WWE Night of Champions: 10 Things You Need to Know About Kelly Kelly vs. Beth

WWE's premier women's wrestler, Beth Phoenix, will challenge the current champ Kelly Kelly for her title at WWE's Night of Champions PPV this Sunday. 

The match will be the culmination of what has been the most vicious and nasty WWE's women's feud in quite some time and promises to be a highlight of the undercard.

With this in mind, here are 10 things any WWE fan needs to know going into this match.

Beth Came Extremely Close to Winning in Their Summerslam Match

At WWE's Summerslam PPV last month, Kelly and Beth had their first official match for the Divas Championship. 

The lively bout, which was given more time than most women's matches in WWE are, was heavily dominated by Beth, who threw around her foe like a rag doll, until a nimble Kelly managed to reverse a Glam Slam into a roll-up, sneaking out the victory.

Beth was miffed and has sworn she won't come up short this time.

Differences in Background

Kelly and Beth could not have more vastly different backgrounds.

The stunning Kelly was a bikini model when Johnny Ace signed her (and Alicia Fox) to developmental contracts in 2006, after spotting a picture of her in a magazine he was looking through.

Kelly knew little of wrestling and was not a fan, but decided to give it a go and sign a contract. She made her debut on WWE's version of ECW shortly after.

Phoenix, on the other hand, was a wrestling fan from childhood and a skilled amateur wrestler in high school. After graduating high school, she worked on the low-paying indie scene (including all-female promotion Shimmer) for years before finally achieving her dream and getting a contract with WWE.

This happened after Molly Holly (real name: Nora Greenwald) kindly passed a copy of some of Beth’s matches on to WWE talent scouts and recommended her for a spot.       

Natlaya Will Likely Get Involved

In recent weeks, Phoenix has aligned with burly Smackdown diva, Natalya. Calling themselves the "Divas of Doom," both girls are on a mission to rid WWE of the woefully incompetent models they feel are plaguing the division.

Natalya even accompanied Beth to ringside for her unsuccessful title match with Kelly at Summerslam, although she didn't get involved in the actual match. 

More recently, Natalya and Kelly even exchanged heated words at the announcing table during the Eve vs. Phoenix match last week, and it seems a Natalya run-in at Night of Champions is not only possible, but probable.

Eve Will Likely Get Involved

Not that Kelly doesn't have any backup, either! She's recently been teamed with fellow Raw diva, Eve, in the storylines, and it has been explained that the two are very good friends.

It seems these determined girls are on a mission to stop the "Divas of Doom." Expect some Eve involvement with the finish, too. 

Each Girl's History with the Title

A determined Beth is aiming to win her fourth women’s title in WWE. Her first title run came in 2007 at the No Mercy PPV when she beat Candice Michelle, in what would be Candice's last notable feud in the company. Beth later lost it to Mickie James. 

In recent years, she has fought Laycool for the title on several occasions, even managing to beat the dastardly duo two times. 

Kelly, on the other hand, is still on her first run: she beat Brie Bella in an emotional match (she cried tears of joy afterwards) after fan voting awarded her a title shot on the June 20 Raw. Since then, she has retained the title in a truly awful bout with Brie at Money in the Bank and at Summerslam against Beth, in what was thankfully a far better match.

Kelly is hoping to  defy the odds once again and emerge triumphant at Night of Champions when she faces Phoenix again.  

Vickie Guerrero Could Do a Run-in

On last night's Raw, Kelly exchanged some heated words with manager Vickie Guerrero backstage before Teddy Long stepped in and announced they would be in a match later on to settle their dispute.

Kelly won their bout (which saw one of the worst botches of a bulldog ever) and the match was thankfully short.

But even with the win, we don't think we've seen the end of Vickie/Kelly spat and maybe the bitchy valet could get involved and cost Kelly the title.

This Could Determine the Direction of Beth and Natalya's Storyline

Are WWE finally getting serious about their women's division? If Phoenix wins, and the storyline with her Natalya dominating the women's division continues, this can be seen as a sign of WWE's renewed faith in the divas, after spending years treating women's wrestling in the company as little more than a joke or afterthought.  

However, a Kelly victory may be a sign that WWE have lost interest in "Divas of Doom" angle, and are only interested in pushing the barely competent models these days. 

It also greatly damages Beth's credibility if she falls yet again to Kelly, and it could be extremely difficult for fans to take her seriously ever again. 

Injuries That Beth Phoenix Has Suffered

In 2006, shortly after her debut in angle with Mickie James, Beth suffered an extremely serious jaw injury in a match with Victoria (currently Tara in TNA) which kept her out for almost a year. Yikes.

She also suffered a horribly torn ACL after a botched landing in a match with Rosa last year and was out for five months. She is one tough chick, that's for sure.

CM Punk Will Be Watching

CM Punk will take a break from long-winded shoot promos that 99 percent of the audience doesn't understand, and have his eyes glued to the screen when match time comes.

He's a big fan of Phoenix's and has strongly praised Beth's ability in the past, notably telling "GQ" magazine she is one of WWE's most underused talents.

I'm sure this has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact he's her real-life boyfriend, of course.

This Should Be a Good Match

Their Summerslam match exceeded expectations and, if given enough time, we think Kelly vs. Beth at Night of Champions could be one of the best women's matches in recent years.

Beth is a skilled women's wrestler and Kelly has turned into a great bump-taker in recent months, and their work together has a great monster vs. gutsy underdog dynamic.