Vivid Radio will broadcast an exclusive one hour interview today at 11AM PT with the late Joanie “Chyna” Laurer as a tribute to one of their most popular women.
“We are airing this interview as a tribute to Chyna,” said the network’s general manager Farrell Hirsch. “We believe it is the last long-form interview she ever gave and certainly the last that allowed her to be completely open and candid.”
Fans will be able to hear the star of four Vivid Entertainment movies talk candidly about her life and what she planned for the future. She talked with host Sam Phillips on “The Single Life” show. The interview will be available on www.VividRadio.com and on the SiriusXM app channel 791.
“Chyna looked great when I interviewed her with my co-host Jayden Cole,” Ms. Phillips said. “She had recently returned to the U.S. after four years in Japan. She looked even younger than she did than when I interviewed her 14 years ago. She seemed very at peace and talked about how dramatically her life had changed. She knew there weren’t any filters on our show as to what she could say and so she felt free to be more revealing than ever before about her life. We discussed her feelings about not yet getting into the WWE Hall of Fame, how much she loved making movies with Vivid, and so many other topics,” Ms. Phillips added.
He is one of the busiest men on planet earth and there seems to be no slowing down Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson announced on his Instagram that he will star in the remake of the movie Jumanji, set to start shooting this fall.
“It’s official. We’ll produce and deliver to a whole new generation a title that I love and is one of my all time favs: There’s games you play for fun…then there’s games that change your life. JUMANJI,” Johnson said.
Jumanji was originally released in December 1995 and featured Robin Williams, Bradley Pierce, and Kirsten Dunst in the leading roles. The remake, to be released by Sony Pictures, is expected to hit theaters nationwide on July 28, 2017.
He is currently filming Baywatch which is also released next year and in July his second season of Ballers restarts on HBO.
Following last night’s NXT show in Lowell, Massachusetts, several fans waited for the NXT stars to board the bus which was waiting for them outside the venue ready to get them to the next stop.
When now former Finn Balor came out, fans started chanting “Balor Club” and Balor acknowledged the fans and went in the bus…only to come back out. Balor came closer to the fans and as they yelled, Balor motioned to keep the noise down. When the “Finn! Finn!” chants finished, Balor told everyone, “See you all on Monday!” and went back in the bus as the crowd cheered and chanted “Holy sh!t.”
Balor’s friends, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, will be having their first tag team match on Raw this Monday against The Usos so it will be interesting if Balor will be getting the band back together one more time.
You can see the video of Balor and fans outside the venue below.
The late Joanie Laurer taped an episode for the new season of Botched on E! before her untimely death, an episode which is supposed to air on May 17.
Botched follows renowned plastic surgeons Paul Nassif and Terry Dubrow who try to reverse damages from cosmetic surgeries which went bad. Chyna’s episode was the second one in line to air for the new season two and she was even included in the video to promote the new season.
Following her death, a rep for NBC Universal told us that a decision has still not been taken regarding the episode and if it will be pulled or not. “All of us at E! are deeply saddened by the passing of Chyna. Our thoughts are with her family and friends during this difficult time,” read the statement from E! sent to us.
At yesterday’s non-televised live event in Lowell, Massachusetts, Samoa Joe defeated Finn Balor to capture the NXT title. It is very rare that a title change happens at a regular house show but it happened before, most notably when Bret Hart defeated Ric Flair for the then WWF title in the early 90s.
Joe secured the pin after hitting the Muscle Buster, a move which he had been trying to execute several times during the match only to get blocked every time. The fans exploded when the three count hit, obviously not expecting a title change.
During the match the referee threw up the X hand sign when Finn Balor looked like he injured himself. Following the match, WWE’s medical team checked on Balor who was in the ring with his boot unlaced. It is still not clear if the injury was legit or he was just doing a pretty good job at selling.
Balor is the longest reigning NXT champion, surpassing Neville’s record earlier this week. This is Samoa Joe’s first title in NXT.
A WWE camera captured the title switch which you can see below.
The passing of Joanie “Chyna” Laurer has caused an outpouring of grief amongst wrestling fans – and those inside the business – who fondly remember her in-ring career and the massive strides she took in women being “more than just valets”, more than 15 years before the WWE’s “Diva Revolution”.
