The Forgotten Legacy

[S.J. Maximus]

Go up to any wrestling fan and ask them who the greatest female wrestler in WWE history is, what are you going to hear?

"Trish Stratus. It isn't even close, she was the total package"

"Lita! She was an icon, and a pioneer for female in-ring performers"

"Fabulous Moolah, how the hell can you argue with her lengthy title reigns"

Depending on who you talk to you might even hear Bayley or Sasha Banks.

In a conversation dominated by the Hogan-like company guy (Trish), the HBK-like show stealer (Lita), and the Bruno-like legend whos records are unbeatable (Moolah), where's the love for the Austin/Rock-like megastar who was easily the most popular star of the most popular era of wrestling: Chyna.

Yeah, she gets paid to suck some dicks now, and WWE has shunned her which is completely understandable but what happened to the fans?! Chris Benoit is a murderer who literally doesn't exist in WWE history but you can find plenty of fans (myself included) fondly remembering his impact on wrestling and the immense talent that he had.

....so why is Chyna so forgotten? Am I just misguided and talking to the wrong people about female wrestling or is there a legitimate hate/lack of respect toward the most popular female wrestler of the Attitude Era. If you want to argue that fact, please watch the 1997-2001 episodes of RAW on the Network, it's only 9.99. Fabulous Moolah's 28-year reign may be untouchable, but I also highly doubt there will ever be another female 2-time Intercontinental Champion.

The first ever female Royal Rumble participant, the first ever female #1 contender for the WWE Championship, and the only female Intercontinental Champion in history, how the hell is she not revered as one of the best? While Lita was managing Essa Rios and Trish was barking like a dog for air time Chyna was main eventing shows opposite The Rock, HHH, and Kane. She was actually a legitimate threat who was a believable victor in matches vs Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and Eddie Guerrero.

Yet I guess since she does porn no one likes her? What happened? Her longevity is the only issue that I can really see, but longevity rarely keeps Dwayne out of the discussion for men. Please, just let me know, how do you feel about the legacy of The Ninth Wonder of the World, Chyna.

 

[LegendKiller716]

I just wasn't a fan. In all fairness I'm not a huge fan of woman's wrestling to begin with, but I just never cared about her. I can't even think of a memorable feud she had with a woman, and every feud she had with a man I was annoyed because she was there. I couldn't care less if she does porn or not... But I guess that's been my issue with her for her entire career, I just don't care.

 

[Azane]

Chyna barely ever really did much Women's wrestling, she made more of a name being DX's Valet and her Intergender barrier breaks. There are 2 reasons that she never gets mentioned;

1. Her pornography and drugs etc... life style that will force WWE to bury her.
2. Her best accomplishments weren't from women's wrestling, they were from intergender, the #1 contendership (and rumors they were actually going to put the title on her) and IC runs were amazing at the time, but nobody remembers her for her woman vs woman matches. She had 1 Woman's title reign, nobody remembers.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Chyna was more known for her generally "freakish" appearance and, as has already been mentioned, the various intergender stuff rather than as a female wrestler. Women's wrestling in WWE, particularly at that time, wasn't exactly of the highest quality overall and whenever Chyna got into the ring with another woman, it wasn't even remotely a contest.

Now that's not to say that she wasn't memorable because she was, that's just simply how it is. She was a pretty big star in WWE back in the day when it's all said & done, but WWE won't mention her because of the train wreck her personal life has become. It's not just because of the porn or the drugs, it's also because of allegations that she's made. Remember last year when she had those online podcast interviews with Vince Russo that generated all that buzz? During one of those interviews, she accused Triple H of assaulting her physically; I don't remember all the details and she eventually did recant the statement, but it's bad enough that she even made up a false allegation.

I know that Trips cheated on her with Stephanie and it was a shitty thing to do; nobody likes being cheated on and it creates all sorts of lousy feelings. However, she's still upset about that all these years later and goes so far to say that Trips physically abused her knowing that it wasn't true.

