Phoenix's appearance sometimes gets lost in accounts of the Rumble's history. Chyna was the first woman to enter a Royal Rumble, and the most recent female entrant was Karma (best known outside WWE as Awesome Kong) in 2012. Phoenix's entry may be the equivalent of a middle child, but she made a memorable moment out of her one minute and change.
CM Punk, in his Straight Edge Society phase, was staring down the Great Khali, hoping some evangelism to his cause could save him some pain. The Indian behemoth wasn't buying it and knocked Punk flat with a slow but powerful palm strike with a platter-sized hand. As he squeezed his opponent's head between said giant hands, an unexpected surprise charged down the ramp.
(Pucker up, Buttercup. Source: WWE.com)
Nobody saw it coming when the Glamazon's music hit, but she charged down the ramp all business and once she slid through the ropes, Phoenix stared down the giant Punjabi Playboy. Khali, being a gentleman, sort of, scooped her up in his arms to gently toss her out of the ring. As she went over the top rope, Phoenix wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard on the lips, using her weight as leverage to drag him over and down to ringside, eliminating him. By then Punk had recovered.
(Beth Phoenix usually paid the bills smashing other women into oblivion rather than using feminine charms on the opposite sex, but both worked. Source: Cauliflower Alley Club)
Phoenix didn't miss a beat and immediately charged Punk, decking him with one of the most vicious clotheslines I've ever seen a woman give anyone, let alone a man. She hoisted him upon her shoulders for more, but the Straight Edge Superstar found his opening when Zack Ryder joined the fray and hit her with the GTS before eliminating her. Sure, she wasn't there long, but in that brief window she ran the gamut from using feminine guile to her trademark brutal power to make people remember she was there. The lip lock stunt with Khali was a rare thing for her. Her persona celebrated her femininity simultaneously with her strength and skill as an athlete, but mostly she stayed out of the usual storylines that involved feminine wiles as an element.
Looking back, I wish she could be in WWE now, especially in the injury-riddled women's division on Raw. Picture her as the one out to put Sasha Banks in her place, or the first to come down the ramp and challenge Bayley's claim to the #1 contender's spot.
She may be the female Superstar Billy Graham of her era. She was epitome of what WWE wants in female talent now, but she emerged a little too soon, at a time when women who could wrestle were despotic heels, we were supposed to cheer for bikini models who couldn't and the Divas were lucky to get more than five minutes to tell a story in the ring.
Next time, we will look at how the Fallout from women's action in this year's Royal Rumble will bring the Road to WrestleMania into focus.
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