It’s rare that I feel compelled to immediately write about the passing of anyone in wrestling – particularly someone whose career in and out of the ring left them something of a divisive figure.
Initially brought into the WWE in 1997 as Triple H’s valet, it wasn’t long before she was thrust into the spotlight as a part of D-Generation X, back when the stable was just Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Chyna’s role was to be that of “hired muscle” (and given that she was a female bodybuilder before entering wrestling, that phrase had more than one meaning!), but it wasn’t until 1999 when Chyna became a focal point of the company.
Becoming the first female to ever enter the Royal Rumble, Chyna would slowly start featuring inside the ring, participating in feuds with DX stablemates X-Pac and Triple H – both of whom would play prominent roles in her life, as well as her career. After making it into the first round of the 1999 King of the Ring – again, the first woman to participate in that tournament – Chyna entered a feud with Jeff Jarrett over the Intercontinental championship.
In a case of “right place, right time”, Chyna ended up winning the title at No Mercy 1999, beating Jarrett in a “Good Housekeeping” match – in a match that played a part in Jarrett becoming persona non grata with WWE, after holding the company up for money to wrestle one more time following the expiry of his contract.
After successfully defending the title against Chris Jericho at the following month’s Survivor Series, she would drop the belt to Jericho at Armageddon in December, before ending the year with the belt again… sort of. A draw against Jericho on the final SmackDown of 1999 led the pair to be declared co-champions, in an entertaining storyline that would last about a month until Jericho won the belt outright at the Royal Rumble.
Another entry into the King of the Ring tournament followed, this time exiting in the first round against Eddie Guerrero, and it was with “Latino Heat” that Chyna would experience another resurgence, winning the Intercontinental title again at SummerSlam, before dropping the belt to Eddie weeks later. As the year 2000 came to an end, Chyna ended up being slowly moved away from intergender action, and focussed on the women’s division. In spite of a storyline injury, which WWE purposely evoked memories of Owen Hart by having Jerry Lawler go to the ring and check on her after “landing badly” doing a handspring elbow, Chyna would go on to squash pretty much everyone in her way – including a sub-three minute win over Ivory at WrestleMania X7, where Chyna became the Women’s champion.
Sadly, that run came to an end in May 2001, where her successful defence against Lita would prove to be her last, as she was taken from TV and her title quietly vacated when she was let go from the company in November. In the years after her departure, it was claimed that the ending of her relationship with Triple H, and his subsequent relationship with Stephanie McMahon, played a huge part in that, particularly with the Triple H/McMahon relationship becoming a major storyline on TV whilst Chyna remained in the company.
Post-WWE, Chyna would wrestle for a tour in New Japan in September 2002, but it would be her next move that would seal her position as truly persona non grata within WWE: the world of adult movies.
Whilst a home-made video with then-boyfriend Sean “X-Pac” Waltman in 2004 achieved some notoriety, along with a follow-up tape that came out five years later, her later excursions in adult entertainment – including four releases for Vivid Entertainment between 2011 and 2013 – would prove the law of diminishing returns. Add in the repeated stories of “personal demons”, missed convention dates and Chyna entering rehab on several occasions, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a classic tragedy of someone who rose to fame and crashed back down far too soon.
A little over a year ago, speaking on the Steve Austin Podcast, Triple H said that Chyna would not be considered for the WWE’s Hall of Fame because of her post-wrestling career (and not her brief run in TNA, either!). In light of her passing, many will reconsider just how ridiculous that statement is, particularly after Sunny/Tammy Sytch’s recent adult movie. At time of writing, WWE has yet to remove anyone from their Hall of Fame, which currently includes Sunny, Jimmy Snuka (who has been charged and currently awaiting a decision to go to trial on a case of third-degree murder), Hulk Hogan (who also had a sex-tape, unknowingly…) and Mike Tyson (convicted rapist), so it’s not like the that’s a squeaky clean institution – as if wrestling was ever squeaky clean!
With everything that has happened, from broken relationships, the war of words during and after her WWE run, and THOSE tapes, it would be a tragedy for her contributions to the business to remain ignored by WWE.
In an era where WWE has been quick to tell us how women are being given more focus, what with last year’s failed Diva’s Revolution, and the recent rebranding of the Womens’ title, it’d be only fitting to honour someone who really went all the way with it. Even if she had more than a little helping hand.
