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Chyna holds the distinction of being the only Diva in WWE history to compete, full time, in the men's division. She was the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble, qualify for the King of the Ring tournament, and be the number one contender for the WWF Championship. In 1999, she became the first and only woman to hold the WWF Intercontinental Championship, which she held twice. She also held the WWF Women's Championship once, before leaving the company in 2001. She claims that Levesque's affair with Stephanie McMahon, daughter of WWF owner Vince McMahon, was a factor in her departure. After originally retiring from professional wrestling in 2004, Chyna made a return in May 2011 by joining Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Outside of wrestling, Laurer has appeared in Playboy magazine twice, as well as numerous television shows and films. In 2005, Laurer was a cast member on VH1's The Surreal Life, which led to several other celebrity reality appearances on the network, including The Surreal Life: Fame Games in 2007 and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2008. She is also known for her tumultuous relationship with fellow wrestler Sean Waltman, with whom she made a sex tape. It was released in 2004 and entitled 1 Night in China.
Early life
Joan Marie Laurer was born on December 27, 1970 in Rochester, New York to parents Janet and Joe Laurer. She had two older siblings: Janet and Sonny. After her parents divorced when she was approximately four years old, Laurer had three different stepfathers and one stepmother. According to Laurer, her first stepfather threatened suicide at one point, and her biological father, who once accidentally stabbed her mother in the thigh with a bread knife, had a problem with alcohol. From 1973 to 1983, Joanie Laurer, her siblings, and her mom moved several times.
As a child, Laurer learned to play both the violin and cello. In seventh grade, Laurer was sexually kissed by a much older teacher who worked at her school. At age thirteen, while attending Penfield High School, Laurer began purging after she ate. She left home at age sixteen after her mother tried to force her into a drug rehabilitation facility, instead going to live with her biological father. That same year, she began working out, and because her stomach muscles were so strong, she did not feel any pain when she developed an ovarian tumor. She finished her last year of high school in Spain. She attended the University of Tampa, graduating in 1992 with a major in Spanish Literature. During college, she was raped by two men after getting drunk at a party. During college, she also studied French and German; Laurer can converse in either language. She also was a member of the ROTC and a Resident Advisor of her dorm. She originally wanted to use her knowledge of foreign languages to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation or Drug Enforcement Administration. Subsequently, she joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to Guatemala.
After returning from abroad, she held several different jobs: a cocktail waitress in a strip club, singer in a band, and a 900-number chat line worker. In her mid-to-late 20s, while living in the Florida Keys, Laurer took a six-week class to train to be a flight attendant. On the way to her first flight, however, she was in a car accident and spent four days in the hospital. Laurer suffered a fractured ankle, a broken nose, a strained back, and facial lacerations. After recovering from the accident, Laurer's sister Kathy helped her get a job selling beepers, and both women also worked as belly dancers.
After college, Laurer began to regularly enter fitness competitions. In 1996, Laurer competed in the New York City regional level of the Fitness America competition. Because of her large size compared to the other women, Laurer usually finished in last place in competitions.
Professional wrestling career
Training and independent circuit (1995-1997)
Joanie Laurer trained at Wladek "Killer" Kowalski's professional wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts. Her first match was in 1995 against a male wrestler dressed as a woman. While attending the school, she also worked for various independent promotions as Joanie Lee. Some of her earliest matches were set up by The Fabulous Moolah.
Laurer met World Wrestling Federation (WWF) performers Paul "Triple H" Levesque and Shawn Michaels after a professional wrestling show in 1996. After watching tapes of her matches, they decided to bring her into the WWF as a bodyguard. Vince McMahon, the owner of the WWF, initially did not want her to join the company because he did not believe the audience would find a woman beating up men believable. While waiting for the WWF's decision, Laurer was approached by World Championship Wrestling (WCW), who wanted her to be the sole-female member of the New World Order. She initially accepted the offer, but later turned it down when Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon's son, informed her that she was about to be hired by the WWF. Kowalski, her former trainer, however, maintains that he got her hired by the WWF after introducing her to Shane McMahon and telling him of WCW's interest in her.
