Joanie Laurer

About Joanie Laurer

Chyna (born as Joan Marie Laurer on December 27, 1969 in Rochester, New York, was an American professional wrestler, bodybuilder, glamour model, author and actress. She first rose to prominence in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1997, where she was billed as the "Ninth Wonder of the World". After leaving the WWF in 2001, Chyna wrestled sporadically with other wrestling companies.

Following a very successful pro wrestling career she worked as a professional pornographic actress and nude model in the 2000s, just as posing nude for Playboy twice as well as being hired by Vivid Entertainment to performed in five XXX film since, though she claimed in early 2014 to be retired from pornography.

Chyna was considered to be a sex symbol and her wrestling performance pave her way into a role model for upcoming female wrestlers as well as opening up mixed gender roles. for being influential to women's wrestling and breaking the gender norm.

She graduating in University of Tampa on 1992 with a major in Spanish Literature. During college, she also studied French and German (she could converse in either language). After college, Laurer began to regularly enter fitness competitions.

Outside of wrestling, Chyna appeared in Playboy magazine twice, plus numerous television shows and films. Chyna was also known for her tumultuous relationship with fellow wrestler Sean Waltman, with whom she made a sex tape released commercially in 2004 as 1 Night in China, which won a 2006 AVN Award for Best-Selling Title. She starred in a further five pornographic titles, including AVN's 2012 Best Celebrity Sex Tape, Backdoor to Chyna.

In 2019, Chyna was posthumously entered into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of D-Generation X, making her the first woman to be inducted as a part of a group or team.

On April 20, 2016, Laurer was found dead at her home in Redondo Beach, California. She was 46. Her manager Anthony Anzaldo was concerned when she did not post updates or content to her usual social media outlets for several days, and subsequently found her body in her apartment. Initial police reports stated that she appeared to have died of either an accidental drug overdose or of natural causes. Anzaldo suggested that any overdose was accidental, saying that she was prescribed drugs, but tended to use them improperly.

A report of her autopsy was released in December 2016 which determined that she died on April 20 of an overdose of alcohol, combined with the anxiety drugs diazepam and nordazepam, painkillers oxycodone and oxymorphone, and sleeping aid temazepam.