Chyna Joan Marie Laurer ( December 27 , 1970 – April 20 , 2016 ) was an American actress and retired professional wrestler . A former bodybuilder , she was best known for her career with the World Wrestling Federation from 1997 to 2001 , where she was billed as " Chyna : " The Ninth Wonder of the World " ( with the eighth wonder being André the Giant ) . Career History . Training and Independents . Joanie Laurer trained at Wladek " Killer " Kowalski ' s professional wrestling school in Malden , Massachusetts . Her first match was in 1995 against a male wrestler dressed as a woman . While attending the school , she also worked for various independent promotions as Joanie Lee . Some of her earliest matches were set up by The Fabulous Moolah . Laurer met World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) performers Paul " Triple H " Levesque and Shawn Michaels after a professional wrestling show in 1996 . After watching tapes of her matches , they decided to bring her into the WWF as a bodyguard . Vince McMahon , the owner of the WWF , initially did not want her to join the company because he did not believe the audience would find a woman beating up men believable . While waiting for the WWF ' s decision , Laurer was approached by World Championship Wrestling ( WCW ) , who wanted her to be the sole - female member of the New World Order . She initially accepted the offer , but later turned it down when Shane McMahon , Vince McMahon ' s son , informed her that she was about to be hired by the WWF . Kowalski , her former trainer , however , maintains that he got her hired by the WWF after introducing her to Shane McMahon and telling him of WCW ' s interest in her . World Wrestling Federation . D - Generation X ( 1997 – 1999 ) . Vince McMahon later changed his mind by hiring Laurer , and she made her WWF debut on February 16 , 1997 at ; 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 iconic enforcer / bodyguard for Triple H and later , his D - Generation X group ( which included Sean " X - Pac " Waltman ) . She often helped Triple H ( then , a rising villain ) cheat to win by physically interfering in matches by executing her trademark low blow to the groin . She was later introduced as Chyna , a play on words ; fine china is delicate and fragile , which was a sharp contrast to her character . Off - screen , however , the male wrestlers were hesitant at first to let a female over - power them on - screen . On January 25 , 1999 , Chyna was the 30th and final entrant in the Royal Rumble match , becoming the first woman in history to ever enter the Rumble match ; she was eliminated by Steve Austin . The following day on " Raw " , Chyna became a villainess by betraying Triple H and aligning herself with his enemy Vince McMahon and Kane . Chyna teamed with Kane at the pay - per - view in a victorious effort against former DX allies X - Pac and Triple H . At WrestleMania XV , Chyna turned on Kane in his match by helping Triple H defeat him , 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 then became part of The Corporation ( and later , Shane McMahon ' s Corporate Ministry ) . Following the dissolution of the Corporate Ministry , the evil Chyna remained at Triple H ' s side . Intercontinental Champion ( 1999 – 2000 ) . In June 1999 , Chyna became the first woman to qualify for the King of the Ring tournament . She was also the first female to be the number one contender for the WWF Championship , but lost the spot to Mick Foley before SummerSlam in August . Later that year , Laurer became a fan favorite again during her long feud with Jeff Jarrett . At Unforgiven , she had a match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Jarrett , which she lost . She defeated Jarrett for the title at No Mercy in his last WWF match , a Good Housekeeping match , on October 17 at No Mercy , in the process becoming the only woman to win the Intercontinental Championship . She also gained the services of his valet , Miss Kitty . Laurer claims that Jarrett demanded ( and received ) $ 300 , 000 from Vince McMahon in order to lose the title cleanly to a woman . His contract had expired on October 16 , and he was therefore not contractually obligated to appear on the pay - per - view . If he had not appeared , the WWF would have been criticized for false advertising , and the lineage of the title would have been broken . Chyna then feuded with Chris Jericho over the belt , defeating him at the Survivor Series , but losing the title to him at Armageddon . The two faced off again in a match on the December 28 edition of SmackDown ! , which ended controversially with both wrestlers pinning each other . As a result , then " head of authority " Stephanie McMahon - Helmsley declared them co - champions . At the Royal Rumble , Jericho and Chyna defended the title against Hardcore Holly in a Triple Threat match to determine the Intercontinental Champion , which Jericho won . Afterwards , Laurer briefly teamed with Jericho . Eddie Guerrero ; Women ' s Champion ( 2000 – 2001 ) . On the April 3 edition of Raw , Chyna turned villainous by attacking Jericho and causing him to lose the European Championship to Eddie Guerrero . After her heel turn , Chyna claimed that she sided with Guerrero because she couldn ' t resist his " Latino Heat . " Guerrero and Chyna , originally villains , later became fan favorites during the summer of 2000 , with Guerrero dubbing her his " Mamacita " . The couple faced Val Venis and then - rookie Trish Stratus in an intergender tag team match at SummerSlam with the Intercontinental Championship on the line . Chyna won the match , but lost the belt two weeks later to Guerrero in a Triple Threat match with Kurt Angle . They officially split in November 2000 after Chyna , in storyline , found Eddie cavorting in the shower with two other women . At the same time , Laurer posed nude for Playboy magazine ' s November 2000 issue . Her Playboy modeling was also worked into a WWE storyline , in which it drew the ire of the Right to Censor ( a group of morally conservative and self - righteous wrestlers ) . Shortly after , Laurer began a feud with Ivory , a member of the Right to Censor , over the Women ' s Championship . This culminated in a storyline at the Royal Rumble where Laurer appeared to reinjure her neck while performing a handspring back elbow . In order to better convince the audience that she was injured , color commentator Jerry Lawler left the commentators ' booth and entered the ring to check on Laurer ' s condition , something he had not done since the in - ring accident that killed Owen Hart in 1999 . When Laurer returned from the " injury " , she won the Women ' s Championship from Ivory at WrestleMania X - Seven in a squash match , a short match where one performer defeats the other with ease . Laurer also defended her title against Lita