Beth Phoenix reveals how she suffered a broken jaw during her WWE singles debut that kept her out of a WWE ring for over a year.
The Glamazon is considered one of the greatest women’s wrestlers in WWE history, although her debut could not have gone any worse.
While she went on to have an incredible career in the WWE, a broken jaw in her debut almost cost Beth Phoenix her WWE career.
The WWE Hall of Famer spoke on an episode of WWE Icons, talking about her debut in the WWE.
Beth Phoenix revealed how she suffered a broken jaw in her debut on Raw, at the hands of former WWE Diva Victoria.
The former WWE Women’s Champion revealed how she was excited to debut as a singles wrestler on Raw, but soon felt the string of a broken jaw on her singles debut.
Phoenix wrestled against Victoria on the May 6th, 2006 episode of Monday Night Raw, in her singles debut in the WWE.
She debuted with a victory in three minutes, but a mistake led to her breaking her jaw after a slap from Victoria.
The injury would keep her out of action for months, and away from the main roster for over a year.
This ruined her chances of teaming with Trish Stratus (who she was aligned with at the time), and endured multiple surgeries and a permanently numb face due to the broken jaw from her debut.
Speaking on WWE Icon, Beth Phoenix said this about her singles debut in WWE.
“I’m finally going to have my debut as a singles wrestler, and I’m facing Victoria, and we had something planned where I was supposed to slap and then slap back.”
“When Victoria hit me, I had had my mouth open ever so slightly. I knew something was wrong. I stuck my tongue between my teeth and I was like ‘Oh there’s a gap there.’“
“So I thought something had happened and I’d lost a tooth. Trish [Stratus] took one look at me saw that I had a little bit of blood on my mouth, she’s just telling me ‘smile, look up, it’ll be okay.’ So Trish walks me up to the ramp and then they hustled me into medical.“
“I’m sitting there and I’m kinda like ‘guys, I just lost a tooth, I’m sure it’s okay. I’m sitting on the thing and then they opened my mouth like this and I saw everyone in the room recoil [jumps back] like that and that’s when I knew it was probably bad.”
“They take me to the hospital. I get x-rayed. They said your jaw is shattered, dislocated, displaced. One mandible’s up, one’s down. You have to have full plastic surgery to put everything back.“
“You have to have steel plates in your face and screws, and it was a lot to take in. I just cried. I didn’t know what else to do.“
“I just processed everything. I was like ‘I just had a singles match on Monday Night Raw and it’s over. Hold it. I just didn’t understand why after so many years, things were going to end like this and set me back.”
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Beth Phoenix re-debuted on the main roster in WWE in 2007, going on to win a number one contender battle royal at Summerslam 2007.
She went on to win three women’s championships after debuting again in the WWE, as well as returning in recent years to team with her husband Edge against Judgement Day.
Beth Phoenix WWE Debut
While she was injured in her first singles match in the WWE, her debut actually came two-weeks prior.
Beth Phoenix’s WWE debut was on the June 9th, 2007 episode of Monday Night Raw.
She appeared the month prior on Raw, saving Trish Stratus from an attack from Mickie James, aligning herself with the Canadian legend.
Phoenix teamed with Jillian Hall in her first match in a losing effort against the team of Candice Michelle and Mickie James.
Two weeks later, she would wrestle Victoria on Raw, suffering a broken jaw and ending her partnership with Trish Stratus.
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