Tag: Chyna

Triple H says Chyna will ‘for sure’ get solo WWE Hall of Fame induction

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Chyna will “for sure” get a solo induction into the WWE Hall of Fame one day. Paul “Triple H” Levesque is just waiting on the right time and place to induct her.

In 2019, Chyna posthumously entered the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of D-Generation X with Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and X-Pac. She has not been inducted individually yet. But when Levesque was asked about the possibility at Sunday night’s post-WrestleMania 41 press conference, he said it is only a matter of time.

“I don’t know about next year, but it’s definitely happening,” Levesque said. “There’s a lot of people, when you say the Hall of Fame, there are a lot of names that should be in that Hall of Fame and will be in that Hall of Fame. You just can’t put them in all at once, right? I think there will be the right moment.”

Levesque said Chyna’s contributions to the wrestling industry are still evident to this day with how much she influenced the current WWE roster.

“Her contributions to the business alone. I can see it in all these women when they get in there. We’re at the age…where they all grew up idolizing her. And I see it in their work, I see it in their demeanor, I see it in what they think works and doesn’t. It all, in a lot of ways, stems from that. She is in the Hall of Fame with D-X, but she will be in the Hall of Fame by herself when the time is right, for sure,” he said. “It’s just a debate every year of who goes in when and how. And you can look no further than Ivan Koloff in that. Needed to be in there. Same with Kamala. They need to happen, we just have to be judicious about when and how they happen so it’s done right for everybody.”

Koloff, Kamala, and Dory Funk Sr. were legacy inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. The other members of the 2025 class were Levesque, Michelle McCool, Lex Luger, and The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon). Plus, Steve Austin and Bret Hart received the first-ever WWE Immortal Moment Award honoring their match from WrestleMania 13.

A trailblazer in WWE who became a pop culture star outside of wrestling, Chyna (Joanie Laurer) passed away at 46 years old in 2016 of an accidental drug overdose. She and Levesque dated in the late 1990s/early 2000s prior to his marriage to Stephanie McMahon.

WWE announces D-Generation X for 2019 Hall of Fame class

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE has finally made their first official announcement for this year’s Hall of Fame class.

After an advertisement about the news went around overnight, WWE announced via ESPN today that D-Generation X will be inducted into their Hall of Fame over WrestleMania 35 weekend. Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, and X-Pac will be the six D-X members going into the Hall of Fame.

“I think it’s the most meaningful for us all to go in together and to be recognized together,” Triple H told ESPN about both versions of D-X going into the Hall of Fame. “Because I think both groups were [just] as impactful.”

This will be Michaels’ second induction and the first for Triple H, Chyna, Road Dogg, Gunn, and X-Pac.

Chyna is being posthumously inducted nearly three years after her death. Triple H spoke to ESPN about her joining the Hall of Fame: “It’d be tough to pick a female that was more impactful on the business. She did something that was completely so out of left field that it wasn’t even being considered when we first brought it up for her to come in. It wasn’t even a consideration… it wasn’t an easy thing, and against all odds she did all of that. She earned everybody’s trust. She won over the fans. She won over the boys. She did all of it.”

“From that standpoint, absolutely 100 percent deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and should probably be more than once — as a group, but individually as well,” Triple H said. “There’s more complexity to that than meets the eye, but here we are. I’m just happy that it’s here. I’m happy for her family, the people that she was close to, that hopefully this is super meaningful to them. I know it would be to her. It’s a great thing — very deserving.”

It was announced last month that Gunn is working as a producer for All Elite Wrestling.

Rick Rude, who was part of WWE’s Hall of Fame class of 2017, isn’t going in again with D-X.

The D-X name was most recently used on WWE television when Triple H & Michaels teamed against The Undertaker & Kane at Crown Jewel in November 2018.

This year’s Hall of Fame ceremony is taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, April 6. Tickets will go on sale this Friday (February 22) at noon Eastern time.

