It's hard to imagine a 5-foot-10, 165-pound muscular woman standing in a fitness show lineup in those ungodly six-inch spike heels, or pulling off a standing back tuck as part of her routine and expecting to "blend." But back in 1995, that's how the then 25-year-old Joanie Laurer first decided to draw attention to herself, knowing going in she would "stick out like a sore thumb."
"I wanted to show them that a big girl could go out and do that [fitness show stuff], too, and be just as entertaining," Joanie explains.
"I wanted to show them that a big girl could go out and do that [fitness show stuff], too, and be just as entertaining," Joanie explains.
Ms. Laurer made sure, however, that the Fitness America Pageant announcer included in her introduction onto the stage that fact that she wanted to become a professional wrestler. You see, this girl knew she had an appointment with destiny and was determined to get there by any means possible.
After two shows, however, the fitness show promoters sent her a letter asking her to not compete because "this is not a bodybuilding cometition." Undaunted, this gutsy gal continued to self-promote by editing her own tapes and packaging all of her promotional materials herself, sending them out to anyone and everyone she could. "I knew I was going to have to promote myself, that nobody was going go do it for me. So I tried to make people notice me," she says.
A Square Peg in a Round Hole..
It's not that Joanie had spent most of her life unnoticed. She had always been a "big-boned" girl, and had suffered the slings and arrows of the cruel taunting at which school children seem so adept. After she began weight training at 15, at a time when most women were still aerobicizing to Jane Fonda tapes, Joanie found she was genetically gifted and continued to be amazed at her own strength. "I used to train really heavy when I first started...I loved being able to push even a couple of pounds more than I had the day before.
"But as she developed more muscle, she suffered abuse and rejection from those who couldn't accept suck a well-built physique on a woman. "The stereotype is that muscle is ugly... I've been called extremely cruel names for most of my lifetime. People have said 'she's butch,' or 'she's so ugly,' or 'she looks like a man.' I also get called a lesbian... Most of the time, I'm judged before I've even talked to anybody."
Lucky for Joanie she had developed inner strength from being on her own. Raised in Rochester , New York , her parents divorced when she was young. She recalls her mother's "revolving door marriages," her alcoholic father, and their family life, (other than her close relationship with her older sister, Kathy), as "extremely dysfunctional.
"She was kicked out of her house at 15 and went to Spain where she finished high school on a UN scholarship. During her travels throughout Europe, Ms. Laurer became fluent in French, German and Spanish, ultimately winning a scholarship to the University of Tampa , where she graduated in two years with a 3.8 GPA. She returned to New York to persue her dreams of acting, which were thwarted at every turn. "I'd try out for any play, even tried to get an agent in New York . They would tell me they could use me in a freak role, or as a monster or as a troll. There just wasn't anybody out there who looked like me."
Chyna is Born
Despite the constant banging of doors in her face, Joanie kept her dreams alive. "I felt I could jump right off the pages of a comic book, like Wonder Woman 2000, but nobody was going for it. Then, one day as she was watching wrestling on television with her sister, Kathy, the proverbial light bulb went off in her head.
She noticed that the only women in wrestling were the beauty pageant type girls who walked the guys down to the ring. "I thought, 'I'm going to go out there and be this woman fighter. I'm going to mix my physique with entertainment and I'm going to wrestle. This is going to be my niche.'"
It didn't take long for Ms. Laurer to get to Vince McMahon, head of the WWF. "Vince didn't want me at first, but after talking to him for about four or five months, he said he would give me a try. He put 100 percent support behind me, and that in itself is a reward for my 30 years of hard work. Joanie then became her alter-ego, Chyna, turning that character into a female super- hero bigger than Xena Warrior Princess in less than three years on the wrestling circuit.
"Yes, Xena started it, but she's not the real thing. I think I display a type of physique that's got some muscle on it, but not overly muscular. I'm a fit, healthy, muscular, powerful woman that kicks ass."
Love on the Road
Just prior to her pro wrestling debut, Ms. Laurer was studying under the infamous Walter "Killer" Kowalski, who literally taught her the ropes of wrestling. Also under Kowalski's tutelage was an already established wrestling star, Jean-Paul Levesque, better known as "Triple H" ("Hunter- Hearst Helmsley"). Although they didn't know it at the time, fate would bring them back together very soon and in more ways than one!
McMahon's first job assignment for Chyna was to be Triple H's bodyguard. Not only was she to accompany HHH to the ring, but she was to remain in the ring to watch his back and get into the action when necessary.
When Levesque was first told of his new side-kick, he was skeptical, and wanted to spend some time checking her out, or "road-testing" her, as it were. Not many women travel on the wrestling circuit; most of them are flown in for performances. As Chyna so candidly describes it, "You can imagine being on the men with 40 men every day. Guys are pigs, you know. I think Hunter wanted to make sure I wasn't this drug-abusing psychopath before he started working with me and investing his time.
He wanted to get to know me and wanted me to know exactly what I was getting into."
The two of them started training together, and that's when the fun began. Chyna remembers with great fondness the first time she and Hunter partnered up for a session on the bench press. "I put 135 pounds on the bar for a warm-up, and he was thinking that was a lot for a woman to warm up with. Then I put on another plate, which made it 225 pounds, and he's thinking this is probably my big set. So I did a couple of sets at that weight, and then I put on another plate, which put it up to 315 pounds, and he's thinking 'No way.' I did three reps, so now Paul had to do four reps just to do more than me. (She laughs) Later, he told me he hated it when I trained that way because it would make him work twice as hard in order to show me up."
