WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix appeared on Chris Van Vliet’s “INSIGHT” podcast where she talked about her wrestling career, possibly wrestling again, home life, and more. Scroll down to watch the entire interview.
Beth Phoenix talking about her post-wrestling career:
“There’s only two things in life I ever wanted to be, and that was a pro wrestler and a mom. At this age, 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 my success in that and checking all my boxes. Then when I had my children, nothing mattered more to me than being a good mom and that meant putting wrestling on the back burner at times. I went back 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. That was where I was like I gotta shuffle 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 age that’s very demanding. So I am so happy in life after wrestling. Although you know, I’ve heard we’re a little bit like Hotel California. You can check out but you can never leave, so once a wrestler always a wrestler. I love my career. I love my presence and the brand and 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.”
On if she would have one more match:
“I don’t know. It’s really hard to say you’re retired. When I left in 2012, that was the word I threw around a lot, ‘I’m retired, I’m retired’, because I wanted to have a family and I knew for myself that wasn’t going to be in congruence to perform and to have kids. I needed to devote myself to the kids at that time. I give the age-old cliche answer that everybody hates, ‘Never say never’, but it really just depends on the opportunities and what suits our family. That’s really it. We weigh out everything, Adam’s opportunities too. 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. We’re like, this is huge. This is like the biggest acting opportunity that’s come our way and you need to go do this. This is massive. We talked about saying no to that. 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 matters too.”
On if she is still under contract to WWE:
“I am not. I am currently a free agent. I have a great relationship with WWE. I treasured my time there. I feel like there’s other opportunities that have presented themselves. I feel the motivation right now to kind of explore and explore what else is out there and explore myself, but my relationship with WWE hasn’t changed. I have so many friends there and I appreciate and enjoy the product as I always have. 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 developing themselves for the big time. I love WWE. I always will.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
