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RIP Chyna


CarpetCrawler

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There's no one ultimately to blame but the individual and their actions,

But I've been keeping, I don't know, tabs is probably the wrong word, but just track of Chyna and her spiral post WWE for what feels like almost a decade now. I want to be surprised, but I can't be. I want to assume that she had been afforded all of the same wellness opportunities other former WWE wrestlers get if needed. But I do get this really pitting feeling in my stomach that for reasons, we probably don't all need rehashed but are going to get talked about regardless, it wasn't always easy for her and the WWE to come mutual understandings. I think she belonged in the hall of fame, and I think a ball of sorts was dropped when she wasn't put in. I get why, it didn't happen, but I think it could have went a long way into saving her life.

 

But that's said she had so many issues, that had very little or nothing to do with wrestling at all. It's really tragic, as these things so often are. She was a one of one. Truly unique, and perfect for her time. RIP

This post sums up my feelings, more or less.

 

I know others have said they're not shocked by this, but I kinda am.

 

She seemed - seemed being the key word - to be getting her life back in order.

 

This death is particularly tragic to me. It's so sad, and such a shame.

 

I really think the way she was exiled from WWE was cold and cruel, HHH's response to the Hall of Fame issue was likewise, and Vince Russo's attempts to "help" with a public interview probably did more harm than good. But her issues, sadly, stemmed long before she ever set foot in WWE. She always struck me as someone with major self-esteem issues. If the WWE "family" had reached out more, who knows. Then again, being around wrestlers and the wrestling lifestyle has done a lot of harm, too, to people who couldn't handle it (Scott Hall, Elizabeth, etc.). No easy answers here, but definitely heartbreaking.

 

Stephanie McMahon ‏@StephMcMahon 3m3 minutes ago

 

I just heard the tragic news that @ChynaJoanLaurer has passed. She was truly a pioneer in our industry, and she will be missed. #RIPChyna

I wish this kind of respect and gratitude had been extended to Chyna in life, particularly from the McMahons and Triple H. Too little, too late now, unfortunately. :\ I thought they would've learned after Ultimate Warrior, who they at least acknowledged in time. But that's looking more and more like an aberration. Situations like Randy Savage are, sadly, more the norm, it seems.

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Stephanie McMahon ‏@StephMcMahon 3m3 minutes ago

 

I just heard the tragic news that @ChynaJoanLaurer has passed. She was truly a pioneer in our industry, and she will be missed. #RIPChyna

I wish this kind of respect and gratitude had been extended to Chyna in life, particularly from the McMahons and Triple H. Too little, too late now, unfortunately. :\

 

I'm glad I didn't have to say this, but yeah. Considering how she was treated after the breakup, if you believe her version of course, and with the disdain she got from the HHH remarks about the HoF… Especially when she has been very instrumental in helping him get over at the next level.

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This is going to come off more judgmental than it's meant to, and there's no way to know the true in's and outs of a situation like this, but I just feel like she was owed more. Love is tricky. The kind HHH and Chyna had is probably incomprehensible to us, with all the twists and turns and insanity that is pro wrestling. And it's far from HHH and definitely not Stephanie's FAULT that this happened to Chyna, but again, she had the wholly unfortunate burden/task/what have you of having, friction is probably a fair word here, with one of, if not two of the most important people in the company, and not having the good fortune of say a Sean Waltman or Scott Hall, who were and will always remain a life long friends with similar issues. Again, and for reasons both obvious and less so obvious, I think it just wasn't as easy for a HHH to reach out to Chyna (if he ever really wanted to or not, there were those domestic abuse allegations) or vice versa as it was say a Bruno or whomever. No Duh.

The porn being the hall deal breaker thing, while not seeming completely unmeretous, does kind of look a bit hypocratus given Sunny's more recent activities, and Sean being bandied about every hall of fame weekend. Not an apples to apples comparison but this was the same company that was 100% behind her (two?) Playboy centerfolds. A very convenient excuse? I guess who are any of us to really say?

Chyna was a monumental, transformative figure of almost a hard to define and conceptualize popularity. She should have got the flowers while she could still smell them. We shouldn't be burying her.
But alas, Prowres

---EDIT---
For as much HHH gets piled on for reasons both very deserved and some unjust. I can't imagine this being even a close to remotely easy time for him. No matter what the particulars are, saying the final goodbye to someone who was once the love of your life. For lack of a better phrase, is some really tough shit.

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Sad news. Think some people quick to jump on the HHH/Steph are forgetting she handled the HoF comments by implying Hunter was a pedophile on twitter though.

Important. She didn't become the easiest person to deal with. There's a really hard to listen to Opie and Anthony interview with Sean Waltman that's just . . . yeah

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It's not WWE's fault there is a cultural stigma about porn. Yeah, yeah Tyson etc. Well, Tyson got his own network cartoon show. On the other hand, you can look at the network and their DVDs and tell they never tried to erase her from history and credited her often for helping Hunter's career.

