Credit: WWE.com
Wrestling legend Joanie “Chyna” Laurer stood alone during her time as a WWE Superstar at the end of a path paved with tears and the wrecked bodies of the men she defeated in competition to get there. She stood with no peers, because she was a woman going solo in a male-dominated world in an era where the majority of the audience held ignorant ideas of women in sports.
That’s no longer the case. As evidenced by any WWE show today, women are a frequent and necessary part of in-ring combat. Superstars of the women’s division like Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and more are regularly getting nearly as much screen time as the men. These women are getting main events and huge pay-per-view spots and their status grows every week. In so many ways, though, Chyna kicked the door open for all of that.
Chyna didn’t discriminate in taking on any man or woman to step up to her. Chyna was strong, bold and unapologetic, and she dominated the Attitude era in WWE as its most fascinating Superstar. She made so much history and had such a massive influence on the generations of stars to come that her absence from the WWE Hall of Fame is a stain on the company’s reputation.
If you’re new to the woman so affectionately referred to as “the Ninth Wonder of the World,” have a seat. Maybe you’re a young fan or just generally new to WWE; either way, to understand the influence of Chyna is to appreciate one of the strongest pillars of the entire wrestling industry.
Credit: WWE.com
Chyna Represented Many Different Types of Women
Body image has always been a very important issue, and it’s one WWE has tapped into for storyline resources more than once. But no matter how many times they’ve had a Nia Jax or a Mickie James come out as the hero of the body-shaming story, Chyna has always stood as the ultimate figure of empowerment.
As a gorgeous woman who was beating up men for a living, Chyna was always 10 steps ahead of anyone who might try to make her feel less beautiful than she knew she was. She proved beauty truly knows no bounds by showing us that a silent and brooding bodyguard can also grace the cover of Playboy Magazine and become a sex symbol for the entire nation. It was clear that the Ninth Wonder of the World loved herself, and she wasn’t going to give that up, even if it meant changing her looks from time to time.
Her beauty wasn’t just skin-deep, either. Chyna was always oozing confidence no matter what side of her we got to see. From her days as an immovable wall of a woman in D-Generation X to her time as Eddie Guerrero’s love-sick and giggly “Mamacita,” you invariably got the feeling she knew exactly who she was and her on-screen presence was absolutely captivating.
Through her time in the World Wrestling Federation, Chyna showed us countless different versions of herself, and each one of those stood as an example of a strong, attractive and intelligent woman who was in the process of making history.
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.
Credit: WWE.com
Chyna Made Women in the Ring the Norm
Sitting down for just about any hour of WWE television today, you’d see a company that respects its female employees and a live audience that often gets emotionally invested in those women’s matches. Women are all over WWE today and are usually portrayed in a respectful, competitive light.
It wasn’t always that way, of course. We get hung up pretty easily on what ground-breaking announcement is coming next for WWE’s women’s division, but it wasn’t all that long ago that the idea of a woman competing in a man’s wrestling ring was seen as pure comedic genius. Some of the earliest female pro wrestling stars like Mae Young and the “Fabulous” Moolah wrestled in an era when women were the special attraction and when Chyna came to WWE things were pretty much still the same.
The point I’m aiming to make here is that Chyna is the reason women aren’t laughed at when they say they want to compete for wrestling glory the way men have been doing for over a century. Certainly, when Chyna first started mixing it up with the men back in 1997 there was some comic relief to be had; a woman was beating up men and she was just as big as – if not bigger than – most of them. It was the first time the mainstream wrestling world had seen such a thing on this scale.
Credit: WWE.com
But as time went on Chyna quickly became a regular performer in the men’s division and a staple of the Attitude era. All of the excitement of her early encounters with (and wins over) her male contemporaries, while definitely warranted, faded into acceptance. It wasn’t a big deal that Chyna was pinning the biggest male stars of the most popular era in professional wrestling or that she was competing for and winning their championships.
No one was impressed anymore that this Amazonian athlete was just as successful as the biggest male WWF Superstars; it was just the norm. Maybe it’s me, but I find that to be totally mind-blowing when thinking of how the “family friendly” WWE product of today seems to have a phobia of a competitive match between a man and a woman.
So the next time you’re watching Becky Lynch or Ronda Rousey duke it out in WWE’s main event, remember that the reason either of them can even step through the ropes without any reaction but laughter is because of one woman: the Ninth Wonder of the World, Chyna.
Credit: WWE.com
The Attitude Era’s Most Riveting Star
Chyna’s impact is still being felt almost two decades since her departure from WWE and it’s no surprise why. Over the course of her relatively brief run in the World Wrestling Federation she showed us so many different sides of herself. It’s common for WWE Superstars to rework their characters as their careers progress in order to hold the interest of one of the world’s most fickle audiences, but we had a truly unique perspective on Chyna every few months.
