slightly different. And then we just got to a point where like, it is what it is. I think you can totally tell it's me. But yeah, so he tucked it in there. And I think it made him feel like, oh, mom, you know, she's with me. I think the people that do know, we're like,

oh, that's great. I love the tie-in. The people that don't know, we talked about in the interview with Adam. I think they're like, oh, cool. Now it makes sense. Yeah, she's lurking. She's in there. But, yeah, if you listen carefully, you can still hear the Buffalo. I grew up not far from Adams. I grew up in Pickering. He grew up in Orangeville. Yeah. But I got the stations of where you grew up.

Like, I got the Fox station. Yes. So, like, I grew up watching a lot of Salino and Barnes commercials. Selino and Barnes. Have you been injured in an auto accident? Yes. Salino and Barnes are legends in Western New York. Yes.

RIP. Yes. One of them has passed. And I didn't know this growing up in Canada, but we just got a lot of lot of Salino and Barnes commercials. Yes, legends. We still, myself and my college friends still drop some Salina and Barnes references. I feel like I just had to throw that in there. I appreciate that. Nobody else will get a. No, that hits me right here. You'd be surprised. Fox 29? Fox 29, yes. Wow. I can't believe I remembered that. Yes. When you think back on the mark that you've left on wrestling,

what do you really feel is your legacy? Well, you know, I was talking to Medusa actually recently, And she was telling me, you know, I know Medusa would have loved to have to get in there more with the current day girls. But she had said to me, like, the reason that she did the thing she did was to clear a path, make things better for the next generation, right? It's really not about you. It's about progress. And I think I really see that because I have little girls. And, you know, we're handing the baton to the next generation for them to then hand the baton to my kids, you know? So I'm so proud that I could be like one of the little, you know, stop gaps along the way.

And we're who we are and get to play these characters and in our prime for such a short, brief amount of time that it was a magical thing I hold in my heart, you know, with such reverence. I loved my time. And it'll never be that again. It'll never be like that again. It'll never be the first, you know, whatever. So I'm just proud to have been a stopgap and proud to if I influenced anybody or made somebody, you know, feel more confident in themselves because they saw this, you know, strong woman kind of owning it and owning, you know, being a big girl at a time that maybe that wasn't kind of the jam. I'm really proud of that. And I hope that today's girls have a better playing field because of the generations prior.

and so thus my kids will enjoy, you know, the new better world for women that it's becoming. You have a pin post on Instagram and it's a quote. Do you know it off by heart? Yeah. Make sure you come back as a whole damn fire. Like if you fall down, yeah. Yeah, yes. If your flame goes out, make sure you come back as a whole damn fire. It's okay if you fall down and lose your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you do, you rise as a whole damn fire. Yes. I thought it was.

very phoenixy, but also like very relevant in my life as well. Like, you know, there's so many more ups and downs than just wrestling. Like, life is hard. You know, my, my husband and I experienced losing a parent, like right close to one another. There's just, life is full of challenges. And I think it's great to be there for one another and, you know, find community and support each other. And the wrestling community, we're a community. Like, we get into this, you know, we get really invested in these characters and helps us form connections. Like, I have a group of wrestling fans that I now consider friends that met each other because they were fans of mine. And now they're friends for each other. And they're a group together. And they stay connected and

support one another. And I think that it's neat that this wacky job we do jumping around in spandex can can just affect people so much. And it's the little things. And I, you know that better than anybody. It's the little things that are part of your performance or the little things that are part of each match that can have a massive impact on somebody who's watching. 100%. And I think without being like that old wrestler that's giving advice to new wrestlers, like, please bestow it upon us. There we go back in my day. No, no. I would say, you know, the most important thing you can do as a performer is take a second here and there to look at those people, look at the audience.

And I'm saying like, you know, not just technology, but we have a barrier. And sometimes it comes from a lack of confidence, a lack of like, oh, no, if I look in someone's eyes, there's a transparency there. Like, I can't hide. I can't keep my head down and keep moving, moving, moving, you know, like the movement's important. The movement's a part of the story. But when you look at the audience and look at people, that's where the magical connection is. That's where you really bring them into the story you're telling with your body. Do you have a favorite edge slash Adam Copeland match? Um, I mean, I would say the ones with me in it. No. What an answer. No.