As much as Chyna was known for her role in DX and being the Amazon and all that back during the Attitude Era, those days have been overshadowed by the tabloid shitstorm that is her personal life.

 

[OYDK]

She's not forgotten. As JH said, if you ask people who the greatest female wrestler of all time was, they're going to think of the women who were most known for their wrestling, and yes Trish was a pretty damn good wrestler later in her career. Chyna was a different animal altogether. Just a massive Amazonian women who possessed more strength than 3/4s of the men on the roster at this time. She got over more on her look and natural ability than any sort of skills she may have had, because let's be honest, Chyna was an awful pro wrestler; terrible timing, missed spots, very few matches that lasted longer than 5 minutes, and she didn't start talking on the mic until a couple years into her run. However, she got over and as OP said, became one of the most popular female competitors of all time.

I don't think you'll find many Chyna fans here but I also doubt you'll find many people that would argue against Chyna's claim to the HOF. She's a legend regardless and I don't think you have to worry about people not realizing that.

 

[Makaveli31]

I can't even think of a memorable feud she had with a woman, and every feud she had with a man I was annoyed because she was there. I couldn't care less if she does porn or not... But I guess that's been my issue with her for her entire career, I just don't care.
__________________

Ummmm how about Ivory and Lita? The reason why there were no memorable feuds with women was because there wasn't a strong women's division at the time. You really think Sable would've gave Chyna much of a fight? Please.

Chyna barely ever really did much Women's wrestling, she made more of a name being DX's Valet and her Intergender barrier breaks. There are 2 reasons that she never gets mentioned;

Wait hold on, there was no women's wrestling before Chyna. She was the FIRST legit women's wrestler since Madusa. She made fans want to see women in the ring. Yes at first she feuded with men but by the end of her run she was feuding with women.

1. Her pornography and drugs etc... life style that will force WWE to bury her.

Please. We know EXACTLY why the WWE continues to ignore her. There are plenty of wrestlers, execs, managers who have a sordid past dealing with issues of sex, pornography and drugs. I don't need to go down the line.

2. Her best accomplishments weren't from women's wrestling, they were from intergender, the #1 contendership (and rumors they were actually going to put the title on her) and IC runs were amazing at the time, but nobody remembers her for her woman vs woman matches. She had 1 Woman's title reign, nobody remembers.
Last edited by Azane : Today at 03:10 PM.

It doesn't matter. Her accomplishments are her accomplishments. So what if they weren't against women. There were memorable and yes we ALL remember Chyna and what she did in the WWE.

 

[Makaveli31]

et I guess since she does porn no one likes her? What happened? Her longevity is the only issue that I can really see, but longevity rarely keeps Dwayne out of the discussion for men. Please, just let me know, how do you feel about the legacy of The Ninth Wonder of the World, Chyna.
__________________

Chyna is one of the greats. Period. The FACT is we didn't see anything like her before or have not seen anything like her after. She is a once in a lifetime talent. She had the build and agility to wrestle with men. Whether you agreed or not. She elicited a reaction. She also had sex appeal. It is a combination we had never seen before. Like the OP said. There are many "firsts" listed under her accomplishments.

The fact why she is FORGOTTEN is simple. Out of sight. Out of mind. Her name has not been uttered in the WWE for 15 years. An entire generation of fans grew up not knowing anything about Chyna. I doubt they even know she did pornography. So that is why she is forgotten. Plain and simple.

 

[stingray11214]

Chyna was little more than a side show act. She used to wrestle men. That is nice for "hoo-hah" moments. But, to compare her to the Madusa's? The Bertha Faye's? The Richter's? It is beyond laughable. Chyna let her own personal bullshit get in the way of her career. She held a candle for a cheating snake, and paid a terrible price for it. Had she just let go and gone on with her life, who knows what type of career she would have had. WWE forgot her because it brings back a lot of uncomfortable moments that Steph and Trips would like to forget. And, now that children are in play, no way will they allow Chyna to be seen as anything else but an unstable nutcase and immoral ****e to be scorned and dismissed.