Reproduced from BackBodyDrop.com, where we’re currently running through a series of recent PROGRESS Wrestling shows in our #BACKFILL series, along with reports and commentaries on the latest from WWE, New Japan and the best of independent wrestling – check us out!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Ian Hamilton has been a wrestling fan since 1992, and when he’s not watching WWE, New Japan or his latest wrestling love, PROGRESS, he’s usually suffering through Sunderland AFC and the New York Jets. He’s got a couple of books out on Amazon – “Wrestling’s Sinking Ship” and “Gone Too Soon”, and can be reached via his website, BackBodyDrop.com, or on Twitter @theianhamilton
The City of Redondo Beach Police Department issued a press release prepared by Sgt Shawn Freeman addressing the death of Joanie Laurer.
“On April 20, 2016, Redondo Beach Police Officers were dispatched to an apartment unit in the 900 block of Esplanade. The Redondo Beach Police received a 9-1-1 call from a friend of the apartment unit resident that the female inside was not breathing. The friend told Redondo Beach Police that the female had not answered her phone in a few days, and went to the location to check on her welfare,” the press release reads.
Sgt Freeman said that officers discovered a deceased female inside the location and there were no indications or signs that the death was a result of foul play and she was dead before her friend discovered her. The fact that her friend said she had not answered her phone in a few days might suggest that Chyna had been dead longer than yesterday but only discovered yesterday night.
“The exact nature and cause of the death, as well as the general time of death is under investigation by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s department,” the press release adds, while the Redondo Beach Police Department are investigating the events leading up to her death to assist in the determination if the death was natural or accidental.
The Redondo Beach Police Department told the press that inquiries regarding her death should be addressed to the LA County Coroner’s department and not them.
Another TNA Knockout, Christy Hemme, has decided to part ways from the company, announcing her departure earlier today in a post on her social media accounts.
“SO THANKFUL for wrestling and @IMPACTWRESTLING especially @JohnGaburick for the inspiration toward my future,” Hemme wrote.
The 35 year old has been working for TNA since 2006, first starting as an interviewer and host before transitioning to the wrestling ring. In December 2009 she retired from in-ring competition and a year later started her role as a ring announcer for Impact Wrestling. She joined the TNA creative team in 2014, a position she held until her departure.
Prior to joining TNA, Hemme was employed by WWE, winning the 2004 Diva Search contest. Her popularity landed her a cover on the April 2005 issue of Playboy Magazine and a nude pictorial. She left the WWE in December 2005.
The New Day will have to continue the current WWE European tour with two men as Kofi Kingston flew back home for a good reason.
Kingston is about to become a father again and wrote on Twitter, “Flew home to witness the final stages of my procreational efforts! (Any day now.)” He was replying to a female fan who said she was gutted that he did not appear at the Belfast live event. With that explanation, it’s hard to argue why he had to pull out from the shows!
The current tag team title holder is expected to return to his New Day shenanigans next week. The European tour wraps up on Saturday.
WWE will be reporting the first quarter 2016 results on May 10 before the opening of the market.
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon along with Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios will be hosting a conference call beginning at 11AM ET to discuss these results. WWE already reported the WWE Network subscribers number the day after WrestleMania, so there won’t be a new number announced this time around.
The numbers from WrestleMania 32 will not be part of this conference call as this year WrestleMania fell in the second quarter of 2016.
While doing the media rounds in the United Kingdom this morning, the press asked him about the passing of his former girlfriend Chyna and if she deserved a place in the WWE Hall of Fame.
Triple H described her as an amazing talent and ground-breaking pioneer who was never afraid to blaze her own trail through life. “Brilliance sometimes, and that ability to push barriers and boundaries and be a pioneer, is often connected closely with other things that aren’t so positive sometimes, and demons, and unfortunately that is the case,” Triple H told the Mirror newspaper.
When the Hall of Fame topic came up, Triple H said that she “definitely warranted” a place however it’s not up to him if she goes in or not. In an earlier interview with Steve Austin, Triple H said that her adult movie career might cost her a spot in the Hall of Fame despite her fantastic WWE career.
