A former WWE writer claims that once upon a time WWE Hall Of Famer Beth Phoenix was pencilled in for a WrestleMania showdown with a behemoth of the wrestling world.
Hollywood idol Freddie Prinze Jr. spent two stints with WWE, one as part of the SmackDown creative team and one as a producer and director for the company. The star of hit movies such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scooby-Doo has recalled a storyline he was asked to write by Stephanie McMahon that would have led to an epic WrestleMania showdown.
Speaking on his Wrestling with Freddie podcast, Prinze Jr. explained how he was tasked with Awesome Kong’s entrance to WWE and getting her to a match on The Grandest Stage Of Them All with The Glamazon Beth Phoenix:
“Steph had me write this whole crazy storyline. They were gonna bring Awesome Kong in and they gave me the story and we had recently signed Gail Kim and I had Awesome Kong like smashing her first three opponents, right?”
“Her and Gail had some really, really good matches at TNA so Gail was gonna give her a match and was gonna get seven minutes. So we’re writing this up and Gail hits her finisher but Kong kicks out and beats her and then she meets Natalya and Kong beats her but then goes off after the bell which brings out Beth Phoenix which is what Vince wanted me to work WrestleMania to and it was gonna be Beth Phoenix and Awesome Kong at WrestleMania.”
“Because Beth wasn’t the best on the microphone, I had to protect her more than I would have to protect [Kong]. Apparently I didn’t know how much I would have to do with [Kong]. But she was just fire, like straight fire. Now the story couldn’t play [out] and ended up not going because [Kong] ended up leaving the company.”
Known as Awesome Kong during her stints in IMPACT Wrestling and AEW, the formidable star made her debut as Kharma in WWE in May 2011. Her run with the company was short-lived as she announced her pregnancy not long after debuting and only ever competed in the 2012 Royal Rumble match.
The two-time TNA Knockouts Champion joined AEW in May 2019 aligning herself with Brandi Rhodes until her last appearance for the company in early 2020.
Beth Phoenix recently announced that she was hanging up the headset and leaving full-time commentary on NXT 2.0. Many believe that Phoenix could become embroiled in her husband Edge’s feud with The Miz after Miz’s wife Maryse also returned to WWE television.