Chyna: The 9th Wonder of the World
Joan Marie Laurer, also popularly known as WWE’s Chyna or Joanie Lee, was born on December 1970 in Rochester, New York. Way before she retired from her career as a professional wrestler in October 2002, Joan Laurer was dubbed as the “Ninth Wonder of the World”. Her career with the World Wrestling Federation had started in 1997, were she appeared as Paul “Triple H’ Levesque’s on-screen bodyguard. For a short while, Joan Laurer became a member of a popular storyline alliance of wrestlers, D-Generation X stable.
Prior to become WWE’s Chyna, Joanie Laurer was trained by none other than Wladek “Killer’ Kowalski, in his own professional wrestling school in Massachusetts. Before she made her way into the WWE, she had worked for several independent promotions under the name of Joanie Lee. She made her first appearance as a wrestler in 1995, where she was matched against a male wrestler who was dressed in woman’s clothes. A few of her earliest matches where arranged by the Fabulous Moolah.
She made her first appearance on WWF on February 1997, during its In Your House 13: Final Four, where she choked Marlena while Triple H was in the ring with Goldust. She had her original role as the laconic bodyguard for Triple H and eventually for his D-Generation group. Her trademark low blow to the groin was often executed during the times when she helped the then rising villain, Triple H cheat in order to win.
She had also made history during her days with WWE, Chyna became the first woman to qualify for the King of the Ring tournament, enter the Royal Rumble, as well as the first female to become the number one contender for the WWF Championship. She was also the first female wrestler to hold the WWF Intercontinental Championship in 1999.