The Divas of Doom: 10 Years Later

Hard to believe that the angle that gave us the Divas of Doom started a full decade ago. I remember it like it was yesterday, and even to this very day, I still have fond memories of how it started and everything that took place in the months that followed. Before going into the whole story of the Divas of Doom, let's take a look at the players involved and where they were entering the beginning of this angle.

Beth Phoenix: Beth Phoenix briefly debuted on an edition of Raw that aired in May of 2006, doing so after competing in OVW. She was originally portrayed as a woman from Mickie James' past, though we would never find out more details due to Beth's jaw injury during a match against Victoria. After a year in OVW, Beth returned under a new gimmick: portraying a physically dominant villainess who referred to herself as "The Glamazon." At No Mercy on October 7, 2007, Beth defeated Candice Michelle to capture the WWE Women's Championship, and would hold the title for six months. 2008 would see Beth in a storyline relationship with Santino Marella, with the pair dubbed Glamarella, which led to a second Women's Championship run. After three years as a heel, Beth's feud with LayCool turned her face and led to her capturing the Women's Championship for the third time, but her reign ended just a few weeks later due to injury.

Natalya: WWE's only third-generation female debuted on the main roster on April 4, 2008, and served as Victoria's partner until Victoria left WWE in 2009. She later became one-third of The Hart Dynasty with real-life cousin David Hart Smith and future husband Tyson Kidd, with the originally heel triumvirate becoming faces due to Vince McMahon's WrestleMania feud with Bret Hart in 2010. It was at the 2010 Survivor Series that Natalya captured the Divas Championship by defeating LayCool in a Handicap Match, and after Beth Phoenix returned to help Natalya against the pair, both teams faced off in the first-ever Women's Tag Team Tables Match, which Beth and Natalya won. Natalya's Divas Championship run ended at the Royal Rumble on January 30, 2011.

How It Began: The date was August 1, 2011, and on that night's edition of Raw, a women's battle royal took place, as with SummerSlam just under two weeks away, Divas Champion Kelly Kelly needed a challenger for her title. It eventually came down to Beth Phoenix and both Bella Twins (Brie being the very woman who lost the title to Kelly), but The Glamazon managed to eliminate both twins at once to win the match and become the #1 Contender. Kelly left her announce position to congratulate Beth on winning, but in response, Beth delivered a vicious attack to her championship opponent both inside and outside the ring. As a result of the attack, Beth turned heel for the first time in over a year, and following her assault, she later informed Kelly that her days as the "cute, blonde little bimbo" were officially over.

I remember this and sensing Beth's heel turn coming, mainly because she had been a face for over a year. While I did enjoy seeing Beth's heroic side (because it was a nice change), it was time for Beth to become a villainess once again, and that evening was the right time to make that move.

Four days later, Natalya faced off against AJ Lee on Smackdown; at that time, Natalya was serving as a mentor of sorts for both AJ and Kaitlyn, who were both new to the main roster, so seeing this match was pretty interesting. Natalya defeated AJ in this contest, only to suddenly attack AJ afterwards, turning Natalya heel for the first time in over a year, just like Beth Phoenix. And similar to Beth, Natalya voiced her solidarity to Beth's actions on Raw and added that "the days of the perky princesses are over."

While I did see Beth's heel turn coming, Natalya's was a complete surprise to me. I didn't think I'd see anyone aligned with Beth's villainous rhetoric, but given Natalya's close bond with Beth, I should have figured she'd be the perfect choice. We would see Beth and Natalya in tag team action a week later, defeating AJ and Kaitlyn and later tormenting the former of the pair afterwards. Various names were given to this sinister duo; I remember hearing "Sisters of Salvation," but one name would stick: Divas of Doom.

