Rant #1,656: A Wrestling Death

Say what you want to about professional wrestling, but this worldwide phenomenon has produced its share of stars, its share of flops ...

And then you had Chyna.

Chyna was something different altogether.

A female with such a huge and tomboyish stature that many people questioned whether she was really a woman, Chyna was probably the first female professional wrestler that could handle herself with the boys, and sometimes even wrestled them.

Joanie Laurer had a much more difficult time grappling with life, and she passed away yesterday at 45 years old.

No cause of death was given, but already, there is speculation on the Internet about her passing, whether it had to do with her alleged drug and/or steroid use, and how her sad, short life played out.

Chyna was a physical presence, so much so that she was often referred to as "the ninth wonder of the world."

She kind of led the way to the more athletic wrestling divas of today, but they are not only pretty, they are sinewy in a positive sort of way.

Chyna was not that at all, but she could wrestle, and her success certainly paved the way for the current crop of WWE and TNA divas of today.

But what went on behind the scenes during her wrestling career certainly defined her, and at the same time, killed her career.

She supposedly had numerous real-life affairs with some of her fellow wrestlers, and had one famous altercation with real-life couple Triple H and Stephanie McMahon--the real-life future son in law and daughter of wrestling impresario Vince McMahon--that led to her ouster from the then WWF in 2001.

Since then, she had sputtered professionally, doing everything from being a reality TV "star" to posing in Playboy to acting in several pornographic films. She also did some legitimate acting, too.

The WWE was so embarrassed by her behavior that they tried to take away her name, and she fought that, eventually legally changing her name to Chyna.

And all the while, she craved trying to get back into the WWE, but never could overcome her past, which was also allegedly strewn with illegal drug and steroid use.

But yesterday, it all ended.

It is interesting to see how her death will be handled by the WWE. She was such a stain on their legacy, that the usual honor for a fallen star--have a brief memorial before the start of one of its shows--either Raw or Smackdown or both--where a picture is shown of the wrestler, with the dates of that wrestler's life and silence in the background--might be scotched this time.

Chyna was not liked by the WWE, although her influence on its Diva Division is still being felt to this day.

Is the WWE going to go above board on this, and simply do what it should do in honoring her accomplishments, or will they go the low road, and simply ignore her?

I hope they choose to do the former. Whatever you thought about Chyna, she was a one of a kind, and for the WWE to ignore her passing would be to ignore its own history, which is something it never does.

I am sure more details will come out about her death in the next days and weeks, but whatever the case, her story is one for the books, and I am sure that some enterprising producer will probably look at it the same way ... and don't be surprised if somewhere down the line, her story is memorialized in film.

You really couldn't make her story up, even if you wanted to.

She had some life.