The two of them started training together, and that's when the fun began. Chyna remembers with great fondness the first time she and Hunter partnered up for a session on the bench press. "I put 135 pounds on the bar for a warm-up, and he was thinking that was a lot for a woman to warm up with. Then I put on another plate, which made it 225 pounds, and he's thinking this is probably my big set. So I did a couple of sets at that weight, and then I put on another plate, which put it up to 315 pounds, and he's thinking 'No way.' I did three reps, so now Paul had to do four reps just to do more than me. (She laughs) Later, he told me he hated it when I trained that way because it would make him work twice as hard in order to show me up."
The two soon became inseperable, training together, and hanging out in each other's rooms at night watching television. They were best friends for about six months. Then, one night, as they sat all cuddled up in front of the tube, Hunter reached over and kissed Chyna. The two have been an item ever since. "We are such an enhancement to each other's lives. With this lifestyle on the road, I don't know if there would be another man in my life right now," says Chyna. When I asked her if marriage was on the agenda, she responded slyly, "Ask Hunter. And tell him to hurry up and get on the ball."
Building a Super-Human Body
Chyna has been dubbed the "Ninth Wonder of the World" and "The First Lady of Sports Entertainment," and fills the bill to the max. She continues to work on her body, paying attention to every detail of how she presents herself when she walks into the ring.
"Through experimentation with my body, I've tried being overly heavy, overly thin and extremely powerful. I've come to a point now where I've got a little bit of everything." Chyna says that in her pre-wrestling days, she was extremely religious about her training, never missing a day or her six-day-a-week routing. She would even set her alarm for 3 a.m. to eat yogurt, because she wanted to comsume at least 10 grams of protein before her morning workout. She trained "really heavy" back then, to which she attirbutes the development of the bulk of her muscle.
Now, she claims to train with lighter weights, and more reps, as she wants a sleeker look. Plus, the 250-day a year road schedule doesn't always permit the same consistency in training to which she'd grown accustomed to, and she finds herself having to make do with whatever time and equipment is available. In spite of these limitations, however, this female superhero manages to get at least four good days a week in the gym, with a workout that would kill most mortals.
First of all, Chyna's training philosophy maintains that it is essential to do every exercise to failure. She doesn't really count repetitions, but chooses weights she knows she'll fail at whatever rep scheme she decides is necessary for that body part. She is also a big believer in "true" exercises, such as pull-ups and push-ups, and is definitely a "back to basics" kind of woman.
Finding an adequately equipped gym is sometimes a challenge on the road, and Chyna chuckles when she describes having to be creative in order to do certain exercises, sometimes stacking cinder blocks on the floor pads to get what she wants. When she's in Los Angeles , she loves going to Gold's Gym in Venice and calls it her "playground." I can just imagine the impression she makes on all the muscleheads ad majorly buffed guys when she gets in there and pushes some serious weight. A playground indeed!
Pro Wrestling- Tougher than Football
Chyna definitely counts her weight training background as an advantage, not only because of her strength, but because it has taught her to be tuned in to her body. "I know my body very well from working out, and when I get in the ring, I have good timing and good footing. When I grab somebody, I grab them in the right spot to move them where I want. It's the same kind of physical control that a dancer has. All someone has to do is explain a move to me once, and I'm able to get it right away."
And the guys play rough. "Whether or not you want to think about what we do as choreographed, it definitely takes an athlete to do what we are doing. Yes, I portray this big, bad, ass-kicking woman, but the guys outweigh me by a hundred pounds or more." (Chyna's current weight is somewhere around 197 pounds). "When they hot you, throw you around or land on you, it's that much more of a strain on my body than it is on them."
When asked to compare her job to that of a pro football player, Chyna responded: "It's rougher than football- without the pads. We work under conditions where we can't always train when we want to, can't sleep all night long, can't eat properly, which all takes a toll on your body." That's probably whyshe and Hunter carry an entire suitcase full of protein powder, protein bars, and all their their health supplements, in an attempt to provide their bodies with the essential nutrients to withstand the constant pounding and abuse they take in the ring.
Chyna has also undergone nine surgeries as a result of knee injuries, a broken tailbone, broken ribs, torn cartilage from her chest, and what she calls "regular bumps and bruises." "It's just a part of what we do," she ways nonchalantly, "and those bumps and bruises are not considered injuries. It's definitely a rough job."
The Ultimate Revenge
Now that she's carved out her own niche, and has made "strong," "powerful" and "muscular" acceptable attributes for the ideal woman, what brings Chyna the most satisfaction? Her fans. "My favorite part of the day is when I first walk into that ring and all those people are watching me. It still amazes me that I can make them react by a wave of my hand, or something I say, or a particular movement of my body. All of the flashes are going off, like little diamonds, one after the other. It's just incredible."
And Chyna is enjoying the ultimate revenge against those who taunted her, called her names, slammed doors in her face- success. "I hope that I make other women look at me and say, 'I can be who I am and I don't have to fit a stereotype or fit a mold. If Chyna can go up against these obstacles and now be one of the most recognizable female athletes in the world, I can do it, too."
At the time of this writing, she is flying back and forth to Los Angeles , taping a segment of "Third Rock From the Sun" and a UPN movie of the week. The Joanie Laurer who once would do anything to be seen on television has now been on the cover of Newsweek (February 7, 2000) and is being courted by television and movie producers who have somehow found a role for her. Funny, how times change.
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