While her peak was relatively brief, and her in-ring skills short of the world’s best, Chyna was one of the biggest female stars that wrestling has ever seen.
The star’s staggeringly impressive physique made her immediately stand out, and she pushed the boundaries for female performers in WWE when women were often positioned as nothing more than eye candy. Chyna became the first woman to compete in the Royal Rumble match, regularly wrestled men, and won the Intercontinental Championship twice.
This along with her association with D-X meant that she will forever form an important part of WWE history.
However, the star left the company under a cloud in 2001 after the breakdown of her relationship with Triple H and conflicts over pay.
Jim Ross was Head of Talents relations for WWE at the time and was involved in negotiating contracts with a number of top stars, including Chyna. Speaking on Grilling JR, the legendary announcer detailed the difficulties in negotiating with Chyna who believed that she was on a similar level to Stone Cold Steve Austin and deserved to be paid as such.
The problem was that the company didn’t agree.
“I had a lot of issues trying to negotiate a contract with Chyna. Chyna was demanding that she make the same money that Austin was making. And I thought that might be a little bit far-fetched.
That was what ended up being the straw that broke the camel’s back, if you will. It’s just, you’re not going to get a million dollar guarantee. And she didn’t understand why. She thought she was a bigger star actually than Austin, because she was female, and had that advantage, uniqueness, one of a kind, one off type deal.”
Chyna Was Inducted Into The WWE Hall Of Fame In 2019
After leaving WWE, Chyna struggled with addiction issues and sadly passed away on April 17th, 2016. For years there have been calls for the company to induct her into the Hall of Fame, but the sports entertainment giant resisted citing her appearances in adult films.
There was a slight softening of this stance in 2019 as the star was posthumously indicted as part of D-X.
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