Chyna acted as an enforcer for D-Generation X through their first two incarnations.
Vince McMahon later changed his mind by hiring Laurer, and she made her WWF debut on February 16, 1997 at In Your House 13: Final Four; her character emerged as a plant from a ringside seat, choking Marlena while Goldust was in the ring with Triple H. Her original role in the promotion was as the laconic enforcer/bodyguard for Triple H and later, his D-Generation X group (which included Sean "X-Pac" Waltman). She often helped Triple H (then, a rising villain) cheat to win by physically interfering in matches by executing her trademark low blow to the groin. She was later introduced as "Chyna", a play on words; fine china is delicate and fragile, which was a sharp contrast to her character. Off-screen, however, the male wrestlers were hesitant at first to let a female over-power them on-screen.
In January 1999, Chyna was the thirtieth entrant in the Royal Rumble, becoming the first woman ever to enter the contest. The day after the Royal Rumble, Chyna became a villain by betraying Triple H and aligning herself with his enemy Vince McMahon and Kane. Laurer teamed with Kane at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view against former allies X-Pac and Triple H. At WrestleMania XV, Chyna turned on Kane in his match by attacking him with a chair, appearing to rejoin DX. Chyna and Triple H, however, turned against DX later that evening when they helped Shane McMahon defeat DX member X-Pac. The duo became part of The Corporation and later Shane McMahon's Corporate Ministry. Following the dissolution of the Corporate Ministry, Chyna remained at Triple H's side.
Intercontinental Champion (1999–2000)
In June 1999, Chyna became the first woman to qualify for the King of the Ring tournament. She was also the first female to be the number one contender for the WWF Championship, but lost the spot to Mick Foley before SummerSlam in August. Later that year, Laurer became a fan favorite again during her long feud with Jeff Jarrett. At Unforgiven, she had a match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Jarrett, which she lost. She defeated Jarrett for the title at No Mercy in his last WWF match, a Good Housekeeping match, on October 17 at No Mercy, in the process becoming the first and only woman to win the Intercontinental Championship. She also gained the services of his valet, Miss Kitty. Laurer claims that Jarrett demanded (and received) $300,000 from Vince McMahon in order to lose the title cleanly to a woman. His contract had expired on October 16, and he was therefore not contractually obligated to appear on the pay-per-view. If he had not appeared, the WWF would have been criticized for false advertising, and the lineage of the title would have been broken.
Chyna then feuded with Chris Jericho over the belt, defeating him at the Survivor Series, but losing the title to him at Armageddon. The two faced off again in a match on the December 28 edition of SmackDown!, which ended controversially with both wrestlers pinning each other. As a result, then "head of authority" Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley declared them co-champions. At the Royal Rumble, Jericho and Chyna defended the title against Hardcore Holly in a Triple Threat match to determine the Intercontinental Champion, which Jericho won. Afterwards, Laurer briefly teamed with Jericho.
Aligning with Eddie Guerrero; Women's Champion and departure (2000–2001)
Chyna at King of the Ring with Eddie Guerrero during their romance angle; Guerrero would often give Chyna flowers before a match.
Not long after losing the Intercontinental title, Laurer became the on-screen girlfriend of Eddie Guerrero. Guerrero and Laurer, originally villains, later became fan favorites during the summer of 2000, with Guerrero dubbing her his "Mamacita". The couple faced Val Venis and then-rookie Trish Stratus in an intergender tag team match at SummerSlam with the Intercontinental Championship on the line. Chyna won the match, but lost the belt two weeks later to Guerrero in a Triple Threat match with Kurt Angle. They officially split in November 2000 after Chyna, in storyline, found Eddie cavorting in the shower with two other women.
At the same time, Laurer posed nude for Playboy magazine's November 2000 issue. Her Playboy modeling was also worked into a WWE storyline, in which it drew the ire of the Right to Censor (a group of morally conservative and self-righteous wrestlers). Shortly after, Laurer began a feud with Ivory, a member of the Right to Censor, over the Women's Championship.
