Beth Phoenix recalls a touching moment with Molly Holly as she was beginning her WWE journey.
Beth Phoenix always wanted to be a professional wrestler. In 2002, she attended WrestleMania 18 and had the fortunate pleasure of meeting Molly Holly at WrestleMania Axxess, something that would forever change her life and the course of her journey.
Beth Phoenix recalled meeting Molly Holly during her WWE Icons Network special.
“WrestleMania 18 was in Toronto, and I had been friends with Jason Sensation at the time, and Jason was friends with Molly Holly. Molly had told him, 'Listen, they’re looking for girls right now. They need women wrestlers.' 'If you can get a tape to Molly Holly, then Molly will take it to Doctor Tom Prichard' who was in Talent Relations at the time. Molly and Hurricane were going to do a photo-op [at Axxess]. I go to get in her line and I see there are hundreds of people in line. The line is huge. I’m waiting and waiting and I’m watching the clock tick down. I’m like, 'Oh my God, I’m not going to make it through the line. I’m not going to give her this VHS, what’s going to happen?' Then all the sudden, at the last minute I hear [The Rock’s music plays]. The Rock came out to cut a promo on another side of Axxess. An ocean of people take off towards The Rock to listen to his promo, and the line cleared out.”
Molly also recalled the 2002 meeting. She remembers being impressed with not only her try out tape but with the enthusiasm and humility that she showed upon first meeting her.
“Beth came up to get my autograph and she mentioned that she is an aspiring pro wrestler. She really impressed me. She had a certain level of humility, but also excitement,” said Holly.
Beth Phoenix continued, “I said, 'Hi, I’m Beth. Nice to meet you Nora.' I said, 'Here’s my VHS,' and Nora took it and took a picture with me. I came to find out many years later that Nora took that tape straight back to Dr. Tom and they sat and they watched my match right there in the back of Axxess.”
Molly Holly remembers being impressed by the way she carried herself in the tape despite everything else about the tape being low budget.
“Even though everything about it seemed very minor league, there was something special about her. The way she carried herself, the maneuvers she knew how to do. I felt happy to pass that along.”
Beth had a tryout 6 months later but didn’t get hired. Gail Kim did. The realization of her dream now felt more tangible, and when she decided to try out with Ohio Valley Wrestling h, she had a little help along the way from a little birdie.
Beth recalled, “Molly introduced me to Nick Dinsmore, who said, 'You know what, if you really want to take this seriously, you’ve got to move to OVW. You’ve got to move to Kentucky. I’d like to get you a tryout with Danny Davis.' Danny invited me to come to OVW. I was not getting signed, let’s be clear. He was offering me an opportunity to come train at OVW, so there was tuition involved. I had no money, and I had school loans, but I was like, “I’m going to figure it out.” I dropped everything and moved to Kentucky.
“I went to give Danny my first payment, and Danny handed me out a receipt back for a much larger amount. I said, 'You made a mistake here, Danny.’ He said, ‘No I didn’t. A little birdie believes in you and wants to help pay your way.” Molly had paid for my tuition. “
Molly concluded, “Her passion is wrestling, and I remember what it was like to have a regular job where you don’t make a lot of money and you’re trying to make your dreams come true. I felt really blessed to be a WWE Superstar and having the kind of money where I’m able to help someone else.”
Beth was able to parlay her passion into a Hall of Fame career. Beth was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017. Molly Holly will join her as part of the 2021 class. The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony takes place tonight on Peacock, the exclusive home of the WWE Network in the United States.
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