Diva Dirt presents its annual selection of women who have been most newsworthy and talked about in 2012. The 12 women selected have embodied the zeitgeist of the year by hitting the headlines, breaking boundaries, stopping the show, and becoming trending topics. The Diva Dirt editors and contributors have picked one woman as the Diva Dirt Woman of the Year, as well as 11 runners-up who have helped define 2012. Join us as we count down our runners-up before unveiling the Woman of the Year on December 31st.
BETH PHOENIX
#ThankYouBeth
At the onset of 2012, not many would have predicted it to be the year in which Beth Phoenix retired. She came into the year as Divas Champion, having won the belt in October, and successfully defended it against Tamina Snuka before taking part in a high profile tag team match at WrestleMania 28, teaming with Eve to take on Kelly Kelly and television personality Maria Menounos. The match gave Beth a nice chunk of publicity outside the wrestling world, appearing on Menounos’s show Extra as part of the storyline.
Beth remained Divas Champion until one fateful episode of Raw in April, where she lost the belt to Nikki Bella and simultaneously suffered an ankle injury. The injury turned out to be a part of the storyline, a way to believably end her dominating 204-day title reign.
From there Beth took a backseat in the Divas division, eventually taking some time off. Upon her return in September, she turned babyface when accused of being Kaitlyn’s blonde mystery attacker. By that time, rumors were rampant that Beth was on her way out of the WWE, and soon it became clear that she would be finishing up with the company in October.
Aligning with her retirement was the release of Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s annual “Female 50” list. As the highest-ranking Diva on the list, Beth nearly topped it, coming in at #2 behind Gail Kim. This matched her best performance in the “Female 50”, when she also came in second in 2008.
One of her last matches with the WWE gave Divas fans the bout they had been clamoring for: Beth vs. Natalya. The match turned a regular episode of SmackDown into must-watch television for Divas fans. It was a short but sweet encounter, a demonstration that sometimes the WWE is paying attention to what the fans want.
A month later on Raw, Beth wrestled AJ Lee in her last match in the WWE, being fired afterwards by Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero. With the cat out of the bag at last, Beth thanked fans for their support throughout her career and explained her reasons for leaving the WWE. She tweeted, “My family waited patiently for 10 years while I chased my dreams. I decided it was time to come home to put family first. That’s the reason.”
Fans and colleagues alike praised her achievements in wrestling, flooding Twitter with messages featuring the hashtag #ThankYouBeth. It was sudden and unexpected, but Beth’s retirement allowed what could have been a lackluster year in her career to end on a sweet note, one in which Beth finally wrestled her best friend one-on-one and garnered the cheers of a babyface for the first time in years. The Glamazon may have not left the WWE with a high profile pay per view match, but given the adoration she received from all corners, you wouldn’t know the difference.
Seeing a Diva leave is always bittersweet, but when she does so of her own accord, it’s a bit easier to swallow. Beth’s motivations for retiring are unique, in a sense: usually, when Divas retire from wrestling, they’re “moving on”, chasing other opportunities in different fields. Instead, it appears as though Beth felt that she needed to devote time to people who weren’t herself. It was a selfless move.
Retirement, especially from wrestling, is a tricky thing, and every Diva’s reason for leaving is valid in its own way. Beth’s reasons, though, are a bit grounding, reminding us that no matter how far you may go in chasing your dreams, the path might still, eventually, lead back home.
Check back tomorrow for another Women of the Year post.
More Women of the Year: Lita | Saraya Knight | Brooke Tessmacher | Jazz | Ronda Rousey
