At the age of 45, groundbreaking professional wrestler Joanie Laurer, who performed professionally as “Chyna”, was found dead in her home in California. It has been speculated that she died from a drug overdose and was already dead for nearly two days when her body was found.
When she entered the WWF in the late 90’s as the bodyguard of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the wrestling world had never seen anything like her. Chyna did not look like any other woman who had previously been associated with the industry and she was a physical match for many of the men, so much so, that she began to wrestle against them.
In the process of becoming the first female (and only) Intercontinental Champion, Chyna embarked on facial reconstruction and breast augmentation surgery and became a sex symbol. Arguably, at one point she was amongst the top five in popularity in the WWE. She was not able to come up with a contract agreeable with the WWE in 2001 and she would part ways with the organization, though the story had been put out that she felt forced out following her former boyfriend’s (Triple H) tryst and eventual marriage with the owner’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon.
Chyna’s career would spiral downward including a stint in pornographic films, which as per a podcast with Steve Austin, indicated that this is what would keep her out of the WWE Hall of Fame, though he did refer to her as a Hall of Famer following her death. Chyna has been lobbying hard in the past year to get into the Hall.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com offer our condolences to the friends and family of Joanie Lauer at this time.
RIP: Chyna
- Written by Committee Chairman
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Published in Not in Hall of Fame News
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Read 2788 times
22 Apr
2016
2016
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