Joanie Marie Laurer (born December 27, 1969 in Rochester, New York) is an American actress and retired professional wrestler. A former bodybuilder, she is best known for her appearances with the World Wrestling Federation between 1997 and 2001, where she was known as Chyna and nicknamed "The Ninth Wonder of the World" (with the eighth wonder being Andr� the Giant).

Wrestling career

Joanie Laurer trained at Wladek "Killer" Kowalski's wrestling school in Salem, Massachusetts, where she briefly dated Perry "Saturn" Satullo. She debuted in 1995 and worked for various independent promotions as Just Joanie and Joanie Lee. Her career reached new heights when she met World Wrestling Federation employees Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Triple H) and Shawn Michaels in a bar in 1997. Struck by her appearance, they helped her get into the WWF. Her original role was as Chyna, the laconic bodyguard of D-Generation X, often getting physically involved in Triple H's matches.

The day after the 1999 Royal Rumble, Laurer turned heel by betraying Triple H and aligning herself with his enemy Vince McMahon. She was a thorn in the side of Triple H until he too joined McMahon's stable at WrestleMania XV. The duo became part of The Corporation, and later Shane McMahon's Corporate Ministry, harassing rebels such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kane, X-Pac and The Rock.

In late 1999, Laurer became a face again, allying with The Kat and feuding with Jeff Jarrett over the WWF Intercontinental Championship. She defeated Jarrett for the title in his last WWF match on October 17, 1999 at No Mercy, in the process becoming the first and only woman to win the Intercontinental Championship. She 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, and he was therefore not contractually obligated to appear on the pay-per-view. If he had not appeared, the WWF would have been criticised for false advertising, and the lineage of the title would have been broken). Laurer would go on to hold the title two more times.

In 2000, Laurer briefly teamed with Chris Jericho before becoming the on-screen girlfriend of Eddie Guerrero. Guerrero and Laurer became very popular during the summer of 2000, with Guerrero dubbing her his "Mamacita". They split in the autumn of 2000 after Eddie was found cavorting in the shower with two of The Godfather's "hos", Mandy and 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. Laurer was announced as injured after a vicious double team piledriver at the hands of Ivory and Val Venis.

Laurer returned a few weeks later and began a feud with Ivory over the WWF Women's Championship. This culminated in an angle at the 2001 Royal Rumble 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 and entered the ring to check on Laurer's condition, something he had not done since the in-ring accident in 1999 that killed Owen Hart. The highly publicised return of Laurer from the "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 Lita and Trish Stratus with little problem. However, during her contract renegotiations, Laurer was unhappy with the pay she was offered and 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, and Stephanie McMahon, with whom 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 and she had been taken off television.

Laurer's in-ring career since then has been very limited. She has sung and wrestled at a Ultimate Pro Wrestling event, and was scheduled to appear on a talk show hosted by Jonny Fairplay on a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view, but did not appear, supposedly due to a dispute over travel costs. She also made several appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling, and in celebrity boxing tournaments. Laurer has however said in recent interviews that she would like to return to WWE but this remains to be seen at present.

Finishing and signature moves

• Jackknife Powerbomb (release powerbomb)
• Pedigree (double underhook facebuster)
• DDT
• Sleeper slam
• Gorilla press slam
• Handspring back elbow
• Kneeling low blow (from behind)

Modeling and acting career

Laurer has modeled nude, notably for Playboy; the issue which featured a pictorial of her was one of the ten best selling issues in the magzine's history. In 2002, following her departure from WWF/WWE, Laurer also appeared in a softcore porn video produced and distributed by Playboy, entitled "Joanie Laurer: Nude Wrestling Superstar".

In her autobiography, If Only They 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 and female body builders. Later in the book, Laurer revealed that the structural integrity of the Chyna 2000 prototypes was relatively weak, and that one of them ruptured during a wrestling match, necessitating surgery.

Since 2003, Laurer has carried on a love-hate relationship with wrestler Sean Waltman (X-Pac / Syxx-Pac). 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 revealed that Laurer and Waltman made a sex tape during a vacation to China earlier that year. Eager for a repeat success, the company that released Paris Hilton's celebrity sex tape obtained the footage, edited it, and released it under the name 1 Night in China. The video became an internet phenomenon, due largely in part to a scene in the film in which Waltman performs cunnilingus on Laurer, causing the camera to focus on Laurer's unusually large clitoris, which also appeared to have a fully formed glans. Using Laurer's height of five feet, ten inches (or 1.778 meters) as a base reference, it can be determined that her clitoris is roughly 2.5 inches (or 6.35 centimeters) in length. An anal sex scene between Laurer and Waltman revealed severe acne on Laurer's buttocks, which many bodybuilders who viewed the tape pointed out as a telltale sign of steroid abuse.

