Chyna

Real Name: Joanie Laurer
Born: December 27th 1970
Height: 5'10''
Weight: 197 lbs
Trained By: Killer Kowalski
Status: Joanie is dating Paul Levesque (HHH)
Finisher:Low Blow
Titles Held:Intercontinental Champ
Favorite Female Friend In The Wrestling Business: Debra
Secret Talent: She's fluent in 4 languages (English, Spanish, French, and German)
X-tra Facts
Chyna has one sister, Kathy, and one brother, Sonny. Her sister is five years older and Chyna says she's her best friend and "like a mother".
Chyna and Kathy used to work out together, wrestle each other, and at one point Kathy wanted to get into wrestling too and they were considering a tag team!
Her mother, Janet (I've also heard Tina), had "revolving door marriages" and her father, Joseph, was an alcoholic. She has no contact with her parents and says she wouldn't want to ever be around them. She describes it as "a very dysfunctional family".
Chyna was kicked out of her house when she was 15 and traveled around Europe while living on her own.
She won a scholarship to the University of Tampa and graduated in two years with a 3.8 GPA.
Chyna says she always had a job and made her own money. She sold beepers, was a belly dancer, and sang in a "hole in a wall" band with, what she describes as, "old geezers". She was also a bartender and a waitress.
Chyna has a great voice and also plays the cello!
She likes to knit!
She has a boxing license!
She was a female wrestler for a while under the name Joanie Lee.
At the beginning of her wrestling career Chyna taped an interview for Eric Bischoff asking him if she could join WCW!
She was never a fan of wrestling when she was younger and even says she hated it!
There has been some controversy surrounding some plastic surgery she's undergone. For the sake of the historical record, here's what she's had done that we can see:
-Breast Augmentation (X-Mas '97)
-Breast Augmentation spring/summer of 1998
-Facial Reconstruction (Jaw, Nose, Cheeks) November 1998
Biography
Chyna, born Joanie Laurer, was raised in Rochester, NY. Her parents divorced when she was young and her mother had "revolving door marriages" (Chyna said it seemed as if there was a new guy every year) and her father was an alcoholic. She describes her childhood/family life as "very dysfunctional". She never got along with her parents and says they were very cruel and abusive to her so she was raised by her sister, Kathy. Chyna says Kathy means everything to her - she's her best friend and "mother". Growing up, Chyna was big with broad shoulders. She was always bigger than the other girls which led to a lot of teasing throughout her school years and also with her parents. She was called a misfit, a man, and most commonly, a lesbian. Things got worse when she started lifting weights. Her parents constantly accused her of being a lesbian because she was lifting (at that time women didn't work out in the gym). When Chyna was 15 she was kicked out of her house and because she did so well in school (always making the Dean's list) she went to Spain under a UN scholarship and ended up staying there to finish up high school. She always enjoyed the spanish language (we saw her show off her spanish skills on a RAW episode) so when she won a scholarship to the University of Tampa she graduated with a double major in Spanish Literature. Chyna had many different jobs throughout her college years and even after college. She sang in an "old geezers band", sold beepers, was an airline attendant, she worked in a dorm, and was a belly dancer! Everywhere she went the people around loved her because she was always smiling and had a strong sense of humor. Chyna was always cracking jokes, making people laugh, and I've heard she has a way with puns! During her college years Chyna began working out heavily with weights and noticed she was "genetically gifted". She says her body responded immediately and she knew she had something special. She did a stint in the Peace Corps and at one point wanted to work with the Secret Service to be a "female James Bond" but it took too long. She says she would enter beauty contests and the promoters would constantly turn her away saying they "weren't looking for her body type". Realizing what a talent she had, Chyna began entering fitness competitions around 1996 and was featured many times in Women's Physique World magazine along with many other fitness magazines. Chyna says Kathy has a body like hers and they would often work out together and compete in the competitions together. Chyna actually found her "calling" by accident when she was watching wrestling on TV. Right then she decided that's what she wanted to do. She considers herself a "glory seeker" (she ALWAYS wanted to entertain). The thought of putting her athleticism together with entertainment seemed too good to be true. She and Kathy would wrestle each other around the house and even talked about what a great tag team they would make! When Chyna became serious about wrestling she went to see wrestling promoter Walter "Killer" Kowalski. She asked him if there was any way she could just try out a few things and see if she liked it. He responded to her by saying, "you either do it, or you don't!". So, according to Chyna, she took her money and went back home. But, her instincts got the best of her and she showed back up a few weeks later and signed up for the class. She joined with three guys and by the end of the week they were gone and she was still there. She says she took a lot rejection and criticism from some of the guys in the class. She was the only female and they would put her down and try to tell her she couldn't handle it. Chyna says this just made her work even harder to prove they were wrong. When she left Killer Kowalski's school she wrestled for several promotions including "Special Events Promotions". While there she wrestled under the name Joanie Lee and I've also read she wrestled for LadySport but I'm not sure about that. The women that worked with her, as well as the promoters, fans, and basically everyone else took notice to Chyna. She was definitely something special that the wrestling world had never seen! TV talk show hosts would request her to be on their shows and Chyna loved the attention she was getting. 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. According to "It's Our Time" Chyna was going to arenas, working out, doing whatever she had to do to get someone to notice her. She was killing herself emotionally, physically, and financially trying to get someone to take notice. 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. That's when she was reunited with a wrestler she had worked with at Killer Kowalski's - Hunter Hearst Helmsley. He knew how bad she wanted into the business and thought she would be the perfect person to accompany him to the ring and be his bodyguard with the World Wrestling Federation. Vince McMahon wasn't happy with the idea. He didn't think the fans would take to a "muscular amazon" but after much persuading from HHH and Shawn Michaels, he agreed. Chyna entered the WWF as a "bully" who would constantly beat up on Marlena. She made her debut at an In Your House PPV in Febuary 1997 where HHH hired her as his bodyguard. This led HHH to a feud with Goldust. Seeing how the fans reacted to Chyna, Vince was very happy with his decision to allow her in. Noticing what chemistry they had, HHH and Chyna knew they were the perfect team and, along with Shawn Michaels, are the founding members of D-Generation X. At first Chyna was happy being a "manager" of sorts and just being HHH's bodyguard but soon she would get tired of that. She began competing in the ring with the men saying that it wouldn't be a challenge for her to fight the women (and it wouldn't!). After throwing Vince McMahon over the top rope, she earned the #30 spot became the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble. Chyna was also the first woman to ever qualify and compete in the King of the Ring tournament (losing to Road Dogg in a well fought match)! On October 17, 1999, at the No Mercy PPV, Chyna made history when she became the first female Intercontinental Champion in the history of the World Wrestling Federation! The belt was won from Jeff Jarrett in a "good housekeeping" match and the next night on RAW Chyna came out with her own female valet - Miss Kitty (dressed in complete Chyna attire)! It was now time for someone to hold HER belt! Chyna's career and popularity continues to rise each and every day. I wish her the best in everything she does!

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