Elizabeth Copeland

Born

1980-11-24

Birthplace

Elmira, New York, USA

Biography

Elizabeth "Beth" Kocianski Copeland is an American professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Beth Phoenix. She is best known for her time with WWE, where she is a former WWE Divas Champion and a three-time WWE Women's Champion. Beth had a successful amateur wrestling career in high school, before being trained by the All Knighters. After her debut in May 2001, she wrestled for numerous independent promotions and was the inaugural GLORY Champion. She also appeared at the inaugural Shimmer shows. In 2004, she began working for Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in October 2005. She first debuted on WWE's Raw brand in May 2006 but suffered a legitimate broken jaw the following month. As a result, she had numerous surgeries and returned to OVW for further training. While there, she twice won the OVW Women's Championship, although her second reign is not officially recognized. She returned to the Raw brand in July 2007, and was heavily pushed, dominating the other WWE Divas and gaining the nickname, "The Glamazon". She won her first WWE Women's Championship at the No Mercy pay-per-view in October and held it for six months. She then developed an on-screen relationship with Santino Marella, dubbed "Glamarella", and won the Women's Championship for a second time in August 2008, although she lost it in January 2009. In January 2010, at the Royal Rumble, she became the second woman in history to enter the Royal Rumble match and went on to win the Women's Championship for the third time in April, holding it for a month. In October 2011, Phoenix won the WWE Divas Championship for the first time and lost it in April 2012.