Chyna: More damage than good?

[spinningtorturerack]

I'm sure everyone appreciates the boundaries Chyna broke when she won the intercontinental title, but ultimately I think she did more damage than good to women's wrestling.

Think about it, Woman wins the intercontinental title, first one to do so, but if women are now expected to wrestle at this level, where does it leave the women's title. I'm sure a lot of people agree that the women's wrestling scene was not brilliant to begin with and instead of breaking barriers and so on she actually showed up how terrible women's wrestling is, shown by her Wrestlemania X-7 squash match against Ivory.

But was Chyna as bad for wrestling as I said? Or is it more important she broke the barrier between women and men's wrestling?

 

[boozinjedi]

Granted her squash at WM X-7 might not be one for the history books,
the fact that she held hte IC title was an important breakthrough.

You do make a valid point...how it might cheapen the women's title in the long run BUT someone like Chyna doesn't come around everyday...
We all know about the Beth Phoenix comparisions,only history will show if they are valid and true.

 

[Mark0820]

Women aren't expected to wrestle at that level. Most people don't even remember her winning the IC title. I have no idea why you'd even think they were held to that standard.

 

[klunderbunker]

She freaking killed anything the women's title had going for it by just leaving without dropping the title to someone, most likely Lita. She was a HUGE deal around 99-2000 though and there's zero denying that. The IC Title was crippled by the time she got it though through reigns by guys like Godfather etc. The damage she did didn't hurt things as much as it may seem to though as Lita and Trish came in and saved the division as well as they could. She was nowhere near worth the money that she was more or less demanding though so no, not more damage than good as she didn't do a ton of damage anyway.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I don't think she was bad for wrestling or female wrestling. 9 years on she's proven to be fairly insignificant, like most females in wrestling.

Her first Royal Rumble appearance is more memorable than her IC title victory and WWE had the good sense to eliminate her quickly. She went over Jeff Jarret who was leaving the company, Vince McMahon and Chris Jericho who WWE didn't have much faith in at the time. When she was in the ring with The Rock or Steve Austin they usually ripped through her like the mid carder she was. Chyna had almost no effect on wrestling short term, let alone long term.

 

[Judah's Lion]

women's wrestling is not all bad. there have been (in the past and present) plenty of women that could put on a decent match: sherri martel, medussa, ivory, jaqi, molly holly, jazz, victoria and a few others that i'm sure i'll miss.

IMO, harvey wippleman has done more damage to the women's division than chyna ever did or will do. that was what made the division look like a joke, since it literally was one, and at the expense of some women that really could wrestle a decent match.

now (and i promise that i'm not sexist) i doubt that women will ever be able to hold the kind of physical match that a man can day in and day out and as consistently. but there are still plenty that can put on a decent match. the "bra and panties" styles of matches also do more damage than good. may be more pleasing to the eye, but it doesn't show off any wrestling skills and just makes the division look like a joke. IMO.

chyna was a rare breed, but not totally alone. didn't medussa have a title run in WCW, for whatever that's worth. so did david arquette. but still, she did. and didn't awesome kong fight guys in TNA? so it has been done before and since, but just not as often because that kind of woman is harder to develop. beth phoenix has done some of that stuff recently with mixed-tag matches.

i'd say that chyna did more good than harm, bringing credibility to the idea that yes, a woman can wrestle and even succeed against all odds. not all will be as great as she was, but i guess that's why she was the "9th wonder of the world", preceeded by andre the giant as the "8th wonder of the world". pretty big shoes to fill, but arguably the breaker of more boundaries than any other female wrestler.

 

[The Viper Orton]

What chyna did was break the barrier between her and men, not between women and men. She was good only good in DX, and if i'm not correct in the king of the ring when chyna was in it and eliminated the first guy by a low blow (her advantage) to go to face Road Dog, , who ****e a metal there and won. Good days

Anyways Chyna was good for wrestling but for herself. The boundary between women and men still exists

 

[themiz937]

the wemons division wasnt great so her winning the IC title didnt help but lita and trish help with their wrestling skill also others like victoria.

 

[Low_Ki]

I think at the time she did break through the barrier, but unfortunately there was nobody to follow her.

Chyna for all intensive purposes was quite over as a talent. She will always be synonymous with her matches with Jeff Jarrett and of course her Intercontinental Title reign. I even remember her being a part of a SummerSlam PPV in a triple threat match with Steve Austin and HHH before Mankind replaced her at the last minute.

I think she made her mark on the Attitude Era but as I said before there were no other women wrestlers big enough to follow suit. There were no other 'big' women to help integrate women with the men.

I didn't think about it at the time but yes she did make the Women's division look terrible at the time, and especially at WM X-7 with her squash of Ivory. Bare in mind that Ivory was a very accomplished women's wrestler but she was always made to look rather under par when faced with Chyna.