“You know it’s not my decision, but I definitely think, as I have said before, that what she did in her life certainly warrants it. It’s certainly warranted and I’m sure at some point when the time is right, hopefully, that could happen,” Triple H said.
“There was never anybody like her before her, and there will never be anybody like her after,” he concluded.
As it’s often the case whenever a current or former wrestler passes away, mainstream media websites cover the news and the passing of the woman known as the 9th wonder of the world was no different.
CNN, FOX News, ABC News, ESPN, CBS News, Entertainment Weekly, The Huffington Post, Yahoo! Sports, Deadline, New York Post, Us Weekly, Mashable, The Hollywood Reporter and scores of other newspapers and online outlets were joined by International publications and news outlets such as BBC, The Guardian, The Independent, India Times, Daily Mail. Sky News, ITV News in covering the death of Joanie Laurer.
Those which covered the story gave a small background of her wrestling career and her adult film one as well, a career which somewhat tarnished her reputation and seems to be the number one reason why she has not been inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.
TNA will start four days straight of television tapings today at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida at Soundstage 20.
Two Impact episodes per day will be taped which will see TNA have enough episodes to last for two months. All tapings will kick off at 7PM ET and they’re free for those who are already inside the Universal Studios theme park. The company is selling VIP tickets for these tapings with guests receiving a VIP credential, premium seating, commemorative event poster and a nightly meet-and-greet photo and autograph session with a select TNA Superstar or Knockout.
The wrestling world is in mourning after the death of Joanie “Chyna” Laurer was released late last night and several of her former co-workers expressed their sadness on Twitter.
Her former boyfriend and one of the men who lobbied to get her hired, Triple H, called Chyna a pioneer. “Someone who wasn’t afraid to blaze her own trail & create a path for those who would follow. A pioneer whose star shined bright,” wrote HHH. Last year Triple H had to publicly denounce Chyna’s claims that he beat her up when the two were in a relationship.
Fellow D-Generation X member Shawn Michaels, the other person who helped get her hired said that he woke up to the news of her passing. “So sad to hear, she was an amazing lady & I will miss her greatly!!” Along with Triple H, the three pushed the envelope to the limits during the Attitude Era.
Shane McMahon, the second member of the McMahon family to comment about Chyna wrote, “Very sad and tragic news about the passing of Chyna. A kind and funny lady. Her legacy will live forever. RIP Joanie.”
Stone Cold Steve Austin, someone who also had a lot of interactions with Chyna during the much-missed Attitude Era added, “Crushed to hear that Chyna has passed away. In WWE she was over at the highest level. Very funny, sweet, and bad ass. She was awesome.”
Mick Foley, who remained big friends with Chyna wrote, “Joanie, I’m so sorry. I will always treasure our friendship and will never forget your kindness to my children.”
Former WWE Women’s champion Trish Stratus wrote, “Shattered glass ceilings, kicked down doors, broke gender barriers, she was an anomaly & untouchable. Rest now-ur legacy lives on.”
Another female who shared the ring with Chyna during the Attitude Era was Lita. “So tragic. My heart is heavy today reflecting on this amazing woman.”
Several others including those currently in the WWE women’s division as well as those who worked with her expressed their condolences, all using the hash tag #RIPChyna, which has been trending ever since the announcement was made.
Yesterday’s episode of Impact on Pop had a nice bump from the previous week, drawing 312,000 viewers for a show headlined with Jeff vs Matt Hardy. That is up 26,000 viewers up over last week’s number. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE has acknowledged the death of former WWE Superstar Chyna with a statement on WWE.COM and even a tweet from Stephanie McMahon.
“WWE is saddened to learn of reports that Joanie Laurer, best known for competing in WWE as Chyna, has passed away,” the statement read. “A physically striking and talented performer, Chyna was a true sports-entertainment pioneer. Not only was the Superstar dubbed “The Ninth Wonder of the World” a founding member of the groundbreaking faction D-Generation X, but she also holds the distinction of being the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble Match and the first and only woman to win the Intercontinental Championship.”