This culminated in a storyline at the Royal Rumble where Laurer appeared to reinjure her neck while performing a handspring back elbow. In order to better convince the audience that she was injured, color commentator Jerry Lawler left the commentators' booth and entered the ring to check on Laurer's condition, something he had not done since the in-ring accident that killed Owen Hart in 1999. When Laurer returned from the "injury", she won the Women's Championship from Ivory at WrestleMania X-Seven in a squash match, a short match where one performer defeats the other with ease. Laurer also defended her title against Lita at Judgment Day in 2001. Although she won the match, she soon vacated the Women's Championship, as this was Laurer's final WWF match. The relationship between Triple H, her former real-life boyfriend, and Stephanie McMahon (with whom Laurer claims he had an affair and then left her for), was a major factor in her departure. She left World Wrestling Federation on November 30, 2001, several months after she had been taken off of television. Jim Ross later claimed that she was not fired, but rather chose to leave for personal reasons.
Return to independent circuit and retirement (2001–2004)
Laurer's in-ring career after WWE was limited. In 2002, Laurer joined New Japan Pro Wrestling and made her first appearance at the New Japan Thirtieth Anniversary Show, refereeing a bout between the Steiner Brothers and Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kensuke Sasaki. In September and October 2002, she wrestled four matches for the promotion. After losing to Masahiro Chono on October 14, 2002, Laurer performed her final match on October 26, teaming with the Fake Great Muta in a loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenzo Suzuki. Laurer was also scheduled to appear with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, but could not due to contracting pneumonia.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2011)
During the May 3, 2011, tapings of the May 12 edition of Impact!, Chyna made her TNA debut, introduced by the returning Spike TV network consultant Mick Foley. He introduced her as Kurt Angle's business associate (she had been previously referred to as his "Mistress") and tag team partner at Sacrifice, where they would face Jeff Jarrett and Karen Jarrett. During the taping she also took part in a battle royal, from which she eliminated Jeff. According to reports, Chyna has not signed a contract with TNA, but instead agreed to work the tapings and the PPV on a handshake deal. At Sacrifice, Chyna submitted Karen for the win in the mixed tag team match.
Chyna autographing her issue of Playboy, on October 8, 2007
Laurer modeled nude for Playboy; her first issue, which featured a pictorial of her, was released in November 2000. In 2002, following her departure from the WWF, Laurer appeared in a second nude pictorial. She also filmed a Playboy adult documentary entitled Joanie Laurer Nude: Wrestling Superstar to Warrior Princess, which followed Laurer on the set.
In 2001, Laurer released her autobiography entitled If They Only Knew. It spent time on The New York Times' bestseller list. She appeared as a character named Lulu in Sevendust's music video for the song "Enemy" in 2003.
Television and movies
Laurer appeared on The Howard Stern Show in 2000, where she claims that she "made [an ass] out of [her]self." She also appeared in 3rd Rock from the Sun as Janice, a police officer who briefly dated Harry Solomon, as well as several Stacker 2 commercials and was a presenter at the MTV Video Music Awards.
In 2001, Laurer was a guest on a special celebrity edition of Fear Factor. She lost in the final round of the competition to Coolio. The following year, Laurer was reportedly up for a part in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but lost out on the role to Kristanna Loken. Laurer was also the host of Robot Wars: Grand Champions in 2002. She also appeared on the celebrity game show, Hollywood Squares in 2003.
In early 2005, Laurer debuted on The Surreal Life, with housemates Da Brat, Jane Wiedlin, Adrianne Curry, Christopher Knight, Marcus Schenkenberg, and Verne Troyer. On the show, she drank heavily, appeared nude, and got into an argument with her ex, Sean Waltman. She remained friends with Adrianne Curry after the show and made a brief cameo on her reality show My Fair Brady. Laurer also appeared on The Surreal Life: Fame Games, which began to air on VH1 in January 2007. The filming took place in April 2006 in Las Vegas. Her elimination from the show, which occurred in the seventh episode, was controversial. Andrea Lowell had accumulated the lowest score in the "Celebrity Call-Back-A-Thon" challenge, but she manipulated Kennedy, the judge, to increase her score and got Laurer eliminated in the process.
