WWE Hall Of Famer Beth Phoenix was recently interviewed on After the Bell with Corey Graves to talk about several professional wrestling topics.
Here are the highlights:
Returning at the Royal Rumble on the same show as Edge:
It was challenging for me because there was a lot of stuff beyond — I know Adam had a lot on his plate, a lot on his mind obviously. But for me, it was safety first. And the biggest thing [in] preparing for his return was I had been focusing all my energy and attention, like I just needed to know that he was going to be okay.
As a wife, as the mother of his kids. That had to be priority first. And so, I was nervous about that. And then we had the moment where they asked me not even a week before, ‘Do you want to do the female Rumble?’ And I had been in the ring with Adam so much that I felt prepared to do that. But at the same time, I was like, ‘Can I emotionally handle that?’
It’s so big what he has to go through, and what’s going to happen that I was afraid I’m emotionally not going to be focused, or prepared, or whatever. But what I did was compartmentalize that. And I had to be like, ‘Listen Beth, you need to worry about yourself and worry about this moment, and then we’ll deal with Adam’s moment when that comes.’
Being upset with Edge over his WrestleMania match:
So, it was interesting, because Adam got some heat from me because after he finished his WrestleMania match. And I mean, this was his first big singles match back, he was so excited. So you’re just reveling in the moment, and he was at the Performance Center and I’m home. And I’m sweating bullets waiting for that text, or something like, ‘I’m okay.’ And it was like a good two, three hours before I heard from him. And I knew what time they started, and I was like, ‘Wait a minute.’ So anyway, he finally told me he was okay. And I gave him hell over that, but I’m just worried, you know?
Her reaction to his injury from Backlash:
And so then, after ‘the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever,’ he texts me right away. But he said, ‘I’m okay, you know. My arm’s bothering me a little bit but I’m okay. Because we didn’t really know the extent of it that night. And then he went for an MRI the next morning and unfortunately, they told us the news that it was torn.
But you know, I’m a wrestler too. I know how injuries happen. And I said — this is not the best way to look at it — but ‘It could have been something worse. This is something you will heal from. You’ll be okay’. And he’s got to put the work in, that’s really the part that sucks is like the rehab, the work. Being a one-armed dad and a one-armed husband is challenging.
Especially when you have little ones that want to be picked up, and you need to tie shoes and this and that. And you can’t. So, he had a straight brace. And we had to all come together like we usually do and figure it out while he’s recovering.
Also Read: Edge Looks Back at 1998 Match With Owen Hart
H/T 411Mania for the transcriptions
