Beth Phoenix spoke with For The Win about being inducted into the 2017 class of the WWE Hall of Fame. Here are the highlights.
On being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame:
“When you are in WWE, you dream of that moment (in the future) when you get to reflect on your career and the things that you did and you get that wonderful individual honor,” Phoenix told For the Win in an exclusive interview. “It seemed so far off in the distance for me (when I was wrestling). I didn’t know when — or if — I’d ever experience that feeling. I certainly didn’t think I’d have that opportunity this early in my life. It’s amazing and very, very humbling. To hear they find my career was worthy enough and that I did well enough in the ring to be honored among the greatest of all time was incredible and the biggest compliment I could ever ask for,” Phoenix said. “It’s still sinking in and is very surreal. He was like, ‘Oh, OK.’ He wasn’t shocked by it at all,” she said. “He’s like, ‘Of course, you deserve it.’ I was shocked by that response, too. I said, ‘You think I deserve this? Is this the right time?’ He was 100 percent confident and he made me feel like a million bucks about it. He is super excited. We’re still celebrating it and looking forward to seeing everyone at WrestleMania and enjoying the experience.”
On her WWE career:
“It was heartbreaking to have a complete change of direction after that was all I had wanted to do since I was a little girl,” Phoenix said. “But I also had accomplished everything I wanted to do. I won both championships at the time. I had been in the Royal Rumble, which was something special because I had admired Joanie Laurer as Chyna for so long. (Laurer was the first woman in the Royal Rumble). I was at a point in my life where I had found a wonderful person who was looking for the same things. My contract was up so I finished out and decided I had fulfilled all my dreams in the way I had wanted to.”
You can read the entire interview here.
