Chyna, Wrestler, - Biography, Joanie Laurer
American Wrestler
Ring name(s) Chyna, Chyna Doll, Chynna, Chynna
Doll, Joanie Laurer, Joanie Lee, Just Joanie,
Billed height 5 foot 10 in (
1.78 m )
Billed weight 200 lb ( 91 kg )
Born December 27, 1969, Rochester,
New York
Resides Los Angeles, California
Trained by Killer Kowalski
Debut
1995
Retired October 26, 2002
Joan Marie "Joanie" Laurer is an American actress & retired professional wrestler. A former bodybuilder, she is best known for her career with the World Wrestling Federation between 1997 & 2001, where she was known as Chyna & nicknamed The Ninth Wonder of the World (with the eighth wonder being André the Giant).
Early life
Joanie
Laurer left home at age 16, & went to Spain under a scholarship with the United
Nations. By 1987, she had graduated high school in Spain. She spent the next five
years at the University of Tampa & graduated in 1992 with a double major in
Spanish Literature. Subsequently, she joined the Peace Corps & was assigned
to Costa Rica to teach literacy.
After college, Laurer began to regularly enter fitness competitions. In 1996, Laurer competed in the New York City regional of the Fitness America Pageant.
Professional wrestling career
Joanie
Laurer trained at Wladek "Killer" Kowalski's wrestling school in Salem,
Massachusetts. During this time, she briefly dated Perry "Saturn" Satullo.
She debuted in the year 1995 & worked for various independent promotions as
Just Joanie & Joanie Lee.
1997-1998
Main article: D-Generation X
Laurer
met World Wrestling Federation employees Triple H & Shawn Michaels in a bar
in 1997. Struck by her appearance, they helped her get into the WWF. She made
her WWF debut on February 16 at In Your House 1997 choking Marlena. Her original
role in the company was as Chyna, the laconic bodyguard of Triple H & later
D-Generation X, often getting physically involved in Triple H's matches during
his feuds with Goldust, Mankind, Owen Hart, & The Rock by executing a low-blow
(an uppercut to the crotch). At WWE No Way Out of Texas in 1998, she became the
first woman to be stunned by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
1999
The day after
the Royal Rumble 1999, Laurer turned heel by betraying Triple H & aligning
herself with his enemy Vince McMahon & Kane, his future opponent at WrestleMania
XV. Laurer teamed with Kane in her WWF in-ring debut at the St. Valentine's Day
Massacre 1999 Pay-Per-View against former allies X-Pac & Triple H. The Corporate
pair were successful, although a Triple H vs. Chyna encounter did not occur. At
Wrestlemania XV, Chyna turned on Kane in his match by helping Triple H defeat
him, appearing to rejoin DX. However, Chyna & Triple H turned against DX later
that evening when they helped Shane McMahon defeat DX member X-Pac. The duo became
part of The Corporation, & later Shane McMahon's Corporate Ministry, feuding
with heels & faces such as Steve Austin, Kane, X-Pac & The Rock. Following
the dissolution of the Corporate Ministry, Chyna remained at Triple H's side,
implying there was a romantic relationship, although the two were never affectionate
to one another on-screen.
In late 1999, Laurer became a face again during her long feud with Jeff Jarrett. At Unforgiven 1999, she had a match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Jarrett, which she lost. The next night, Chyna & Debra took on Jeff & Tom Prichard, hoping to be rewarded a re-match at No Mercy 1999. She defeated Jarrett for the title in his last WWF match, a Good Housekeeping match, on October 17 at No Mercy 1999, in the process becoming the first & only woman to win the Intercontinental Championship. She also gained the services of his valet, Miss Kitty. According to her autobiography If They Only Knew, Laurer claims that Jarrett demanded (and received) $250,000 from Vince McMahon in order to lose the title cleanly to a woman. His contract had expired on October 16, 1999 & 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, & the lineage of the title would have been broken.
Chyna then feuded with Chris Jericho over the belt, defeating him at Survivor Series 1999, but losing the title to him at Armageddon 1999. The two faced off again in a match on the December 28th 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.
2000
Laurer's first appearance on the cover of Playboy magazineAt the Royal
Rumble 2000, Jericho & Chyna defended the title against Hardcore Holly in
a triple threat match to determine the Undisputed Champion, which Jericho won.
Laurer briefly teamed with Jericho before becoming the on-screen girlfriend of
then-heel, Eddie Guerrero, thus making her third heel run.
