Phoenix is a free agent.
The newest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet features a sit-down conversation with WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix.
As the conversation moved along, Phoenix confirmed that she is no longer under contract to WWE. That was first reported by PWInsider in late July. Phoenix said she has a great relationship with the company and cherished her time there.
She said other opportunities presented themselves and went on to ponder the idea of opening a wrestling school with her husband, Adam Copeland.
I am not (under contract to WWE). I am currently a free agent. I have a great relationship with WWE. I treasured my time there. I feel like there’s more, there’s other opportunities that have presented themselves. I feel the motivation right now to kind of explore and explore what else is out there and explore myself but my relationship with WWE hasn’t changed. I have so many friends there and I appreciate and I enjoy the product as I always have and I love NXT, I have a special place in my heart for NXT of course and just the system and seeing young people come up and go through that excitement of developing themselves for the big time. I love WWE, I always will.
(I’m talking) everything else and wrestling opportunities in there too. I haven’t closed the door on the thought of offering maybe a wrestling school or offering — myself and my husband have so many years of television experience and you know, we can teach top wrist locks and stuff but, there’s a difference in teaching working for cameras and promos and even just creating a story that’s compelling and leaves people talking about it and wanting to come back for more. The storytelling nuances of the business, I feel like we have a lot to share and teach.
The last time Phoenix wrestled was at the 2023 WWE Elimination Chamber Premium Live Event. She is not sure if she’ll wrestle another match. It depends on the opportunity and what is best for her family.
Yeah, I don’t know (if I could have another match). It’s really hard to say you’re retired, which when I left in 2012, that was the word I threw around a lot. ‘I’m retired, I’m retired,’ because I wanted to have a family and I knew for myself that wasn’t going to be in congruence to perform and to have kids. I needed to devote myself to the kids at that time. I give the age-old cliché answer that everybody hates is like, never say never. But, it really just depends on the opportunities and what suits our family. That’s really it. We weigh out everything. That’s for Adam’s opportunities too and I remember when Percy Jackson came on the table and he was full-time in WWE and it was really, really hard to take that on but we weighed out everything. We sat as a family and we made that decision and we were like, ‘This is huge. This is just like the biggest acting opportunity that’s come our way and you need to go do this. This is massive,’ and we talked about saying no to that and we talk about everything that comes our way as a family and does that serve us now. How does that affect the kids? How does it affect our marriage? That matters too.
Earlier in the interview, Phoenix admitted that seeing Copeland perform regularly gave her the itch to be in front of a live audience again.
Always, always (when I saw Adam Copeland competing regularly, it made me get the itch again). That never leaves. I’ll be transparent about that. I think that’s, at this age, been really tough for me to step back and step away because I truly get lit up when I see it and as much as I love all the things in my life. My family excluded, nothing lights me up career-wise like wrestling. I’ve tried a variety of different things. What’s the next chapter? What does this look like? And I find wonderful things but nothing’s like performing in front of thousands of people and being able to pull those emotional strings and connecting with people in today’s world where I feel like connection has a buffer right now of technology. Wrestling is a very, like, just primal connection with the audience and community and it still brings that. If you go to a local indie show, and you get your box of popcorn and you’re sitting with others, I guarantee at some point, you’re going to hoot and holler and yell and scream and you’re gonna lose yourself in the story, just because it’s built in our emotional makeup.
Phoenix took on an NXT commentary role in 2019 and left that position in late 2021. To read her reasoning for leaving the role, click here.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