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From Mick Foley on Facebook:

Mick Foley
8 hrs ·

GOODBYE JOANIE
My heart is aching. My eyes are swollen from crying, having just talked to Joan Laurer's manager Anthony Anzaldo on the phone and been told that Chyna, the 9th Wonder of the World was no longer with us; gone at only 45.
I will always be grateful for the friendship I shared with her, but particularly so for the kindness she showed my children, especially Noelle when she was younger. I will never forget those moments where Joanie would take Noelle by the hand at WWE events in the late 90's - off to have her makeup done, her fingernails painted; bonding time between big, strong Joanie, and her tiny sidekick. A father doesn't forget that type of kindness.
I didn't know whether to post a classic photo of Chyna in her WWE prime or of Joanie from the last time I saw her - about 10 months ago at a convention on Long Island. I went with the photo from the convention because of the emotion; because it was taken at the exact moment I saw her for the first time in many years. I was told later that Joanie wasn't sure how I would react to her, and that it meant a great deal to her to be accepted. Like I said, a father doesn't forget. I called home on my way back from the convention – only about 40 minutes from my house. "I'm bringing a friend over to watch the pay-per-view" I said to my wife.
"Who's that?", my wife asked.
"Chyna"
"Chyna?"
"Yeah, Chyna!"
And that was pretty much that. A mother, you see, doesn't forget the kindness shown to her child, either.

I am so glad we had that night with Joanie. A night to let her know how much we cared about her, whether it was politically correct or not. A night to let her know we loved her - and always would. RIP my dear friend. I pray that somehow in death, you can find the peace that eluded you so frequently during the latter years of your remarkable life.

Please feel free to share your favorite Chyna memory.

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It's not WWE's fault there is a cultural stigma about porn. Yeah, yeah Tyson etc. Well, Tyson got his own network cartoon show. On the other hand, you can look at the network and their DVDs and tell they never tried to erase her from history and credited her often for helping Hunter's career.

 

I know, and I never blamed WWE for being squeamish, although the Sunny example is also relevant here. I merely said that I hope our society soon gets to a place where the stigma around porn goes away, at least as far as the actors who participate in it are concerned. I am not going into the wider debate about exploitation and other criticisms.

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From Mick Foley

Sad, and sweet, and touching. And by the by, he uses "politically incorrect" in a really great and incisive way--to mean doing right by the "wrong" person, no matter the risk to your job or who in power it irritates.

 

 

Yes. Beautiful piece by Foley.

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Really sad. Loved her gimmick and winning the IC title from Jarrett. To me it seems like once HHH and Stephanie hooked up she never really recovered.

 

Not to dump on HHH and Steph but since they did get together while HHH and Chyna were an item I wasn't really a fan of Steph sending the condolence tweet, unless they made peace (Which I'm not aware of). I know Steph represents all things women to WWE but given the circumstances and how high profile Chyna was a tweet from Vince would have been better, IMO.

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Why are people going on about the negative stigma of pornography? Being a Playboy centrefold was the greatest moment of Chyna's life. When the issue with her on the cover came out, all her hopes, dreams and aspirations in life had been fulfilled.

 

Sadly once you've reached the top of the mountain the only way is down.

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I actually read her autobiography, and in all fairness, by her own admission Chyna had a messed up life long before she got to the WWF. Even if she had never put on a pair of wrestling boots, she had a pretty big bag of hammers to carry around with her. Granted, what happened to her during and after her time in the WWF certainly didn't make things any better, and I'm pretty sure it made things a lot worse...but I don't think anybody can lay the emotional damage she suffered at the hands of Vince and Co. on this one.

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Why are people going on about the negative stigma of pornography? Being a Playboy centrefold was the greatest moment of Chyna's life. When the issue with her on the cover came out, all her hopes, dreams and aspirations in life had been fulfilled.

 

Sadly once you've reached the top of the mountain the only way is down.

 

I think, not so much posing nude and even having a sex tape, but filming a gangbang with people dressed as superstars, including HHH. Again very sad last few years and wish she had a better support system in her life. No showing Wrestlecon recently was big a red flag that she was still really not well

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I wouldn't go as far as to blame WWE for her death, but it really shouldn't be undersold how shitty it was for Hunter to be creeping around behind her back with the boss's daughter no matter what other emotional baggage she might have had.

 

Plus it was almost like no one in the company could fathom why she might not take the news well and were surprised at her reaction.

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Why are people going on about the negative stigma of pornography? Being a Playboy centrefold was the greatest moment of Chyna's life. When the issue with her on the cover came out, all her hopes, dreams and aspirations in life had been fulfilled.

There's a huge difference in American society between taking nude pictures and being filmed while having sex. The latter is seen as being MUCH more shameful than the former.

 

I actually read her autobiography, and in all fairness, by her own admission Chyna had a messed up life long before she got to the WWF.

Yeah, have people forgotten about that? Her book was maybe the single most painful-to-read autobiography from any wrestler ever, and most of it stemmed from just how neurotic and dysfunctional she clearly was, even during her "peak".

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Has anyone heard this before...brother?

 

(Bolding is mine.)

 

 

Hulk Hogan

‎@HulkHogan

Devastated over Chyna passing,she dated Brutus years before wrestling,such a beautiful soul and so kind to my children,rip Joanie love u. HH

7:33 AM - 21 Apr 2016

 

https://twitter.com/HulkHogan/status/723112349817663488

 

It's not on the shortlist of most shameless/despicable Hogan quotes or acts ever, but I do think it's worth noting that Hogan made the bolded statement apropos of absolutely nothing. Like, why even mention that? To show that you "knew her when"? When what? She dated your friend who, last I checked, has kind of been a scumbag recently?

 

It just seems like a silly "add on." Like, is he going to tweet about Prince's death and make a note about a huge gate he drew in Minneapolis?

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I'm all for having a go at some of the ridiculous thing Hogan does, but I don't think there's much wrong with him mentioning that she dated one of his closer friends back in the day if that was the case. . I suppose it's pointing to how he may have known her. Followed it up with ''beautiful soul and kind to my children'' so I think it's really nitpicking to take issue with that.

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