To answer your question, I think that Chyna's involvement has not helped the women's division, but it was only one contributing factor to an already faltering division of the WWE.

 

[ccotreau1]

If anything, I feel that Chyna was more of a bridge between the great wrestling women before her in Sherri Martel and Trish Stratus. I felt that she was the most successful diva until Trish/Lita in the early 2000's so for me, I say she did just as good as she could do under the circumstances. I am glad to see her make history not once, but twice in winning the IC title and being in the royal rumble (first female to win a males title and first female entered into the royal rumble).

 

[SydTinDad]

Come on guys; this thread made no sense to even start. I'll just say this:

1) Nobody takes womens wrestling seriously. If you say you do, your lying.

2) Their job is to wiggle thier asses and satisfy the male viewer. Speak like a dumb blonde does, and come up with "cutsie" story lines. That's your job.

3) Chyna was a fucking man OK. Until I proof that she was not born with a dick or wasn't atleast a hemaphrodite coming out of the womb, she wasn't a woman.

BTW.....ALL TITLES IN THE INDUSTRY lost credibility once they were worn by David Arquette (WCW Champ) and Judy Bagwell (Tag Team Champ).

PAAAAA-LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!

 

[lgreene9187]

My feeling about women's wrestling is that if you're going to use it as a time filler, it might as well be good. Back when the WWE Women's division was full of good talent (Chyna,Lita, Trish, Jazz, Ivory, Gail, etc.) along with good storylines, I actually looked forward to seeing these ladies go. Now, mind you, I didn't want to see them open or close the show (see TNA from last week), I was more hesitant to change the channel than I am now. Today, as far as talent goes, the WWE has dropped the ball. The best women workers they have now are clearly Beth, Melina and Mickie. They terribly underuse Natalya. Eve and Alicia are coming along, and the rest are garbage.

 

[Takerfan93]

No Chyna was great. She is a significant figure in not only the history of womens wrestling, but in wrestling history as a whole.Think about it, she was the first women to enter the Royal Rumble and to win a male championship.
It's just like when you get a unique male wrestler. For example, The Rock and Stone Cold were unique wrestlers and very significant which is why they are remembered well. Same applies for Chyna, she was a unique wrestler and significant. If anything she helped women's wrestling because she is someone who will long be remembered

 

[El AlcoHALLic]

She's was pretty damn over back in the day. She didn't harm womens wrestling at all. Her whole thing was that she was a genetic freak and could handle anyone regardless of gender.

Her match with Jericho was one of my all time favorites. Jericho Dropkicked a thumb for christ's sake. How awesome is that? She was a bad mamajama in the attitude era so of coarse she was expected to manhandle the much smaller lighter divas.

I dunno what ultimatley led to her departure from the wwe, but her time there was pretty damn productive and I think that ultimatley what she did for womens wrestling was positive. Personel life aside that is.

 

[pessimism101]

1) There were times that I did take women's wrestling seriously. The Knockout division with Awesome Kong; pretty much all women's wrestling in Japan; the Trish Stratus/Lita; Bull Nakano/Alundra Blayze; and the Trish Stratus/Lita era, just to name a few.

2) Chyna is/was/always will be a woman (albeit, a very unattractive, butch woman). Now, Nicole Bass I have questions about...

To answer the thread, Chyna didn't damage anything. Every major wrestling company has had a woman who competed with men in the ring. ECW did in on numerous occasions (Jazz, anyone?), WCW did it with Jacqueline; WWE did it with Chyna and, to an extent, Beth Phoenix... What these women have in common is that they're too big for any women's division.

Speaking of the women's divisions, the only reason nobody takes it seriously anymore is becuase the WWE has ruined it with it's non-competitive gimmick matches.

 

[wushady]

It did some damage to the womens title at the time, but divas like Trish, Lita,Ivory,ect. brought back some prestige to it. I think it did more damage to the IC title.

 

[Big Sexy]

I'm sure everyone appreciates the boundaries Chyna broke when she won the intercontinental title, but ultimately I think she did more damage than good to women's wrestling.

Think about it, Woman wins the intercontinental title, first one to do so, but if women are now expected to wrestle at this level, where does it leave the women's title. I'm sure a lot of people agree that the women's wrestling scene was not brilliant to begin with and instead of breaking barriers and so on she actually showed up how terrible women's wrestling is, shown by her Wrestlemania X-7 squash match against Ivory.

But was Chyna as bad for wrestling as I said? Or is it more important she broke the barrier between women and men's wrestling?

I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at. Chyna wasn't really seen as a competitor in the women's division until very late in her career. She was always either a manager or competing with the men for the most part. She only held the women's title once and after one title defense she vacated it and was gone from the WWE. She didn't hurt the credibility of the division because she was seen as being above the division.