In 2011, Beth Phoenix and Natalya turned heel. Dubbing themselves "The Divas of Doom," these musclebound beauties targeted their fellow Divas and relished every moment they got to make them cry, mockingly referring to them as Barbie Dolls while locking them in their patented Pin-Up Strong submission. Their main target, however, was upstart Divas Champion Kelly Kelly. At the Hell in a Cell Pay-Per-View, The Divas of Doom realized their goal of finally ending Kelly's title reign when Beth was crowned the champion. Beth would go on to defend her title against the likes of Eve Torres and Nikki Bella, losing her title to the latter (who would go on to quickly drop the belt to a returning Layla El at Extreme Rules in 2012). It was a pathetic end to Beth's title reign after a long crusade to secure the championship, but what was even more pathetic was the fact that she never offered a shot at the belt to her esteemed partner Natalya ... and we never got to see an implosion of The Divas of Doom! In the latter part of 2012, we would see a stellar (albeit short) single's match between these two best friends, which would have some storyline implications concerning a mystery attack on Kaitlyn who had been in pursuit of the title, but in all honesty, it was a match that probably should have taken place sometime during Beth's reign. If all of the Divas were beneath Beth, with the exception being Nattie, wouldn't the Glamazon be more interested in giving her friend (and former champion) a shot at glory? The entire affair felt like one big, wasted opportunity, especially when it is taken into consideration that they had never faced each other in single's competition prior to their match on September 28th, 2012. Beth was already looking to leave WWE at the end of her contract, and poor Natalya had been saddled with the horrible "flatulence" gimmick. Perhaps if these two had been given a proper title match that evolved into a full-fledged feud (with Nattie as the face), WWE could have saved themselves the embarrassment of the "Nattie Has Gas" gimmick and Beth's career could have ended on a stellar note with one final encounter between the two best friends in a "Loser Leaves WWE" Match.
Tommy Bobby Watanabe is an aspiring American novelist, stage actor, playwright, former LGBT rights activist, and has three years of independent professional wrestling experience and has been a big fan since 1998. An avid horror movie buff and comic book aficionado, TBW is honored to be featured on WhatCulture with some of the Internet's most talented writers and looks to spread his own knowledge and wit to WhatCulture's loyal readers.
