JOANIE'S LIFE

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- THE EARLY DAYS -
 
Chyna, Who was born Joan "Joanie" Marie Laurer, Was born on the 27th of December, 1969, In Rochester, New York, Where she was one of three children. Her Brother was Sonny and her Sister was called Kathy.

Chyna went on to learn the Violin and the Cello. 
 
Chyna left home at the age of sixteen years old, That same year was when she began to work out and gain that infamous physique of hers that became her signature look in her Pro Wrestling career.

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Chyna sadly had an ovarian tumour shortly after her workouts started, But she said that because her abdominal muscles were so strong, She didn't feel any pain.
 
She finished her last year of high school in a school in Spain. She then returned to the United States to attend to the University of Tampa, Florida, Where she would graduate in 1992 with a major Spanish literature. Along with her knowledge of Spanish, Chyna would also learn to converse in both French and German.

Her original plans were to take advantage of her knowledge of foreign languages to work for the federal bureau of investigation or drug enforcement administration, But she would go on to work with the Peace Corps and work in Guatemala.
 
When she came back to the States, She held several different jobs, From a cocktail waitress in a strip club, To a singer in a band, To a 900 number chat line worker. In her mid to late twenties, When she was living in Florida Keys, Chyna took a six week course to become a flight attendant.
 
During the car journey to her first flight, She was involved in a car accident and spent four days in hospital. When Chyna recovered from the accident, Her sister Kathy helped her get other jobs that included Belly dancing and selling beepers.  After her college years, Chyna became a regular in fitness competitions. In 1996, She competed in the New York City Regional Level of the fitness America Competition, But because of her large size, She sadly didn't rank very high.

 
- INTRODUCTION TO THE WRESTLING INDUSTRY -
 
Chyna trained at Wladek Kowalski's ( Better Known as Killed Kowalski ) professional wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts. Her first match was in 1995, Where she worked against a male wrestler dressed up in drag. While she attended the wrestling school, She worked for various independent wrestling promotions as Joanie Lee. Also, Her earliest matches were often set up by the Fabulous Moolah.
 
Chyna's career fire would be ignited and would have never have burned brighter in 1996, After at a wrestling event, She met Triple H and Shawn Michaels. When Michaels and Triple H watched videos of her matches, They brought her into the WWF as a body guard for the duo.
 
However, Vince McMahon was was hesitant in bringing her in as he felt that the fans would not believe a woman beating up a man. During the time that she waited for the WWF to make a decision, Chyna was approached by rival promotion WCW, Who wanted her to be the sole-female member of the New World Order faction that most notably featured Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan. She initially accepted the offer, But later turned it down when Shane McMahon informed her that she was about to be hired by the WWF. However, Kowalski claimed that he got Chyna hired by the WWF after introducing her to Shane McMahon and telling him of WCW's interest in her. 
 
- WWF CAREER: THE D-GENERATION-X YEARS (1997-1999) -

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Chyna made her WWF debut on the 16th of February 1997, At the event In Your House 13: Final Four, Where she jumped the crowd barrier and attacked Marlena, Who was Goldust's manager during his match with Triple H at that event.
Her position, or role in the company was as the Body Guard for Triple H, And then she would go on to become the Body Guard for Shawn Michaels, X-Pac, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn in the group D-Generation-X.
 
Chyna's early WWF days saw her cheat to help Triple H win his matches, By often using her trademark move, The low blow!
 
After a while in the WWF, She was later given the ring name Chyna, an intentionally ironic moniker, "Fine china is delicate and fragile", The complete opposite of her portrayed character.
 
Off-screen, The male wrestlers were hesitant at first to let a female over-power them on-screen. But In January 1999, Chyna was the thirteenth entrant in the traditional yearly Royal Rumble, becoming the first woman ever to enter the contest, Which saw her break the Boundaries on what limitations a woman can achieve in Pro Wrestling.
The day after the Royal Rumble, On Monday Night Raw, Chyna became a fully fledged heel by turning on Triple H and aligning herself with Vince McMahon and the demonic Kane.
 
Chyna would team with Kane at the St Valentines Day Massacre PPV against her former friends X-Pac and Triple H. At WrestleMania XV, Chyna turned on Kane during his match and attacked him with a steel chair, Appearing as if she had once again aligned herself with DX, However, Later that evening she attacked X-Pac and allowed Shane McMahon to win the match and retain his European Championship, Proving she was not with either DX or Kane, But with Shane McMahon and his Corporate Ministry. Following the collapse of the Corporate Ministry, The heel Chyna remained Triple H's companion until they would split later in the year.
 
- WWF CAREER : WOMENS WRESTLING HISTORY (1999-2000) -

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In June 1999, Chyna became the first woman to qualify for the King of the Ring tournament, Which was history defining alone, But she also was the first female to be the number one contender for the WWF Championship but lost the spot to Mankind before SummerSlam in August of that year.
 
Later that same year, Chyna became a beloved fan favourite again during her long feud with Jeff Jarrett, Which ultimately saw her become the first, And only Intercontinental Champion in WWF, And Pro Wrestling history when she defeated Jeff Jarrett at the WWF PPV No Mercy in a Good Housekeeping Match on 17th October. To really rub in the salt to Jarrett, During her reign, Chyna gained the services of his valet, Miss Kitty.
 
