The Importance of…9.26.08: Chyna

A Chinconvenient Truth
Quick notes on the past week in wrestling

-As disappointed as I am to see CM Punk seemingly out of the world title picture, his purported quest for the tag titles does have potential. For one, his star power could give those belts, as well as Rhodes and Dibiase, a decent rub. In addition, assuming that Randy Orton does join the second generation guys for a concrete stable, this will be a fine way to have Punk continue feuding with him by proxy. I’m trying to stay optimistic on this one.

-I really enjoyed the Evan Bourne-Kane match on Raw this week. It was booked correctly, bell to bell. Bourne got to look like a star, going toe to toe with a beast, and even controlling the better part of the match with his unique offense. Kane still got to look like a monster by dominating at the end, and picking up the clean victory. A bit less stellar was the follow up with Rey Mysterio. Let me get this straight—after Kane has had a fairly taxing match, he can still cleanly dominate a fresh Mysterio in under 30 seconds? Why bother having a match between them then?

And now on to our regular column…

She was the Ninth Wonder of the World. She was the first woman to hold the Intercontinental championship. She was one of the few woman to ever be listed in the PWI 500, and the highest ranking of them. She made the cover of Playboy. Chyna was nothing if not unique. Love her or hate her, still respect her or think she’s a joke now, this much you cannot deny—Chyna holds an important place in the history of the wrestling business.

In the mid-1990s, Sunny redefined what it meant to be a woman in wrestling, introducing sex appeal at a level never before seen in the business. What Sunny did for the sexy diva, Chyna did for the fighting woman. Never before had a woman been so physically involved in wrestling, and specifically in working with the boys. Women’s wrestling has been around for a very long time, and female managers and valets were certainly nothing new. But no woman represented the sheer physical presence of muscle-bound, vicious Chyna. Paired with Triple H, and so aligned with an early incarnation of DX, Chyna was every bit the threat at ringside that any of her male counterparts would be. A defining moment for her came at Wrestlemania XIV, when she was handcuffed to an aged Sergeant Slaughter, to keep her from interfering in Triple H’s match with Owen Hart. Slaughter did not improve the unmovable object he may have hoped to be, as Chyna threw powder in his eyes, roughed him up, and assisted Trips to victory anyway. In this moment, she asserted herself as more imposing than any other female manager, and indeed, as more physically capable than most of her male counterparts.

Between the look of her—jacked and dressed up all in leather—to her abilities—able to toss men around with ease—Chyna represented a new type of woman in wrestling. This newly-defined woman fit perfectly with the Degeneration X group, as progressive, different and defying tradition. As such, Chyna’s unpredictable and unconventional rise to stardom went a long way toward furthering her stable, and, what’s more, the Attitude era on the whole.

With her impressive physical showings as a manager/bodyguard, there was little question that Chyna would eventually step into the ring herself. What started with understated roles in tag matches, grew into a respectable singles career. No, Chyna was not the accomplished wrestler that some of the men with whom she worked were. But she usually wasn’t horrible either, and lent an authenticity to woman-on-man violence that has never really been matched. Along the way, she had her share of memorable feuds. There was the obvious woman versus chauvinist program with Jeff Jarrett. There was an intriguing program surrounding the Interncontinental Championship, in which she worked extensively with Chris Jericho. And then there was the unique program with Eddie Guerrero—a really inventive spin on the classic manipulative boyfriend angle in wrestling. We’ve seen it many times before and since, from Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth, to Marc Mero and Sable, to Test and Stacey Keibler. The difference between Eddie-Chyna and all of the others is that the woman did not need an in-ring placeholder or third party to make the program function. Chyna, herself, could collect her pay-off, standing up for herself in a truly entertaining feud.

Chyna’s last memorable WWF program came in her battles with The Right to Censor. This feud bridged the gap between her active competition with men, and transitioning into the position of a more traditional female wrestler. She worked an injury angle against Ivory, leading to a triumphant return, and her first women’s title reign at Wrestlemania XVII. She went on to a brief but dominant reign, turning back challenges from basically every wrestling diva of the time, before vacating the title when contract negotiations fell through.

Chyna went on to work in the indies and abroad for a time, but faded from the national eye. Or, that is, she would have faded had she not taken steps toward grabbing attention. This included an ill-advised sex tape with Sean Waltman, later being arrested for domestic violence against Waltman, and appearing on several reality TV shows. Just as she was fading from visibility, Chyna took one more swipe at the spotlight in late 2007, publicly challenging Vince McMahon to a fight.

Chyna has fallen a long way from her heights as a performer and star. Nonetheless, her influence on the wrestling world is still being felt to this day. WCW tried, unsuccessfully, to recreate her success by contracting their own female bodybuilder, and creatively naming her Aysa. Much more recently, figures like Awesome Kong and Beth Phoenix, who dominate other women, and with whom companies have teased active competition with men, very much fit the mold Chyna established. It’s difficult to say how far or in what ways this mold will survive or evolve. What remains is that Chyna introduced it. It’s a unique build, and one that went a long way toward establishing Chyna’s importance in the history of wrestling.
That’s all for this column. Next week, we continue our series on DX alumni, with a look at the importance of Rick Rude.