In a press release, Laurer announced that in a pre-emptive strike she had taken full rights to the footage and would receive a percentage from sales. However, she later claimed that she had received no royalties.

Laurer has made numerous guest appearances on television series, including Third Rock From The Sun, Pacific Blue, Relic Hunter, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Fear Factor. In 2003, in what many saw as an attempt to try and salvage her career after parting ways with the WWE/WWF, Laurer appeared on a Celebrity Boxing special, in which she lost a legitimate fight to Joey Buttafuoco. In 2003, Laurer auditioned for the role of the female Terminator in Terminator 3. Internet rumors claimed that Arnold Schwarzenegger personally endorsed Laurer. In the end, she did not get the part.

In 2004, Laurer appeared in the fourth season of the VH1 show The Surreal Life along with Da Brat, Jane Wiedlin, Christopher Knight, Verne Troyer, Marcus Schenkenberg (who she was rumoured to be dating), and Adrianne Curry. On one episode of the show, an enraged Sean Waltman showed up outside the Surreal Life house, threatening Laurer and demanding to see her. Several months later, in January 2005, Laurer was arrested at the Playboy Mansion for assaulting Waltman and spent six days in jail.

It became clear in 2005 after appearances on the Howard Stern Show that Laurer had severe substance abuse problems. During one show, Laurer appeared along with her brother in an attempt to smooth out her relationship with Waltman, who spoke with Stern, Laurer, and her brother via telephone. In the middle of the show, at the urging of Stern, Laurer rose and stripped to her underwear in front of her brother. In a rare move for Stern, he called the show to an abrupt end and, off air, told Laurer that he feared for her well being and that she needed to seek professional help.

Several months later, Laurer returned to television for the The Surreal Life reunion, where she claimed to be drug-free, and appeared to be in much better physical shape than in her previous public appearance. She also claimed that her relationship with Waltman was completely over.

In late 2005, Laurer signed to star in a new Sci-Fi Channel movie entitled Illegal Aliens, and made appearances at several Hollywood events.

Movies

• Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion (2000)
• Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002)
• Hunter: Back in Force (2003)
• 1 Night in China (2004)
• Just Another Romantic Wrestling Comedy (2005)
• Illegal Aliens (2006)
• The Last Guy on Earth (2006) (post production)

Championships and accomplishments

Joanie Laurer is the only woman to have held the WWE Intercontinental Championship (which she held three times), the first woman to hold a WWE Championship besides the WWE Women's Championship (Various women held the now-defunct WWE Hardcore Championship at brief times), and the first woman to compete in the Royal Rumble match and King of the Ring tournament.

Before joining the World Wrestling Federation, Laurer held the International Wrestling Federation Women's Championship.

Chyna first won the Intercontinental Championship on October 17, 1999 when she defeated Jeff Jarrett in a Good Housekeeping match at No Mercy 1999. Her first reign ended when she lost to Chris Jericho at Armageddon 1999 on December 12. Her second Intercontinental Championship reign was disputed. The title was held jointly between Chyna and Chris Jericho after an unresolved match on RAW is WAR on January 3, 2000 until Jericho regained complete claim of the title in a triple threat match between Chyna, Jericho, and Hardcore Holly on January 23 at the 2000 Royal Rumble. Her third and final reign began on August 27, 2000 when she pinned Trish Stratus in an intergender tag team match pitting her and Eddie Guerrero against Stratus and defending champion Val Venis on August 27 at SummerSlam 2000. She lost the title to Guerrero on RAW is WAR in a triple threat match with Kurt Angle on September 5, 2000.

Chyna's only reign as WWE Women's Champion came after she defeated Ivory at WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, 2001. She successfully defended the title until she left the promotion later that year following a contract dispute later that year, vacating the title in the process. The next Women's Champion was Trish Stratus.

Books

• Chyna: If They Only Knew, Harper Collins, New York, 2001 ISBN 0007127650