Oh, BTW, as a response to the OP's question about the greatest female wrestler in history: Madusa, hands down. No one else dominated in more places than she did.

 

[YatesA]

I liked Chyna back in the day, I still remember her feud with Ivory when she was in the Right To Censor and as a kid back then I was pissed when they "injured" Chyna haha but with the way she went about things hasn't helped her case, I believe last year's incident was out of desperation, she's obviously desperate to get back into the fold but has been shunned and she took it the wrong way. Oh I was also annoyed when she got eliminated from the Rumble so quickly too. Come to think of it, she's probably my all time favourite female wrestler.

 

[Makaveli31]

Chyna was little more than a side show act. She used to wrestle men. That is nice for "hoo-hah" moments. But, to compare her to the Madusa's? The Bertha Faye's? The Richter's? It is beyond laughable. Chyna let her own personal bullshit get in the way of her career. She held a candle for a cheating snake, and paid a terrible price for it. Had she just let go and gone on with her life, who knows what type of career she would have had. WWE forgot her because it brings back a lot of uncomfortable moments that Steph and Trips would like to forget. And, now that children are in play, no way will they allow Chyna to be seen as anything else but an unstable nutcase and immoral ****e to be scorned and dismissed.

You don't think Chyna would've held he own against the Madusa's and Berth Faye's of the world? That is beyond laughable. She was trained by Kowalski. I've said it before. The ONLY reason she wrestled men was because

1. There was no women's division when she started wrestling.

2. She was much more physically bigger than the the competition. I would've liked to see a feud between Chyna and Jackie before Jackie was released. But the WWE was more interested in putting Jackie in a g-string next to Sable in a bikini contest.

Chyna "let her personal BS" get in the way? Please. You REALLY thunk Trips and CERTAINLY Steph would've kept Chyna around in ANY circumstance. You are naive. Plus, Chyna was humiliated and you expect her to tuck her tail between her legs and work for her ex who cheated on her with the boss's daughter?

Steph and Trips brought those "uncomfortable moments" on themselves. They are BOTH cheaters and Chyna reminds them of that.

Not saying Chyna is completely innocent. Yes she got involved with drugs. Yes she did pornography. She said she was under the influence when Waltman coerced her into doing the movie. But nonetheless she still made it. It's a decision that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Who are the WWE to judge? Immoral? The same company that had Trish Stratus strip down to a g-string a bark like a dog? Committed acts of rape and necrophilia? There biggest star Hulk Hogan us currently in a sex tape lawsuit. They haven't shut the door on his eventual return. Jimmy Snuka on trial for murder? What about the co-star of the movie? X-Pac she is regularly on WWE programming? Scott Hall and Jake Roberts former drug addicts? People are ALLOWED to make mistakes especially at their WEAKEST point it's what you do AFTER that counts.

We ALL know the porn has nothing to do with Chyna being shunned by WWE. Its solely because of Trips and Steph

 

[Makaveli31]

“For me, I hope so. It’s about reinvigorating his brand and him as a human being and the confidence within the world as to who he is. But the one thing about people in general, when somebody is on top, they love to see him fall and when they fall, they love to see him make that comeback. They’re great stories and I think that’s where people are. Do I think he can be forgiven and make amends with the world and move forward? Yeah, absolutely. But at the same point in time, for us in that time frame, you’re putting up a message to the world of how you’ll tolerate things and how you’ll react to things. And we did what we needed to do, and he’ll do what he needs to do to get himself back.

“And it’s not, to me, at the end of the day for him, how he’s perceived by the world, him as a human being, I’m sure is a lot more important to him than anything else. And re-establishing who he is as a human being I’m sure is of utmost important to him, and I’m sure he’s gonna do it, and when he does, we’ll go from there.”

A direct quote from Triple H regarding Hulk Hogan. What's the difference between Hogan and Chyna? I think we all know.