WWE: Chyna Was A One-Woman Revolution And Timeless Icon

Credit: WWE.com

She was the Original ‘First-Ever’

The past couple of years have given us a lot of “first-ever” moments for the WWE women’s division. To be sure the women in WWE today are breaking a hefty amount of ground, but back at the turn of the century, Chyna was pulling off things the current roster of female Superstars can only dream of replicating.

While 2018 brought the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match, it was all the way back in 1999 that Chyna became the first woman to enter the men’s version of that 30-person contest. We know from experience that most of the entrants in the match have little chance to win, but Chyna was always in the main event discussion. Because of this, the idea of a woman winning the Royal Rumble and challenging for the World Wrestling Federation Championship in the main event at WrestleMania was not so far-fetched.

In that way Chyna was also the first and –until recently – only woman to come close to breathing main event air at the biggest show of the year. Beth Phoenix and Kharma would enter the men’s Rumble in subsequent years but never stood a believable chance of winning the way Chyna did. Chyna’s presence at WWE pay-per-views was regular and meaningful, and while she certainly would have loved the idea of 2018’s first all-women’s pay-per-view, Evolution, she was never a stranger to that grand a stage.

1999 was also the year that saw Chyna become the first woman to ever enter WWE’s prestigious King of the Ring Tournament. She was a regular participant in the yearly event from then on; she never made it to the end but was cause for a constant discussion about whether a female winner should be called the “Queen of the Ring.”

Perhaps none of Chyna’s “first-ever” moments were bigger than those that helped her build such a close relationship with championship titles usually reserved for the men of the roster. She was the first woman to ever become the number one contender to the WWE Championship and compete for the title, but she truly made headlines when she became the first and only woman to ever win the Intercontinental Championship. As it happened, her rivalry over the title with Chris Jericho helped propel his young WWE career into greater territory, too.

Finally, it’s interesting to note that Chyna has the very special distinction of being the only person to hold both the WWE Women’s and Intercontinental Titles.