at Judgment Day in 2001 . Although she won the match , she soon vacated the Women ' s Championship , as this was Laurer ' s final WWF match . The relationship between Triple H , her former real - life boyfriend , and Stephanie McMahon ( with whom Laurer claims he had an affair and then left her for ) , was a major factor in her departure . She left World Wrestling Federation on November 30 , 2001 , several months after she had been taken off of television . Jim Ross later claimed that she was not fired , but rather chose to leave for personal reasons . Independent circuit and New Japan ( 2001 – 2004 ) . Laurer ' s in - ring career after WWE was limited . In 2002 , Laurer joined New Japan Pro Wrestling and made her first appearance at the New Japan Thirtieth Anniversary Show , refereeing a bout between the Steiner Brothers and Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kensuke Sasaki . In September and October 2002 , she wrestled four matches for the promotion . After losing to Masahiro Chono on October 14 , 2002 , Laurer performed her final match on October 26 , teaming with the Fake Great Muta in a loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenzo Suzuki . Laurer also was scheduled to appear with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , but she did not appear due to having pneumonia . Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( 2011 ) . During the May 3 , 2011 , tapings of the May 12 edition of " Impact ! " , Chyna made her TNA debut as Kurt Angle ' s business associate and tag team partner at Sacrifice , where they will face Jeff Jarrett and Karen Jarrett . During the taping she also took part in a battle royal , from which she eliminated Jeff . According to reports , Chyna had not signed a contract with TNA , but instead agreed to work the taping and the PPV on a handshake deal . Personal life . Laurer ' s breast implants were custom - made for her after her first implants were ruptured during a wrestling match . She had also complained to her plastic surgeon that their largest implants did not suit her frame in the way she desired . Laurer ' s custom implants became the model for the Chyna 2000s , a model of breast implant now marketed to large - framed women and female bodybuilders . Laurer claims to have paid $ 6 , 000 for them . From 1996 until 2000 , Laurer dated fellow wrestler Paul " Triple H " Levesque . They initially hid their relationship from their co - workers because Laurer felt that people might think she " [ slept ] her way to the top " . The duo also lived together for some time . Beginning in 2003 , however , she had a tumultuous relationship with wrestler Sean Waltman . They were engaged for a period in 2003 , then broke up , and then became engaged again , a pattern that continued for the next two years . In 2004 , Laurer and Waltman made a sex tape . Eager for a repeat success , the company that released Paris Hilton ' s celebrity sex tape obtained the footage , edited it , and released it under the name " 1 Night in China " . The video sold over 100 , 000 copies , with both Laurer and Waltman earning a share of the profits . Laurer , however , maintains that she did not earn any money from the release . In January 2005 , Laurer was arrested for domestic assault after allegedly beating Waltman . On February 8 , 2007 ( the date of Anna Nicole Smith ' s death ) , a visibly upset Laurer appeared on " Larry King Live " to speak about her late friend . On the program , Laurer claimed that she " knew it was coming " because of the way the media had ridiculed Smith , and she drew parallels between the plight of Anna and herself . The wife of the CEO of Trim Spa , Monique Goen , however , claimed that Smith did not consider Laurer a friend . After leaving the WWF , Laurer was unable to use the name " Chyna " because of its trademark . Therefore , she began to use the name " Chynna Doll " for public appearances . In November 2007 , however , Laurer filed papers to change her name legally to Chyna . Laurer has also had problems with substance abuse . She claimed that her " life was spinning out of control " around the time she made the sex tape . In January 2005 , Sean Waltman claimed that she was battling drug and alcohol addiction , as well as mental illness . Days after the domestic dispute between Waltman and Laurer , it was reported in the " New York Post " that she had stripped naked and jumped into a fish tank in a New York nightclub . That same month , she made another appearance on " The Howard Stern Show " , where she was slurring her words and going off on random tangents . On the program , she claimed to not want to do drugs anymore , but said that if a line of cocaine was in front of her , she would do it . After her appearance , she entered a facility specializing in helping people with depression , and she decided to stop drinking . In early 2008 , Laurer appeared on the VH1 reality TV show , " Celebrity Rehab with Dr . Drew " , but she claimed on the show that she did not consider herself an addict . On December 27 , 2008 , she was rushed to the hospital after her birthday party , where she was found passed out with cuts on her arms . Laurer had a strained relationship with her family . She last saw her mother at the age of sixteen , and she claimed that her father never got over her decision not to join the FBI . She also alleged that her father took out several student loans in her name and without her knowledge , leaving her with $ 40 , 000 in debt . On an episode of " Celebrity Rehab with Dr . Drew " in 2008 , Laurer claimed to have a bad relationship with all of her family members , including her siblings . In September 2010 , Laurer was hospitalized after overdosing on sleeping medication . As of February 2015 , Laurer had reestablished a good relationship with her mother ; her father died in May 2014 . Laurer taught English in Japan . On February 9 , 2015 , during a WWE Network podcast with Steve Austin , Triple H mentioned that Chyna deserved to be in the WWE Hall of Fame but that problems with children Googling her prohibited it . After being in contact with Vince Russo she claimed in an interview that Triple H had hit her , which he later called a false statement . Death . On April 20 , 2016 , Laurer was found dead at her home in Redondo Beach , California . She had been taking medication for anxiety and sleep deprivation . An official statement was posted to her Twitter account , saying " It is with deep sadness to inform you today that we lost a true icon , a real life superhero . . . She will live forever in the memories of her millions of fans and all of us that loved her . " Quotes . On why she left the WWE : On winning the Intercontinental Championship : On working with Eddie Guerrero : What she misses the most about wrestling : When asked if she ' ll return to the WWE :