THE death of WWE Superstar Chyna has left wrestling fans across the world
devastated – and angry.
Ever
since it was confirmed that the 45-year-old had been found dead at her
California home, social media timelines have been filled with tributes
to the iconic athlete.
But along with the praise has been plenty of vitriol aimed at WWE head honcho
Vince McMahon.
The wrestling boss and Chyna, real name Joanie Laurer, had a tense
relationship, and fans believe that he let their personal issues get in the
way of her achieving all of her professional ambitions – and potential.
Last August, Chyna revealed that her decision to pose naked in the November
2000 issue of Playboy stopped her from becoming the first ever female WWE
World Champion.
Speaking to the Bell 2 Bell Podcast she said: “It was actually in the
pipeline and ready to happen, but when Playboy came along and wanted me to
pose for them, I had to make a choice.
“Vince told me that if I did Playboy, I could never be world champion.
“I’m a woman, I like to feel pretty and liberated (and be able to kick
some ass too), so I chose Playboy and was never World Champion.”
But it wasn’t only her decision to peel off for the men’s mag that destroyed
her relationship with Vince – whispers from fans and insiders hint that the
reason was much more personal.
Fans of WWE, formerly WWF, are only too aware that Chyna was romantically
involved with wrestler Triple H for four years from 1996 – but their
relationship ended around the time he was scripted to have an on-screen
relationship with Stephanie as part of a storyline… in 2000.
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While Triple H – real name Paul Levesque – claims he and Joanie had broken up
when his feelings for Stephanie became genuine, many suspected he betrayed
her with his boss’ daughter.
Triple H and Stephanie’s love affair formed the backbone of many of the show’s
storylines, with the couple marrying on screen in October 2003.
If the whispers are true, it would explain Chyna’s sometimes aggressive
displays of strength against the puppetmaster of the World Wrestling
Entertainment empire.
In 1999, fans’ hearts were in their mouths when she almost DECAPITATED her
boss during a Corporate Royal Rumble match.
As she threw him from the ring, his head got caught in the ropes, causing him
to nearly garotte himself on live TV.
An arm wrestling match that same year saw her smash his hand in to the table –
but only after Vince, who had clearly orchestrated the scenario so that he
wouldn’t be seen to be beaten by her – was knocked on the arm by an
over-eager onlooker.
After leaving the ring, some say forced out by Vince so his daughter could
continue with her relationship guilt-free, Chyna posed again for Playboy in
2002 before releasing a home made sex tape starring her and wrestler
boyfriend X Pac in 2004.
Filmed during a trip to the Far East – and inspired by Paris Hilton’s film,
cheekily titled One Night in China – the tape was marred in controversy.
While she agreed with the tape’s release, she denied she ever signed on the
dotted line, although her ex, real name Sean Waltman, was adamant she picked
up $100,000 (£69,700) from the deal.
A year after its release, she was arrested for domestic assault after
alledgedly beating Sean.
Days later, she was arrested after stripping naked and jumping in to a
fishtank in a New York club, and weeks later she made a shambolic appearance
on The Howard Stern Show where she revealed she wanted to stop taking drugs,
but wouldn’t turn down a line of cocaine.
More porn followed with 2009’s Another Night In China, and in 2011 she signed
a professional deal with Vivid Video.
She told Wrestling News Live’s Fall Out Show: “I am totally psyched and
I’ll tell you why. I haven’t felt like this since I was on top of my
wrestling days, right before my departure.
“I had just done my book and I did Playboy and it was the total high of
my life. I loved every day and I woke up every day to do all that. It was
tremendous.
“I had been doing little movies here and there and a couple of reality
shows but this, when this opportunity came up, I was like ‘yeah’, I didn’t
have to think twice about it.
“I was insecure for about two minutes and then I thought, ‘why on earth
would you not do this?'”
Her first film for the adult entertainment giants, Backdoor to Chyna, outraged
her former colleagues as it parodied her time at WWE, and saw her being
intimate with actors dressed like both Vince and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
But she wasn’t ready to fully leave her wrestling career behind, and began
vigorously campaigning to be admitted to the WWE Hall of Fame – much to the
horror of Triple H, who said that her “lifestyle choice” might
make it difficult to include her incase she was googled by young fans.
Chyna later claimed Triple H had hit her – which he vehemently denied.
Last August, Chyna – who had a range of breast implants named after her – hit
the headlines after she confronted her ex-boyfriend Triple H at Roddy
Piper’s funeral, where she reportedly tried to apologise for her comments.
He didn’t react well, apparently as he was worried that she was filming their
encounter for a rumoured new documentary project.”
However, fans think that Chyna’s descent in to addiction, sleaze and
controversy would never have happened had her break-up with Triple H not
happened – or she had been treated better by Vince McMahon.
She went on to claim in a 2015 interview that after a meeting with him about
the “Stephanie situation”, she was sent home and later received a
fax saying she was no longer needed.
They are also left questionning whether or not she will finally get the
immortal recognition she deserves, or if her death will be used as a way for
the McMahon empire to erase her from WWE history for good.