Also in 2006, Laurer appeared in Just Another Romantic Wrestling Comedy and Illegal Aliens, the latter of which was the last movie featuring Anna Nicole Smith before her death. On Cristina's Court, a syndicated court-themed reality show, Laurer appeared in an episode originally airing July 14, 2007 in a civil dispute against a breeder of teacup chihuahuas. Judge Perez ruled in favor of the plaintiff—Laurer—awarding her $4,000.
In 2011, Laurer starred in her first professional pornographic film for Vivid Video titled Backdoor To Chyna, which is promoted as including her first anal sex scene. Also for Vivid she starred as She-Hulk in their parody of The Avengers released in May 2012. A spin-off feature entirely centered around the She-Hulk character has also been announced.
Personal life
Chyna and Triple H
Laurer's breast implants were custom-made for her after her first implants were ruptured during a wrestling match. She had also complained to her plastic surgeon that their largest implants did not suit her frame in the way she desired. Laurer's custom implants became the model for the Chyna 2000s, a model of breast implant now marketed to large-framed women and female bodybuilders. Laurer claims to have paid $6,000 for them.
From 1996 until 2000, Laurer dated fellow wrestler Paul "Triple H" Levesque. They initially hid their relationship from their co-workers because Laurer felt that people might think she "[slept] her way to the top". The duo also lived together for some time. Beginning in 2003, however, she had a tumultuous relationship with wrestler Sean Waltman. They were engaged for a period in 2003, then broke up, and then became engaged again, a pattern that continued for the next two years. In 2004, Laurer and Waltman made a sex tape. Eager for a repeat success, the company that released Paris Hilton's celebrity sex tape obtained the footage, edited it, and released it under the name 1 Night in China. The video sold over 100,000 copies, with both Laurer and Waltman earning a share of the profits. Laurer, however, maintains that she did not earn any money from the release. In January 2005, Laurer was arrested for domestic assault after allegedly beating Waltman. She claims that he was also abusive towards her during their relationship. On a February 2007 edition of the Bubba the Love Sponge radio show, Sean Waltman claimed that Laurer also previously dated Ed "Brutus Beefcake" Leslie.
On February 8, 2007 (the date of Anna Nicole Smith's death), a visibly upset Laurer appeared on Larry King Live to speak about her late friend. On the program, Laurer claimed that she "knew it was coming" because of the way the media had ridiculed Smith, and she drew parallels between the plight of Anna and herself. The wife of the CEO of Trim Spa, Monique Goen, however, claimed that Smith did not consider Laurer a friend.
After leaving the WWF, Laurer was unable to use the name "Chyna" because of its trademark. Therefore, she began to use the name "Chynna Doll" for public appearances. In November 2007, however, Laurer filed papers to change her name legally to Chyna.
Laurer has also had problems with substance abuse. She claimed that her "life was spinning out of control" around the time she made the sex tape. In January 2005, Sean Waltman claimed that she was battling drug and alcohol addiction, as well as mental illness. Days after the domestic dispute between Waltman and Laurer, it was reported in the New York Post that she had stripped naked and jumped into a fish tank in a New York nightclub. That same month, she made another appearance on The Howard Stern Show, where she was slurring her words and going off on random tangents. On the program, she claimed to not want to do drugs anymore, but said that if a line of cocaine was in front of her, she would do it. After her appearance, she entered a facility specializing in helping people with depression, and she decided to stop drinking. In early 2008, Laurer appeared on the VH1 reality TV show, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, but she claimed on the show that she did not consider herself an addict. On December 27, 2008, she was rushed to the hospital after her birthday party, where she was found passed out with cuts on her arms.
Laurer has a strained relationship with her family. She last saw her mother at the age of sixteen, and she claims that her father never got over her decision not to join the FBI. She also alleges that her father took out several student loans in her name and without her knowledge, leaving her with $40,000 in debt. On an episode of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew in 2008, Laurer claimed to have a bad relationship with all of her family members, including her siblings. In September 2010, Laurer was hospitalized after overdosing on sleeping medication.
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