Early on Chyna was a bodyguard of sorts for D-Generation X and one of the three founding members of that infamous stable, along with Triple H and Shawn Michaels. It’s funny that she’s so rarely honored when WWE touts the history of DX, because Chyna was the group’s backbone and most intriguing member. She softened from being an expressionless monolith and eventually participated in many of DX’s trademark shenanigans.
After DX had mostly ran its course Chyna would continue to accompany Triple H during his rise to the top of the food chain. She was competing more frequently and already had become a regular challenger for men’s championships. Her pairing with Triple H would ensure that she and The Game would forever be connected and frequently discussed in the same breath by the wrestling fandom.
Chyna eventually broke out on her own as a babyface and would further her status a late ‘90s feminist icon through her rivalry with Jeff Jarret. The feud revolved around “Double J” telling Chyna to stay in the kitchen and assaulting his associates Debra and Miss Kitty, the latter of whom would soon become known as “The Kat” when she joined Chyna in shutting Jarrett down. It resulted in one of the Ninth Wonder of the World’s defining moments when she pinned Jarrett in a “Good Housekeeping” match to become the first female Intercontinental Champion.
Her time with the Intercontinental Title wasn’t over. When her feud with Chris Jericho over the title came around, the belt (yeah, I said it) was front and center. Late 1999 and early 2000 saw the two embroiled in one of the Attitude era’s most interesting programs as they battled one another on some days and teamed together on others. At one point these frenemies both held the Intercontinental Title at the same time, becoming the only co-holders of that title in WWE history.
Chyna soon moved on to becoming the romantic focus of “Latino Heat” Eddie Guerrero, who was just getting his young WWE career going. The storyline helped Guerrero worm his way into the hearts of the WWE Universe and allowed Chyna to show a vulnerable side of herself we weren’t at all accustomed to seeing. She was standoffish at first, but soon couldn’t help but to return Eddie’s affection. Their on-screen relationship was pivotal in the careers of both and it familiarized us with Chyna’s absolutely infectious smile.
Though Chyna will always be fondly remembered for powerbombing men left and right, ultimately she landed in the women’s division and as her career came to a close she ran through the women on the roster like a knife through butter. At her final WrestleMania appearance in 2001 she defeated Ivory for the Women’s Championship and would go on to retire with the title months later.
Credit: WWE.com
Chyna Made No Apologies
No one has ever outdone Chyna in her ability to exemplify courage and confidence. She was a hero to the end in the face of the world’s judgments for the life choices she made after her sudden and lackluster retirement from the ring. Her battles with substance abuse were well-documented, but it is likely her decision to make adult films that has WWE terrified of properly honoring her legacy.
The joke’s on WWE, because Chyna never felt the need to defend her decisions and she was quite proud of her work in the adult film industry. That’s Chyna in a nutshell: she did what she wanted to do and never let the world stop her.
Triple H once indicated that the reason WWE hasn’t inducted Chyna into the Hall of Fame is because of her choices in this area, which is ironic considering WWE itself heavily promoted her appearance in Playboy Magazine. Family-friendly company or not, if this is true it’s a big middle finger to everything Chyna did for WWE all because of some very human decisions she made in the years after being ousted from the business on some pretty cold terms, according to Chyna herself.
But she never faltered. Chyna always knew who she was and despite her attempts to return to the company for a farewell to her fans she was never willing to compromise her own self worth to make it happen. Hopefully one day WWE will loosen the leash on these ridiculous hold-ups and place Chyna among her fellow elite in the Hall of Fame where she belongs.
Credit: WWE.com
A Lasting Impact
Today’s female WWE Superstars have been winning the fight to be included in the company’s biggest matches, such as Hell in a Cell and Money in the Bank, but Chyna was mixing it up with men on the regular. It wasn’t a big deal to see an intergender match during the Attitude era and that’s almost entirely because Chyna was accepted as a contender for any and all championships, regardless of her gender.
With all of the various ways Chyna repeatedly reinvented herself and considering how big an impact she had on the entire pro wrestling industry, it’s beyond difficult to believe that her WWE career lasted only a short four years. With all due respect to Steve Austin, Triple H and The Rock, none of them can lay claim to having revolutionized so many aspects of WWE and the wrestling world at large in such a short amount of time.
No, there has never been another Chyna and there never will be. That’s because even if WWE one day pits women and men against one another at center stage again the discussion will be completely different. No one will wonder what it would be like to see a woman and a man wrestle one another competitively and no one will have a reasonable (sexist) worry that it could harm the careers of the men involved, because some of the men Chyna “womanhandled” went on to become the biggest stars in the industry.
The women’s revolution going on now in WWE is groundbreaking and long overdue, but we can never forget that it got its start with just one woman almost two decades ago. That woman was Chyna, and she was a one-woman revolution.