Chyna then had a vicious feud with Chris Jericho for the belt. She defeated him at the Survivor Series PPV, But fought in a losing effort at the Armageddon PPV, Which saw her reign as champion end. They fought again in a match on the 28th of December 28 on SmackDown!, Which ended controversially with both wrestlers pinning on another other. As a result, then head of authority Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley declared them co-champions.
 
At the Royal Rumble, Jericho and Chyna defended their title against Hardcore Holly in a Triple Threat match to determine the Intercontinental Champion, which saw Chris Jericho win.
 
Sadly Chyna's "co-champions" reign is no longer recognized by WWE and is now considered a continuation of Jericho's second Intercontinental reign. After the feud was over, the two teamed together briefly, Before Chyna would go on to greener pastures with the Latino Heat!
 
- WWF CAREER : THE LATINO-CHYNA CONNECTION (2000-2001) -
 
Shortly after losing the Intercontinental title to Y2J, Chyna became the on-screen girlfriend of Eddie Guerrero. Although originally villains, They later became fan favourites during the summer of 2000.
Guerrero began to call her his "Mamacita". The couple faced Val Venis and Trish Stratus in an intergender tag team match at SummerSlam with the Intercontinental Championship on the line, Chyna won the match, but lost the championship just only two weeks later to Guerrero in a Triple Threat match with Kurt Angle.
Eddie and Chyna split in November 2000, After Chyna, in storyline, found Eddie in the shower with two other women, Which spelled trouble for Guerrero, As he and Chyna would then go on to have some memorable matches against one another. 
 
- WWF CAREER : VS RIGHT TO CENSOR (2000-2001)  -
 
At the same time as this happened, Chyna featured in Playboy magazine's November 2000 issue. Her Playboy modelling was also worked into a WWE storyline, Which provoked the faction Right to Censor. Shortly after, Chyna feuded with RTC member Ivory, Over the Women's Championship. This led to a storyline at that years Royal Rumble where Chyna appeared to reinjure her neck while performing a handspring back elbow.

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In her comeback match at WrestleMania XVII, Chyna won the Women's Championship by defeating Ivory. Chyna then went on to defend her title against Lita at Judgement Day in 2001.  
 
- WWF CAREER : THE UNFAIR DISMISSAL (2000-2001)  -
 
Even though she won her match against Lita, She soon relinquished the Women's Championship as this was her final WWF match. The relationship between Triple H, her former real boyfriend, and Stephanie McMahon, Of whom Triple H cheated on Chyna with, Ultimately costing her her job with the company.
In a 2015 interview with Vince Russo, Chyna stated that after a meeting with Vince McMahon about the Stephanie McMahon situation, She was sent home and was later sent a fax telling her that she was not needed anymore, The date was November 30, 2001, Chyna left the WWF for good.

- NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (2002) -
 
In 2002, Chyna debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling and made her first appearance at the New Japan Thirtieth Anniversary Show, Where she officiated a bout between the Steiner Brothers and Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kensuke Sasaki. 
In September and October 2002, Chyna wrestled several matches for the promotion. However, After losing to Masahiro Chono on the 14th of October, 2002, Chyna performed her final match on the 26th of October, Where she teamed with a fake Great Muta played by Troy Enders in a fighting loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenzo Suzuki.
 
 
- TOTAL NON-STOP ACTION WRESTLING (2011) -

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During the May, 2011 Impact tapings, On the 12th May edition of TNA Impact!, Chyna made her TNA debut, Where she was 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.

At Sacrifice, Chyna submitted Karen for the win in the mixed tag team match.
She left TNA shortly after, Reportedly due to Eric Bischoff.
 
 
- OTHER VENTURES -

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- Chyna has been featured in the following five video games, WWF Attitude in 1999, WWF Wrestlemania 2000 in October 1999, WWF SmackDown! in March 2000, WWF No Mercy in 2000 and WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role in 2000.
 
- In 2001, Chyna released her autobiography, entitled If They Only Knew. It spent time on The New York Times' bestseller list.
 
- Chyna had been in 3rd Rock from the Sun as Janice, a police officer who briefly dated Harry Solomon, And has been in several Stacker 2 commercials, And also was a presenter at the MTV Video Music Awards.
 
- In 2001, Chyna was a guest on a special celebrity edition of Fear Factor. The following year, Chyna was reportedly up for a part in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but lost out on the role to Kristanna Loken.
 
- Chyna was the host of Robot Wars: Grand Champions in 2002, And She also appeared on the celebrity game show, Hollywood Squares in 2003. She appeared as a character named Lulu in Sevendust's music video for the song "Enemy" in 2003.
 
- In early 2005, Chyna debuted on The Surreal Life, with housemates Da Brat, Jane Wiedlin, Adrianne Curry, Christopher Knight, Marcus Schenkenberg, and Verne Troyer. She also appeared on The Surreal Life: Fame Games, which began to air in January 2007.
 
- In 2006, Chyna 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, Chyna appeared in an episode originally airing July 14, 2007 in a civil dispute against a breeder of teacup chihuahuas. Judge Perez ruled in favour of Chyna, And awarded her $4,000.
 
 
- HER PASSING -
 
On April 20, 2016, Chyna was found dead at her home in Redondo Beach, California. Reports say She had been taking medication for anxiety and insomnia, Aswell as reportedly drinking alcohol at the same time. A statement was posted to her Twitter account confirming her tragic passing.

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- RIP CHYNA JOANIE LAURER -
1969 - 2016
xxxxx