Guerrero & Laurer, originally heels, became very popular during the Summer of 2000, with Guerrero dubbing her his "Mamacita". The couple both faced off against Val Venis & then-rookie Trish Stratus in a intergender tag team match at SummerSlam 2000 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, which also involved Kurt Angle, causing friction between the two. They officially split in the Autumn of 2000 after Eddie was found cavorting in the shower with two of The Godfather's "hos", Mandy & Victoria. At the same time, Laurer's appearance in Playboy attracted the unwanted attention of Right to Censor, a strait-laced group of wrestlers who lampooned the Parents Television Council. Shortly after, Laurer was announced as injured after a double team piledriver at the hands of Ivory & Val Venis.
2001
Laurer returned a few weeks later & began
a feud with Ivory over the Women's Championship. This culminated in an angle at
the Royal Rumble 2001 where Laurer appeared to re-injure her neck while performing
a handspring back elbow. In order to sell the injury, color commentator Jerry
Lawler left the commentators' booth & 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. The highly publicized return of Laurer from the (kayfabe) "injury"
culminated in her winning the Women's Championship from Ivory at WrestleMania
X-Seven in a squash match.
Laurer was an extremely dominant champion, defeating challengers Molly Holly & Trish Stratus with little problem. She also defeated Lita, arguably the WWF's second toughest female, at Judgment Day 2001, Laurer's final WWF match. She vacated the Women's Championship in the process. However, during her contract re-negotiations, it was said that Laurer was unhappy with the pay she was offered & the fact that she was expected to compete principally in the women's division rather than against men. It was also rumored that the relationship between Triple H, her former boyfriend, & Stephanie McMahon, with whom Laurer claims he had an affair & then left Laurer for, was a factor in her departure. She left the company on November 30, 2001, several months after negotiations had broken down & she had been taken off television.
Independent
circuit (2001-2002)
Laurer's in-ring career since then has been very limited.
She sang & wrestled at an Ultimate Pro Wrestling event, & was scheduled
to appear on a talk show hosted by Jonny Fairplay on a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
(TNA) pay-per-view. She did not appear.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2002)
In
2002, Laurer joined the New Japan Pro Wrestling roster. She made her first appearance
at the New Japan Thirtieth Anniversary Show, refereeing a bout between the Steiner
Brothers & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kensuke Sasaki. In September & October
2002, she wrestled four matches for the promotion. After losing to Masahiro Chono
on October 14, 2002, Laurer wrestled her final match on October 26, 2002, teaming
with the Fake Great Muta in a loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kenzo Suzuki.
Wrestling
facts
Finishing & signature moves
Jackknife Powerbomb (Powerbomb)
Pedigree
(Double underhook facebuster)
Cartwheel handspring back elbow
DDT
Gorilla
press drop
Gorilla press slam
Kneeling low blow
Rear naked choke
Sleeper
slam
Testicular claw
Wrestlers managed by Laurer
Debra
Eddie Guerrero
Billy Gunn
Chris Jericho
Kane
The Kat
Shane McMahon
Shawn
Michaels
Road Dogg
Triple H
X-Pac
Championships &
accomplishments
International Wrestling Federation
IWF Women's Championship
(1 time)
Pro Girls Wrestling Association
Rookie of the Year (1996)
Pro
Wrestling Illustrated
PWI ranked her #235 of the 500 best wrestlers in 1999
(first, & only, female to be ranked)
PWI ranked her #106 of the 500 best
wrestlers in 2000
World Wrestling Federation
WWF Intercontinental Championship
(3 times)
WWF Women's Championship (1 time)
The first & , as of May
2007, only female Intercontinental Champion.
Modeling & acting career
2000-2004
In her best selling autobiography, If They Only Knew, Laurer revealed
that her breast implants were custom made after she complained to her plastic
surgeon that their largest implants didn't suit her frame in the way she desired.
Laurer's custom implants became the model for the Chyna 2000s, a model of breast
implant marketed to large framed women & female bodybuilders. Later in the
book, Laurer revealed that the structural integrity of the Chyna 2000 prototypes
was relatively weak, & that one of them ruptured during a wrestling match,
necessitating surgery.
In 2001, Laurer was a guest on a special celebrity edition of Fear Factor. Each contestant played for a charity of his or her choice, & she received $25,000 for the Freedom Families Scholarship Fund. Her competition included Brooke Burke, David Hasselhoff, Kelly Preston, Donny Osmond, & the winner Coolio. She also appeared on the celebrity game show, Hollywood Squares, where she was introduced as 'Joanie Laurer' of New Japan Pro Wrestling. She also appeared on MTV Cribs showing off her home.
Laurer's 2nd cover of Playboy magazine from the Jan. 2002 issueLaurer has modeled nude, notably for Playboy; the first issue which featured a pictorial of her was one of the ten best selling issues in the magazine's history. In 2002, following her departure from the WWF, Laurer also appeared in a Playboy Adult documentary, entitled Joanie Laurer Nude: Wrestling Superstar to Warrior Princess, which followed Laurer on-set of her second Playboy nude pictorial.
