Natalya and Beth Phoenix, also known as The Divas of Doom, is a professional wrestling tag team in WWE on the Raw brand. Phoenix and Natalya first began teaming together when the latter was Divas Champion and was feuding with LayCool in late September 2010. In August 2011, both women turned villainous, or heel, and developed the character of anti-Divas, who were violently opposed to the acceptance of "cute", "perky", "Barbie doll" women in the company. Their slogan of "Pin-Up Strong" was also the name of their submission maneuver. Phoenix retired from wrestling in 2012, but came out of retirement in 2019 to reform her tag team with Natalya and challenge for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35.
History
Original run (2010–2012) In late 2010, following the split of Natalya's stable The Hart Dynasty, Natalya set her sights on LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla) and the Divas Championship. After coming up short twice due to LayCool's machinations, Natalya finally defeated the duo in a handicap match for the Divas Championship at Survivor Series. She was attacked after the match by LayCool, but Beth Phoenix, returning from an injury she'd suffered in May which was credited to LayCool, made the save and then congratulated Natalya. From there, the two formed an alliance against LayCool, and at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December, Phoenix and Natalya defeated Lay-Cool in the first Divas tag team tables match in WWE history. The alliance quietly ended a month later when Natayla lost the Divas Championship to Eve Torres at Royal Rumble, and went back to competing exclusively on the Raw brand.
On the August 1, 2011, episode of Raw, both women competed in a battle royal to determinate who would receive a Divas Championship match against Kelly Kelly at SummerSlam. Phoenix won the match, then turned villainous by attacking Kelly, and stated "[her] days as the perky, cute, blonde little bimbo are officially over." Four days later on SmackDown, Natalya defeated her protégé AJ Lee, and afterwards attacked AJ before pledging an alliance Phoenix, telling her that she agreed with her in that "the days of the cute perky little princesses are over". Phoenix and Natalya officially debuted together as "The Divas of Doom" on the August 12 episode of SmackDown, defeating AJ Lee and Kaitlyn, who they continued to assault after the match.
Natalya then accompanied Phoenix to her Divas Championship match at SummerSlam against Kelly Kelly, who was accompanied by Eve Torres, but she failed to win the match. On the September 5 episode of Raw, Phoenix defeated Eve Torres to earn another title shot at Night of Champions, where she again lost. On the September 19 episode of Raw, the Divas of Doom lost a tag team match to Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres after Eve pinned Natalya for the win. On the September 26 episode of Raw, Phoenix pinned Kelly Kelly in a tag team match to earn another title shot at Hell in a Cell. On the September 30 edition of SmackDown, Natalya lost a match to Kelly. Following the match, Phoenix jumped into the ring and delivered a Glam Slam to Kelly, then Natalya applied their new submission, Pin-Up Strong, making Kelly Kelly scream and cry in pain. At Hell in a Cell, Phoenix defeated Kelly Kelly with help from Natalya, winning her first Divas Championship. At Vengeance, Phoenix defeated Eve to retain the Divas Championship. At Survivor Series, Natalya accompanied Phoenix to a successful lumberjill Divas Championship match against Eve Torres.