page_title: Chyna
section_title: D-Generation X (1997–1999)
hierarchical_section_title: Chyna / Professional wrestling career / World Wrestling Federation / D-Generation X (1997–1999)
caption_attribution_description: American professional wrestler, actress, and model Joanie Laurer, also known as Chyna. Taken at the US Air Arena Landover, MD.
context_page_description: Chyna was an American professional wrestler, glamour model, actress, author, bodybuilder and pornographic actress. She first rose to prominence in the World Wrestling Federation in 1997, where she was billed as the "Ninth Wonder of the World". A founding member of the stable D-Generation X as the promotion's first female enforcer, she held the WWF Intercontinental Championship twice and the WWF Women's Championship once. She was also the first woman to participate in the Royal Rumble match and King of the Ring tournament, as well as to become number one contender to the WWF Championship. With singles victories over several prominent male wrestlers – including multiple-time world champions Triple H, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and Jeff Jarrett – Chyna left what WWE called "a lasting legacy as the most dominant female competitor of all time". After leaving the WWF in 2001, Chyna wrestled sporadically, with New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2002 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2011. The latter was her final appearance in a wrestling ring.
  Outside of wrestling, Chyna appeared in Playboy magazine twice, as well as numerous television shows and films.
context_section_description: Laurer made her WWF debut on February 16, 1997 at In Your House 13: Final Four; her character emerged as a plant from a ringside seat, choking Marlena while Goldust was in the ring with Triple H. Her original role in the promotion was as the laconic enforcer/bodyguard for D-Generation X which was founded by Shawn Michaels and Triple H. She often helped them (then, a rising villain) cheat to win by physically interfering in matches by executing her trademark low blow to the groin. She was later given the ring name "Chyna", an intentionally ironic moniker; fine china is delicate and fragile, a sharp contrast to her character. Off-screen, however, the male wrestlers were hesitant at first to let a woman over-power them on-screen.
  During her time in D-Generation X, she was put in a romantic storyline with Mark Henry, member of the rival stable Nation of Domination. It started in August 1998 after The Rock ordered Henry to kiss Chyna to humiliate her, during which she fought back. Henry would chase her romantically, eventually threatening her with a storyline sexual harassment demand over one of her beatdowns if she didn't accept to go to a date with him. Chyna accepted and eventually reconciled with him, becoming his on-screen girlfriend and ally. However, in January 1999 Chyna revealed it had been all a ruse to humiliate Henry.
  A week after her storyline with Henry, Chyna was the thirtieth entrant in the Royal Rumble, becoming the first woman ever to enter the eponymous match. The day after the Royal Rumble, Chyna became a villainess by betraying Triple H and aligning herself with his enemy Vince McMahon and Kane. Laurer teamed with Kane at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view against former allies X-Pac and Triple H. At WrestleMania XV, Chyna turned on Kane in his match by attacking him with a chair, appearing to rejoin DX. Chyna and Triple H, however, turned against DX later that evening when they helped Shane McMahon defeat DX member X-Pac. The duo became part of The Corporation and later Shane McMahon's Corporate Ministry. Following the dissolution of the Corporate Ministry, the villainous Chyna remained at Triple H's side. They would eventually split up later in the year.
caption: Chyna in 1997
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