Progression: While the Divas of Doom continued to antagonize AJ and Kaitlyn, their main enemies were Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres, with Eve joining Kelly in the battle after the August 8, 2011 edition of Raw. Beth's big moment at SummerSlam hit a snag, as she wasn't able to dethrone Kelly as Divas Champion. Her quest wouldn't end there, as she received a second opportunity at Night of Champions, which took place in Beth's hometown in Buffalo, where the wrestling villainess received a heroine's welcome...but not the title. Kelly again defeated Beth, and as we would see, the hometown loss set off the Glamazon, as in the final moments leading to her third opportunity at Hell In A Cell, she had Natalya place Kelly in a painful Sharpshooter, with Beth allowing Kelly's cries of pain to be heard loudly.

The third time was the charm for Beth, as she (with Natalya's help) captured the Divas Championship from Kelly at Hell In A Cell on October 2, 2011. After defeating Kelly, Beth would feud with Kelly's cohort, Eve Torres, for over a month, which included two PPV title contests between the combatants. Beth won both at Vengeance and Survivor Series, and it was the latter event that was known for Beth's top rope Superplex towards Eve.

A Third Member?: During the month of November 2011, episodes of SmackDown began to tease a potential third member of the Divas of Doom; I remember this very well. During that time, the Divas of Doom competed in tag team contests against AJ and Kaitlyn (who were known as The Chickbusters), and each time, the DOD won. Both matches saw Kaitlyn began to display frustration over the losses, with the second one even seeing Kaitlyn berate AJ before leaving in apparent anger. It turned out there was a plan in place to have Kaitlyn turn heel and align with the Divas of Doom, and the very swerve took place on December 9, 2011. According to the reports, another tag bout saw the DOD victorious, and afterwards, the evil Kaitlyn abandoned AJ to join Beth and Natalya--having had enough of losing and wanting to be part of a winning team.

I remember pulling for this to happen, because Kaitlyn would have been golden as a villainous protege for Beth and Natalya. Unfortunately, the powers that be didn't like how the segment turned out, so the whole thing was nixed, and the DOD remained a duo.

Dissolution/Aftermath: Beth defeated Kelly again at TLC in December 2011, though 2012 would see the Divas of Doom angle start to die out. Beth added another successful title defense against Tamina at the Elimination Chamber event on February 19, 2012, but less than a month later, the pair ended up splitting quietly, ending the Divas of Doom angle after just over seven months. Beth's Divas Championship reign ended on April 23, 2012 when she lost the title to Nikki Bella; her reign was just a few days away from being the longest in that title's history. Beth left WWE six months later, and in 2017, she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, becoming one-half of WWE's only Hall of Fame couple; her husband Edge was inducted in 2012.

Since her induction, Beth has competed occasionally, including two appearances in the Women's Royal Rumble in 2018 and 2020, and a brief Divas of Doom reunion at WrestleMania 35 that saw the pair challenge for the Women's Tag Team Championship. Since 2018, Beth has served as a color commentator, and has been working as such full time on NXT since 2019.

As for Natalya, she has continued her in-ring career, and has also been part of the cast of E!'s Total Divas since 2013. It was at SummerSlam in 2017 that Natalya captured the SmackDown Women's Championship, her first title in six years, going on to hold the title for 86 days before being defeated by Charlotte Flair at that year's Survivor Series. Natalya is currently one-half of the Women's Tag Team Champions with Tamina Snuka, having defeated Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler to win the titles on May 14, 2021.

Overall Thoughts: I really did love the Divas of Doom angle; I always remember it fondly. I do think this was WWE responding to the fan reactions to the state of the then-named Divas Division at that time; there seemed to be a class warfare between the "established wrestlers" and the perceived "model Divas," with the latter group not being received fondly. I myself never really bought into such labels; I just enjoyed what I was watching and continue to do so.

Beth Phoenix and Natalya Neidhart definitely shined in their villainous roles and gimmicks during that period. They were portrayed as ruthless combatants who believed in a cause, and were willing to torment their opposers to get their message across. I'm only disappointed that Kaitlyn didn't join them; it would have really been amazing to see a team become a full-fledged villainous faction. Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed seeing the Divas of Doom wreak havoc for seven months in WWE.

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