Since 2003, Laurer has had a tumultuous relationship with wrestler Sean Waltman. They were engaged for a period in 2003, then broke up, then became engaged again, a pattern which continued for the next two years. In 2004, it was claimed that Laurer & Waltman made a sex tape during a vacation to China earlier that year, but Laurer did not go to China with Waltman. Eager for a repeat success, the company that released Paris Hilton's celebrity sex tape obtained the footage, edited it, & released it under the name 1 Night in China. The video sold over 100,000 copies, with both Laurer & Waltman earning a share of the profits, & boosted both their careers.
2005-2006
In January
2005, Laurer was arrested for domestic assault after allegedly beating Waltman.
In early 2005, Laurer appeared on The Surreal Life, with housemates Da Brat, Jane Wiedlin, Adrianne Curry, Christopher Knight, Marcus Schenkenberg, & Verne Troyer. She remains good friends with Adrianne Curry, & made a brief cameo on her reality show My Fair Brady. 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. In March 2005, Laurer re-appeared on The Howard Stern Show, where Stern noted that not only did Laurer look better than she did during her previous visit, but her entire general appearance & attitude were much better.
In late 2005, Laurer signed to star in a new movie entitled Illegal Aliens, Anna Nicole Smith's last movie before her death. She did a lot of promotional work for the movie, including appearances on talk shows & radio shows. On August 31, 2006, she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live as a singing barber singing with three other veterans. Laurer also appeared on The Howard Stern Show, Queer Edge, & Opie & Anthony. In November 2006, Laurer claimed on the Dr. Keith Ablow show that she did not leave the WWF because of money issues, but left because Stephanie McMahon wanted her out. Also in November 2006, Joanie announced a new musical project with the band "Plastic Jones".
2007-present
In
January 2007, Laurer conducted an interview with "Lifted Magazine" where
she talked about finding religion, overcoming a past full of drugs & violence,
& promoted her new movies & TV series, The Surreal Life: Fame Games, which
began to air on VH1 in January 2007. The filming took place in April 2006, during
which she formed a close friendship with Brigitte Nielsen. 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 &
got Laurer eliminated in the process.
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, & she drew parallels between the plight of Anna & herself. However, a close friend of Smith, Monique Goen, claimed that Smith, in fact, did not consider Laurer a friend.
On February 14, 2007, Laurer & Shane & Sia Barbi led an animal rights protest at UCLA. The trio led other protesters to the door of the Neuropsychiatric Institute, a scientific lab where they perform tests on monkeys. The group had to be split up by the police, but not before a violent protester, who was nowhere near Laurer or the Barbi twins, shouted obscenities & attempted to harm the workers.
Media and Chyna dvd stuff
Books
Chyna: If They Only Knew,
Harper Collins, New York, 2001 ISBN 0-00-712765-0
Movies
Beyond The Mat
(1999)
Chyna Fitness (2000)
Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion (2001)
On
the Line (2001)
Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002)
Joanie Laurer Warrior Princess
(2002)
Hunter: Back in Force (2003)
Alien Tracker (2003)
1 Night in
China (2004)
101 Reasons Not to Be a Pro Wrestler (2005)
Just Another
Romantic Wrestling Comedy (2005)
Illegal Aliens (2006)
The Last Guy on
Earth (2006) (post production)
Cougar Club (2006) (production)
Television
The Martin Short Show - Episode #1.44 (1999)
3rd Rock from the Sun - Episodes:
The Big Giant Head Returns Again: Part 1 & 2 (2000)
3rd Rock from the
Sun - Episode: This Little Dick Went to Market (2000)
Pacific Blue - Episode:
Kidnapped (2000)
Mad TV - Episode #6.5 (2000)
MTV Cribs Episode: #13:
Laurer, Tony Hawk, & Usher (2000)
Tracker - Episodes: Remember When (2001),
Pilot (2002)
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch - Episode: Driving Mr. Goodman (2002)
The Nick Cannon Show - Episode: Nick Takes Over Fitness (2002)
Relic Hunter
- Episode: Antianeirai (2002)
Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Episode #5.8 (2002)
Celebrity Boxing 2 (2002)
The Anna Nicole Show - Episode: The Anna Nicole
Show Holiday Special (2002)
The Surreal Life (2005)
My Fair Brady (2006)
The Surreal Life: Fame Games (2007)
The Tyra Banks Show (2007)
This
site was written in May 2007,
Pictures of Chyna, or Joanie Laurer
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