I mean, he has so, I mean, selfishly, I love his match with Owen because he's told me his match with Owen Hart. He's told me the story behind it. So now that I'm more, you know, educated in the world of Adam Copeland, he was just telling me that they had this match. And it was at a time in Owen's career where he was feeling a little frustrated where, you know, was more emphasis on character and gimmicks. And here was Owen, this really great, brilliant mat wrestler. And after his match with Owen, Adam said that Owen told him, I had so much fun because I actually got to wrestle, which is what he really enjoyed. And he loved wrestling. And so I think that's really cool because I was like, oh, you know, you had this. And Adam felt so proud of that too that he got to like kind of give Owen like this real competitive match at a time where maybe he was struggling to see where he fit in in the landscape.

I love that. Just two good old Canadian boys. Right. Oh, yeah. There was maple syrup flowing just everywhere. Thank you for this great conversation. Oh, this is so sweet. I've been wanting to look to have a conversation with you for so long, so glad we met this.

Oh, this was so much fun. Yeah, it's great to reminisce. And yeah, I just, I enjoyed being able to chat and, you know, bring up some, some friends from my past. Like, it's great to talk about Santino, you know, get to talk about them much and some moments that really make me happy. It's also great to hear what you're doing now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, lots of stuff moving forward. I mean, I've got a lot of side gigs where... Do you want to talk about any of the side gigs?

I'm sure, yeah. So I've got this great opportunity coming up. I'm starting a retreat business with my friend Casey Kirsten here. Where it's called Mountain to Sea Retreats. And we are specializing in continuing ed, offering continuing ed for professionals. So like our first retreat is going to be for veterinarians, where we'll offer continuing ed some mental health training as well as some holistic offerings. I'll be teaching yoga.

and doing some other things that just kind of leave you inspired and feeling good. And we're doing them in great exotic destinations, our first ones in Costa Rica. Oh, wow. So you'll be seeing and hearing much more of that in 2025. So anybody that's listening to this or watching this, they'll be able to go if they want. Oh, yeah. Okay. We'll be, yep.

And we will be offering different, like the veterinary retreat is catered to, like, getting your hours in for continuing education. but in the future we'll be offering just wellness retreats that anybody can sign it for. And to bring it back full circle, thank you again for creating the code here, CVV for anybody who wants to grab a pure plank and get as shredded as Beth Phoenix. You know. I want to see the picks. I want to see the picks and the transformations because we just love getting feedback. So go pureplank.com.

CVV's the code. I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's such a huge part of my life. Beth, what are three things in your life you're grateful for? I'm grateful for my family, my children, number one, and all those wonderful people around me. I'm grateful for my health. And I'm grateful for time to have, you know, to have achieved and checked my boxes quite young in my life so that I believe that I have time in my life to really settle in gratitude. Time. I love that.

It's our only non-renewable resource. It is. It is. It is. It's so precious. This is it. Thank you again. Thanks for everything.

That's great. Thank you. Well, man, Beth Phoenix is just a sweetheart of a human being. Huge thank you to her and Adam for inviting us into their beautiful home to record this. And thank you to Adam for driving us back to the hotel after we did this. He did this the last time we were in Asheville and we recorded with him. And man, that's just two nice people that just happened to find each other in the world. I love it.

Will we see Beth back in the world? ring. Well, it sounds like her options are open. Her options are open. So there's a real possibility. We could see her in AEW at some point in time here, but it sounds like for now she is very happy in the important role that she has being a mom to their two girls. And also, if you're interested in checking out Pureplank, it's gopureplank.com. The code is CVV, and that's also linked up in the show notes. Snap a screenshot and tag us online. She's at the Beth Phoenix. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. I haven't done a lot of movie quotes at the end of these interviews, but I think I'm going to start peppering these in every once in a while. This one's from Ratatouille. This isn't just a great movie quote. This is

just life advice. It's so good. If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead. Who knew? We'd be getting such great advice from an animated film. Be great, be grateful. We'll see you on the next one

for some more insight. It's Ask CVV number 44 tomorrow. If you've got a question, send it on social media, leave a comment on Spotify. I always love seeing those, but we will see you tomorrow for some more insight.

Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid-fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media

about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.