Former professional wrestler Chyna, real name Joanie Laurer, passed away last night according to her official Twitter account. She was 46.
#RipChyna ??? all of us on team Chyna love you and will love you forever babe.
Felix pic.twitter.com/jOfbHUAI2j
— Chyna (@ChynaJoanLaurer) April 21, 2016
Few women were really allowed to make their mark during the World Wrestling Federation Attitude Era and with exception to maybe Trish Stratus and Lita, none were as successful as Chyna. Even so, due to her later work in the adult entertainment industry (once acceptable to do in the Attitude Era as Chyna and many others posed for Playboy magazine while employed by the company) her valued history was virtually scrubbed away by WWE historians.
Born in Rochester, New York, Laurer began working out at an early age and graduated from the University of Tampa with a major in Spanish Literature while also studying German and French. After working various jobs including attempting fitness competitions, Laurer moved to Massachusetts to train at the Killer Kowalski professional wrestling school, where wrestlers Triple H and Perry Saturn also trained. After seeing one of her matches, Triple H had interest in bringing her in as a bodyguard.
On February 16, 1997, a fan in the audience choked Marlena, the valet and wife of Goldust during the In Your House: Final Four pay per view. She made a clearer debut on Raw the next night in a segment with Goldust, Marlena and Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
Triple H had tried going through several valets in his career, starting with Sable (who left him to join Marc Mero) and watched as Mr. Perfect also stole some of his valets, before finding Chyna. Chyna was an instrumental part of his rise as a heel, due to the fact he was winning matches from her involvement. The WWF announcers made sure to call her an amazon and promote her strength as near equal to the men, unheard of for the wrestling business at the time. Around the same time of her rise, the WWF tried to re-ignite a Women’s championship division, which made difficult when such a powerful, imposing figure like Chyna wasn’t initially involved.
Chyna worked as the bodyguard in D-Generation X for Triple H and Shawn Michaels, standing outside the ring often with Rick Rude (who passed away 17 years to the day of Laurer), often being ridiculed by babyfaces during that time for looking too much like a man. In 1999, Chyna became the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble, beginning to work matches against men instead of being involved in the Women’s division. Chyna left D-Generation X for the Corporation and then left the Corporation to go out on her own. She had also became the first woman to enter the King of the Ring tournament and be number one contender to the WWF World championship. All helped make her “The Ninth Wonder of the World” a play on André the Giant’s nickname of the Eighth Wonder of the World.
After getting considerable cosmetic surgery, the WWF finally decided she could be looked upon as more than just a carnival freak and now be treated as one of their divas, since in the WWF you couldn’t be a woman unless they could treated you like a pin up. As a fan favourite, she faced Jeff Jarrett for the WWF Intercontinental championship and eventually won it in a Good Housekeeping Match (Jarrett was a misogynist heel) at the October 17, 1999 No Mercy event. When wrestling Chris Jericho, they both faced a double pin, leading to Jericho and Chyna being co-Intercontinental champions. This is no longer recognized by the WWE.
Chyna would then pose for Playboy in November of 2000, in one of the most purchased issues of Playboy ever. Chyna would finally enter the Women’s division at Wrestlemania X-7 by defeating Ivory in a squash. Only a few months later she would defeat Lita at Judgment Day before vacating the title, exiting the WWF. According to Laurer, it came due to her real-life boyfriend Triple H now being in a relationship with Stephanie McMahon, the daughter of WWF owner Vince McMahon.
Laurer would work in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2002, as well as appear in Playboy again. She was also a frontrunner to play the T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, only to lose the part in the end. Laurer would do work on television, film, music videos and reality TV in the following years before eventually selling a homemade sex video with fellow wrestler Sean “X-Pac” Waltman. Laurer would continue in the adult entertainment industry, working for Vivid Video in full produced videos, including one that parodied several professional wrestlers. Her final wrestling appearance was in TNA Wrestling for a TV taping and pay per view, working with Kurt Angle against Jeff and Karen Jarrett.
Chyna was a household name in professional wrestling at one of its hottest peaks in the business. Her size, strength, and beauty was a combination none could ever replicate (the closest in the WWE being Beth Phoenix, who would only work comedy matches with men and never truly leave the Women’s division). Despite fan ridicule and company treatment as a monster for not possessing strictly feminine features, Joanie Laurer was able to present to women that there was more to being a woman than just the desire of men. While never to be confused as being a great professional wrestler, WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts has said she was one of the only wrestlers in the business who could execute his DDT properly. She was arrested in 2005 for domestic assault against Waltman. Her troubles with substance abuse, self harm, and public meltdowns were well documented by the media, much stemming from a troubled childhood and being raped in college.
One year ago, Triple H said on the Steve Austin podcast that while he thought Chyna should be in the WWE Hall of Fame, it would be a problem if a child ended up searching her on Google. One can easily poke holes in that line of thinking, as any child searching the Internet could see how perverted, sexual, politically incorrect and adult themed the World Wrestling Federation itself was in Chyna’s heyday. She didn’t just appear in Playboy, her appearance in Playboy was made into a WWF angle. But with her passing away, WWE.com had no issue announcing it to their fans in a tasteful manner. It’s unfortunate she may only go in posthumously, but it would at least be the wrestling business finally giving back to another wrestler who gave everything to leave with nothing.