After her death was announced, Stephanie McMahon went on Twitter to express her condolences. “I just heard the tragic news that @ChynaJoanLaurer has passed. She was truly a pioneer in our industry, and she will be missed. #RIPChyna”
It will be interesting to see if WWE does anything to commemorate her on television like they usually do when one of their former stars passes away. WWE, as a company, largely stayed away from her following her porn acting career and to avoid further problems between her and Triple H and Stephanie McMahon which were not a secret.
Former WWE Women’s and Intercontinental champion Joanie “Chyna” Laurer was found dead in her home in Redondo Beach, California yesterday. She was 46 years old.
Police received a 911 call at around 7:30PM last night and were on the scene immediately. The call came from a friend who went to her place and found her unresponsive. According to TMZ they are treating this as a possible overdose although the cause of death is not known at this point. It’s being reported that she was taking medication for anxiety and sleep deprivation.
A statement on her Twitter account read, “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.”
Trained by WWE Hall of Famer Killer Kawolski, Chyna met Triple H and Shawn Michaels in 1996 who pushed for Vince McMahon to sign her to the company. In 1997, Chyna made her debut at the In Your House: Final Four pay-per-view and went on to become Triple H’s bodyguard. Just two years later she made history by becoming the first woman entrant in the Royal Rumble and even qualified for the King of the Ring tournament that year. Later in 1999 she once again made history by defeating Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental title in his last match.
During her time in WWE, her relationship with Triple H grew closer and the two eventually started dating in real life. That caused problems however when Triple H started his angle with Stephanie McMahon which led to their real life relationship. Chyna claimed that Triple H cheated on her with Steph while the two were still together and the tensions and drama led to her release from the company in 2001.
Her personal life and professional career pretty much went on a landslide after that and after posing for Playboy in 2000 under the WWE umbrella, she decided to get into porn four years later. The release of her 1 Night In Chyna sex tape with fellow DX member Sean Waltman led to future releases and in 2009 she signed with Vivid, the world’s leading adult movie website. She went on to release five more porno movies under Vivid and won two AVN Awards – in 2006 and 2012 – for her work.
After a stint in Japan teaching English, Chyna returned to the United States with hopes of getting re-signed by WWE. That pretty much ended when Steve Austin asked Triple H on the Stone Cold Podcast if Chyna will ever be in the Hall of Fame. Triple H responded in the negative, mainly due to her porn career, which led to Chyna to slam Triple H in an interview with Vince Russo, claiming that he was abusive and hit her several times during their relationship.
The season 5 finale of Total Divas which was titled C’est La Diva Part 2 drew a total of 625,000 viewers, down 7,000 viewers from last week’s 632,000 number.
This season of the show was the lowest of the whole series in terms of viewership with only an average of around 720,000 viewers per episode over 14 episodes.
Despite a massive slump in viewership, Total Divas will be back in the fall for season 6 with a cast including the Bella Twins, Paige, Natalya, Eva Marie, Naomi and newcomers Lana, Maryse and Renee Young.
Adam Rose has chosen to respond to his Wellness Policy suspension publicly, saying that he feels the “absolute need and right to respond and let the truth be known.”
Acknowledging that this reply might be a “career suicide,” Rose said that his doctor was “shocked and appalled” by the suspension as he didn’t do anything knowingly wrong and the prescribed medication that his doctor prescribed to him followed all the correct protocol.
He promised that a statement from his doctor and from himself will be forthcoming and told his fans to know the facts before judging.
“My family and I are still collecting ourselves from this blow. I have zero anger or animosity against the WWE. But feel the administrators over the WWE Wellness policy were just simply not right in taking this action,” Rose wrote.
If you’re in Manchester, England, there’s one thing that you shouldn’t do, and that is sing You’ll Never Walk Alone. The rivalry in football – or soccer for American fans – between Manchester United and Liverpool is legendary and that song is pretty much the theme song associated with Manchester United’s biggest rivals.
So what did Sheamus do before he wrestled at the Manchester Arena yesterday? Sing You’ll Never Walk Alone obviously. Needless to say, his singing was met with thunderous boos and some laughs from the crowd. The risky singing also made it to the Liverpool Echo newspaper which pointed out that Sheamus is indeed a big Liverpool fan so it made sense for him to get some heat by singing the song. Sheamus also visited Anfield, the home of Liverpool FC and posed in the stadium with the Liverpool gear.
You can see Sheamus winding up the Manchester crowd below.