May 2, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Death of Chyna, new UFC 200 main event, plus tons of news

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Joanie Laurer, who was one of the most recognizable stars during the period that pro wrestling has its most mainstream significance in the last 60 years, best known as Chyna, was found dead on 4/20 at her home in Redondo Beach, CA. She was 46.

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Wrestling Weekly: Chyna, Conor (yes), Trish Stratus, Lance Russell

Posted on by Victor Sosa

Les is back from his training camp weekend in New Orleans at Luke Hawx’s Wildkat Sports and ready to talk all sorts of things, like the camp this past weekend and the passing of Prince and Chyna this week.  Les and Vic are BIG music guys so Prince was a major deal for both of them; after discussing Prince, some good health news for Louie Tillet, and the New Orleans weekend, we’ll get into the WWE career of Chyna. (10:46) Specifically, her time with HHH because it skyrocketed both of them to major stardom.  How big a role did she have in HHH becoming a major main event player, how she influenced the role of women in wrestling, thoughts on her interaction with the male stars of the attitude era and more.  We’ll veer slightly onto Conor McGregor’s current situation with UFC (40:23).  No, we’re not MMA experts and we’re not spending a ton of time on the subject, but the story did cause a question about issues between wrestlers and promoters to pop into Vic’s head, so he’ll ask Les about it.  From there, we’ll talk a little Trish Stratus, (50:43) who was honored recently at Cauliflower Alley and sneak in a story about the great Lance Russell (57:09) as well.  Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

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Joanie “Chyna” Laurer passes away at 45

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, a major part of the WWF/E in the late 90, was found dead in her home today at the age of 45. At this time, no further details are available as to the cause.

Laurer was a bodybuilder/fitness competitor who trained under Killer Kowalski, using the name Joanie Lee when she was introduced as HHH’s bodyguard after WCW had expressed interest in her but Kowalski pushed her to WWF/E.

She was instrumental in helping HHH, who had struggled getting over despite a major push, become a major star. The two became a couple which was both a blessing to her career and, eventually, a curse.

When HHH garnered power, Laurer was heavily protected and booked to go evenly with guys. There were very differing opinions on that as many of the male wrestlers didn’t like selling for her or that she was being pushed heavily. A day before she was to face Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental title at 1999’s No Mercy, Jarrett’s contract expired which enabled him to use leverage and hold WWF up for a significant amount of money (believed to be in the $200,000 range) to get him to do the job. He did and Chyna won the belt.

She was a popular star of the era at a time when the mainstream popularity of pro wrestling was at its high point, even posing in a best selling issue of Playboy.

After HHH and Chyna broke up, her political protection was gone which led to issues.  She wanted to continue wrestling men, but those in power in WWF made the decision that they had made a mistake in allowing it in the first place and would only allow her to wrestle women.

In 2001, when her contract expired, she was let go. Those in WWE at the time claimed she was asking for money at the level of Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson, and that she also wanted a lighter schedule to pursue acting.  But it was probably a combination of being uncomfortable with her around.  She claimed she met with Vince McMahon about Stephanie dating HHH, and from that point on, WWE stopped using her. There was a directive from the top not to sign her when the contract expired.

From there, her life and career largely went downhill. She had problems with drug addiction, which she vehemently denied. Her credibility in interviews was bad, even by wrestling standpoints, making claims that everyone in pro wrestling but herself was doing steroids, and made claims against former boyfriend Sean “X-Pac” Waltman which led to him to threaten legal action.

New Japan brought her in to do the role of beating men.  Antonio Inoki pushed her hard as an attraction, and she even was given a win over a young Hiroshi Tanahashi, but she didn’t get over and the run ended.

She popped in and out of wrestling over the years, but never returned to WWE.  She did a sex tape with Waltman and then started appearing in a number of porn films. She want to Japan for several years and taught English, and claimed that a multitude of people had asked to marry her.  She returned to the U.S. and seemed to want to get back with WWE in some capacity, but the company steered clear of her.