Joanie “Chyna” Laurer was found dead at her Redondo Beach home on April 20, 2016. Laurer was only 46 years old. While anabolic steroids have often been blamed for the premature deaths of numerous former WWE entertainers, this has not been the case with Laurer.
WWE diva Chyna
In life, as in death, steroids were not a part of Laurer’s world – at least according to Laurer herself. Of course, no one believed her. And no matter how demonized steroids may be in modern society, the muscle-building drugs were likely one of the least controversial subjects linked to Laurer. Regardless of whether Laurer told the truth about her steroid use, steroids didn’t cause Chyna’s death.
“Steroids were a very dark world. It scared me. I knew about it very early on and I decided to look the other way. I knew some people had to do them and I didn’t judge,” Chyna told Steppin’ Out magazine in November 2011. “But I also didn’t want to be a part of that world. I knew I was ugly but inside I was a very feminine woman. Steroids are a lifetime choice that few come back from.”
There were no signs of foul play and Laurer’s death was reported as a possible overdose after a preliminary investigation according to Lt. Todd Heywood of the Redondo Beach Police Department (RBPD). Los Angeles County coroner’s office spokesperson Ed Winter confirmed an autopsy and toxicological report are pending to determine the official cause of death.
Anthony Anzaldo, the long-time manager for Laurer aka Chyna, suspects that his client most likely died as the result of an accidental overdose of two prescription medications she used to treat her insomnia – Ambien and Valium.
WWE Chyna as member of D-Generation X
Laurer was best known for her work as the WWF/WWE diva Chyna between 1997 to 2001. The so-called “Ninth Wonder of the World” had an extremely muscular bodybuilder’s physique at a height of 5-foot 10 and a bodyweight of 180 pounds. She was also a member of the D-Generation X wrestling stable that included Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Rick Rude, X-Pac, The New Age Outlaws and Tori.
Laurer was deemed a feminist icon by many academics such as Dawn Heinecken, a professor of women’s and gender studies at the University of Louisville. Heinecken described how Laurer, acting as Chyna, started her pro wrestling career as a hated monster before being transformed into a sex symbol.
“When she first emerged, she was a reviled, contested figure because of her muscular body and the way she transgressed gender norms,” wrote Heinecken in an academic paper titled, ‘No Cage Can Hold Her Rage? Gender, Transgression, and the World Wrestling Federation’s Chyna‘. “She was described as a monster and not a ‘real’ woman…
“She was demonized as a feminist who challenged male dominance. Her latest, and most popular incarnation was that of a sex symbol.”
Kevin B. Blackistone, a visiting professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, described how the perception and portrayal of Chyna changed.
“But that quickly changed when WWE and Chyna colluded to feminize her appearance and turn her into the fetishized archetype man-slaying woman, the Amazon,” Blackistone wrote in a Washington Post op-ed after her death. “She fought and toppled men even after undergoing plastic surgery to smooth out her jaw line. She dolled up for a cover shot on the wrestling magazine “Raw,” swaddled in a red robe knotted low to expose her breasts, newly enlarged with implants.”
From the pinnacle of her popularity in WWF/WWE, Laurer could only fall. When the WWE fired Laurer in 2001, she struggled with substance abuse and alcohol problems. She posed in Playboy a couple of times and began an on-again off-again career as a pornographic movie actress.
Backdoor to Chyna
Laurer’s porn career debuted with a home sex tape with fellow D-Generation X partner Sean “X-Pac” Waltman that was distributed by Red Light District Video under the name “1 Night in China”. A sequel called “Another Night in China” appeared several years later. After being signed by Vivid Entertainment, she starred in “Backdoor to Chyna” and played a she-hulk in a porn parody of The Avengers and a she-hulk centered spin-off video.
After Laurer’s success in the WWE between 1997 and 2001, her life and legacy became tainted with events and substances far more demonized than steroids. Recreational drugs. Alcohol addiction. Pornography. She first entertained the public sphere as a disliked figure and sadly leaves the public sphere with little sympathy from the many people who followed her meteoric rise in professional wrestling and her subsequent demise.