Beth Phoenix is the ring name of Elizabeth Kocanski Carolan, though she is also known as the Fabulous Firebird or Beth Kocanski. Elizabeth began her successful career as a wrestler in high school, and was the first women to ever wrestle on her high school’s varsity team. She won the New York State Fair Tournament in 1999 and also became the Northeast freestyle women’s champion in her weight class. During high school, she was a part of USA Wrestling. After her successes as an amateur Beth Pheonix went on to be trained by Joey Knight and Robin Knightwing, aka the All Knighters.

Beth made her professional wrestling debut in May 2001 in a match with Alexis Laree. After that match, Elizabeth competed in various independent matches against wrestlers of both genders. It was during this time that she began to use the name Phoenix to compete. The year after her debut, Beth Phoenix joined GLORY, a women’s independent organization, and was their inaugural champion. Beth Phoenix also became the only female Battle Royal winner in Ontario, Canada, after beating fourteen men.

Beth Phoenix was the first woman to join Far North Wrestling. In 2003, she earned the title of FNW Cruiserweight Champion, beating both Joey Knight and Kevin Grace. Later that same year, she made it to the final of World Xtreme Wrestling’s Women’s Elite 8, but then lost to April Hunter in the last round. A few years later, she competed in the same event but did not make it past round two. A few months after that, Elizabeth wrestled in the first volume of Shimmer Women Athletes, but she lost to Allison Danger, who founded Shimmer.

In July 2004, Elizabeth Kocanski made her debut to OVW, which stands for Ohio Valley Wrestling. At the same time, she changed her ring name and added Beth, becoming Beth Phoenix. As Phoenix, she developed an on-screen relationship with Chris Masters and also acted as his valet, but it did not last long. After a few weeks, she became Aaron “The Idol” Stevens’s manager. Beth took a break from OVW, and although she did return to OVW eventually, her second stint with them is not usually officially recognized.

Beth made her debut to WWE’s television show Raw on May 8, 2006 and spent her first few weeks on the show attacking Mickie James. In the first episode Beth was not a contestant, but just appeared as a fan favorite who assaulted Mickie James. The next week, Beth Phoenix wrestled James on behalf of Trish Stratus. Beth’s third week on the show consisted of a match against Torrie Wilson and Beth attacking James after the show. Finally, on May 29, Beth Pheonix had a match against Mickie James. A week later, Pheonix broke her jaw and had to take some time off.

Throughout her career, Phoenix has amassed a considerable amount of championships and other accomplishments. She won the FNW Cruiserweight and GLORY championships one time each and the OVW Women’s Championship twice. In WWE, she won the Women’s championship three times and was awarded the 2008 Slammy Award for Diva of the Year. In 2004, The Wrestling Clothesline ranked Beth the third best female independent wrestlers. Four years later, Pro Wrestling Illustrated awarded her the second slot in the 2008 PWI Female 50.