Chyna Doll - Joanie Laurer
In the history of professional wrestling, never has a female wrestler had the impact that Chyna Doll has with her entrance into the sport. Billed as 5’10", 200 lbs., the muscularly imposing woman so dominated the ring that she quickly jumped from women's competition to men’s. She was the first woman to compete in the Royal Rumble and King of the Ring tournament and she was a first woman which holds a men's title in he WWF by defeating Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental title in 1999.
Chyna was born on December 27th 1970. Her real name is Joanie Laurer. Her parents, Joe and Tina, divorced when she was young. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother (Chyna said) had a new guy every year. In an interview she said that weight lifting was her way out from that situation. She was basically raised by her sister Kathy. Chyna's first boyfriend and weight-trainer was Gerry Blais.
Joanie Laurer was an intelligent and athletic student in high school and at the University of Tampa where she majored in Spanish and Literature. Fluent in several languages, she spent time after college serving in the Peace Corps and contemplated where her life would take her. Capable of entering many different fields, she was drawn to follow her interest in physical fitness. She trained for physical fitness contests and was very active in the weight room.
One night Chyna was watching TV with her sister Kathy and saw a WWF fight. She decided to try it. Her first destination was "Killer" Kowalski's Wrestling School were she graduated as one of the best and do I have to mention that she was the only girl there.
Chyna really wanted to make it big in the wrestling business and she knew wrestling for "women's" promotions wasn't going to get her anywhere. She says she would travel around to wherever the promotions were with her portfolio and get agents to look at it. According to her, she didn't care if they through it in the garbage when they left, as long as they looked at it. After being introduced to now boyfriend Paul Levesque aka Triple H Chyna wanted it more and more and Triple H knew how bad she wanted it! So he came up with the idea of using her as a "bodyguard" type person to walk him out to the ring. So he pitched the idea to the owner of the World Wrestling Federation Vince McMahon. Vince wasn't too thrilled of the idea of a muscular woman but he said they could try it out and see how the fans reacted. Her size, strength and poise caused her to be feared by men and women alike throughout the World Wrestling Federation, so much so that she was openly referred to as "The Ninth Wonder of the World".
Chyna began interfering in matches as a member of Degeneration X, often throwing low-blows to the male opponents in the ring, helping to secure important, albeit tainted, victories for her team. Often the men would confront her but were too "chivalrous" to physically attack her. This changed when an irate Ken Shamrock suplexed her during a nationally televised match. She finally got an opportunity to test her mettle against a male opponent as she took on Val Venis in a match in June of 1999 when she scored a pinball after delivering a face buster to Venis.
Her new success led her to enter the King of the Ring tournament where she was defeated by the Road Dogg, but she moved up the charts as a serious competitor to males in the WWF.
At WrestleMania 99' Triple H was scheduled to fight Kane and at that time Chyna was in alliance with Kane so when Chyna made her way out to the ring the fans automatically thought that Chyna was there to screw(fight) Triple yet again. But little did they know that Triple H and Chyna have been planning to get back together and WrestleMania was the best place to come back together! At No Mercy of 99' Chyna opened a can of whope a$$ on Jeff Jarrett and showed him who was wearing the pants there. In one of Chyna best matches she took home the gold and became the first woman Intercontinental Champion, in fact she was the first woman ever to hold a man’s belt! The next night on Raw Chyna came out with a "mini me" Apparently Chyna and Miss Kitty were in alliance. Now Chyna was in the big time now that she had someone to follow her around for a change.
In addition to her success in the ring, Chyna Doll became very popular amongst female fans because of her willingness to break through the glass ceiling and compete on the same playing field with the "big boys." Here popularity allowed her to crossover into acting where she became a favorite guest star on the "3rd Rock from the Sun" television show. She has also put out a fitness video and appeared on many talk shows discussing her life and the obstacles she has faced. Although not entirely comfortable with being viewed as a role model, she found satisfaction in knowing that younger women followed her lead in maintaining a healthy self-esteem and going after their dreams.
Joanie Laurer was an intelligent and athletic student in high school and at the University of Tampa where she majored in Spanish and Literature. Fluent in several languages, she spent time after college serving in the Peace Corps and contemplated where her life would take her. Capable of entering many different fields, she was drawn to follow her interest in physical fitness. She trained for physical fitness contests and was very active in the weight room.
One night Chyna was watching TV with her sister Kathy and saw a WWF fight. She decided to try it. Her first destination was "Killer" Kowalski's Wrestling School were she graduated as one of the best and do I have to mention that she was the only girl there.
Chyna really wanted to make it big in the wrestling business and she knew wrestling for "women's" promotions wasn't going to get her anywhere. She says she would travel around to wherever the promotions were with her portfolio and get agents to look at it. According to her, she didn't care if they through it in the garbage when they left, as long as they looked at it. After being introduced to now boyfriend Paul Levesque aka Triple H Chyna wanted it more and more and Triple H knew how bad she wanted it! So he came up with the idea of using her as a "bodyguard" type person to walk him out to the ring. So he pitched the idea to the owner of the World Wrestling Federation Vince McMahon. Vince wasn't too thrilled of the idea of a muscular woman but he said they could try it out and see how the fans reacted. Her size, strength and poise caused her to be feared by men and women alike throughout the World Wrestling Federation, so much so that she was openly referred to as "The Ninth Wonder of the World".
Chyna began interfering in matches as a member of Degeneration X, often throwing low-blows to the male opponents in the ring, helping to secure important, albeit tainted, victories for her team. Often the men would confront her but were too "chivalrous" to physically attack her. This changed when an irate Ken Shamrock suplexed her during a nationally televised match. She finally got an opportunity to test her mettle against a male opponent as she took on Val Venis in a match in June of 1999 when she scored a pinball after delivering a face buster to Venis.
Her new success led her to enter the King of the Ring tournament where she was defeated by the Road Dogg, but she moved up the charts as a serious competitor to males in the WWF.
At WrestleMania 99' Triple H was scheduled to fight Kane and at that time Chyna was in alliance with Kane so when Chyna made her way out to the ring the fans automatically thought that Chyna was there to screw(fight) Triple yet again. But little did they know that Triple H and Chyna have been planning to get back together and WrestleMania was the best place to come back together! At No Mercy of 99' Chyna opened a can of whope a$$ on Jeff Jarrett and showed him who was wearing the pants there. In one of Chyna best matches she took home the gold and became the first woman Intercontinental Champion, in fact she was the first woman ever to hold a man’s belt! The next night on Raw Chyna came out with a "mini me" Apparently Chyna and Miss Kitty were in alliance. Now Chyna was in the big time now that she had someone to follow her around for a change.
In addition to her success in the ring, Chyna Doll became very popular amongst female fans because of her willingness to break through the glass ceiling and compete on the same playing field with the "big boys." Here popularity allowed her to crossover into acting where she became a favorite guest star on the "3rd Rock from the Sun" television show. She has also put out a fitness video and appeared on many talk shows discussing her life and the obstacles she has faced. Although not entirely comfortable with being viewed as a role model, she found satisfaction in knowing that younger women followed her lead in maintaining a healthy self-esteem and going after their dreams.
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