Elizabeth Carolan née Kocanski (born November 24, 1980) better known by her ring name Beth Phoenix "The Glamazon", is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on the Raw brand, where she is in her second reign as WWE Women's Champion.

Amateur wrestling

Carolan began wrestling on the Elmira, New York Notre Dame High School scholastic wrestling team. She was the first female varsity wrestler in her high school's history. She became the North-East freestyle women's champion (72 kg weight class) in 1999. She also became the women's champion (72 kg weight class) at the New York State Fair Tournament in 1999 and was named the most outstanding wrestler that same year in the Brockport Freestyle Tournament. At the time she was also a member of USA Wrestling (a freestyle wrestling association). Her life goal was, according to her, to become a professional wrestler and she believed that having a solid amateur background would help her reach it.

Professional wrestling career

After graduating from high school in 1999, she enrolled in both a professional wrestling school and Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. Her first choice for wrestling school was Stu Hart's Dungeon, but because of the location she decided on a more local school. At the school, she was trained by the "All Knighters"--Joey Knight and Robin Knightwing, who themselves had trained in the Hart Dungeon. Her professional wrestling debut match was against Alexis Laree (who would go on to be Phoenix's main rival under her real name of Mickie James), and she made the rounds competing with various independent promotions against both male and female wrestlers. In one match against Lexis Wine for the now defunct MadMar Entertainment, her back was accidentally cut open by a steel chair.

Ohio Valley Wrestling

Phoenix debuted on Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) television in July 2004 as the on-screen girlfriend and valet of Chris Masters. The angle was short lived, and the following month Phoenix was repackaged as the manager of Aaron "The Idol" Stevens. The duo was then joined by Shelly Martinez who Beth soon feuded with in early 2006. Phoenix then stopped appearing regularly on OVW after debuting on WWE's Raw television show.

On August 16, 2006, Phoenix returned to action in OVW as the surprise opponent for Serena in a number one contenders match - she was hand picked by OVW Women's Champion ODB herself to be the opponent. After a distraction from Charles Evans, Phoenix picked up the win hitting Serena. The following week, both Serena and Phoenix wanted a title shot, so ODB said if they can beat her in a tag match, the pinfall winner would receive a shot. Serena won the match for her and Phoenix's team by pinning newcomer Katie Lea (but only after Phoenix was forced to leave the ring as she was not the legal woman in the match). So, in the interest of fairness, the following week, it was announced that there would be a women's battle royal with the title on the line - Phoenix, Serena, Lea, and ODB were the final four women in the ring, with ODB eventually coming out on top. The following week, ODB put her women's title on the line in a four-way match that also featured Phoenix, Serena and Lea. Serena won the match, but after the match Phoenix laid out Serena with her newly won belt. At the October 4, 2006 OVW TV tapings, Phoenix defeated Serena to capture the OVW Women's Championship. On the November 4, 2006 show, Beth lost the OVW women's title to Lea in a gauntlet match - defeating Roni Jonah, Melody, Ariel, and Jenny Mae first. Lea, Serena, ODB, and Phoenix were the final four in the match with Lea taking the win.