wrestling / Columns

Truths & Lies: The Relationship Between WWE And Chyna

April 26, 2016 | Posted by Justin Watry

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such classic columns as March 2012’s “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan in Less Than a Minute” and October 2015’s “WWE NXT: Bobby Roode, You’re Next.”

Before getting started, my buddy Matt is looking to raise money and awareness for Cystic Fibrosis, so please take a second out of your day to check out all the information here:

http://fightcf.cff.org/site/TR/GreatStrides/38_Gateway_St_Louis?px=2424373&pg=personal&fr_id=4925

I made my donation last week (the deadline is late May). You should too.

Reader Feedback

Reid50: Wow, what a mess TNA has become. In the past wrestlng fans would have made fun of another TNA blunder, but this is beyond that. It’s very sad.

As you pointed out, one has to feel for the talent. Those who are not on the radar of either the WWE or NJPW will be left in dire financial straits.

There has never been anger/resentment towards the talent of TNA Impact Wrestling from fans. It has always and will always be against the management team. They had far too many clues this was coming FOR YEARS. Yet, did nothing about it.

Jeffrey: The reason I’m skeptical that this is finally the nail in the coffin for TNA because for this long is that they’ve managed to survive this long almost like a cockroach. I mean the company survived getting kicked Spike TV and Destination America. Dixie Carter said Hogan and co. coming in was going to be the moment they swing for the fences. Well they swung for the fences and lost that battle. Hogan put himself over, left and never loooked back.

One thing I disagree with you on Watry is that the problems go back I think to 2006. I put the downfall of TNA precisely at Slammiversary 2006 when Jarrett won King of the Mountain and fans started pelting trash into the ring. TNA never truly recovered after that.

1. I never said this was the end for TNA. The company may be in the dumpster, but they are a cockroach. Somehow, TNA will survive…somehow.

2. I just figured those fans were plants. Just like the Bully Ray/Aces and Eights reveal. A bunch of fans hired/told to pelt the ring with bottles and other junks at the exact right moment. Looked way too set up with everybody throwing stuff all at the exact same moment. Yeah, riiiiiight.

Clyde B.: A Watry article… *sigh*

Another pointless comment… *sigh*

AG Awesome: Almost like he picks and chooses when to believe dirtsheets vs when to criticize them… I hope he addresses exactly what the difference is to him next week. I’m curious for a response.

News is news. Facts are facts. As much flack as TMZ gets, they had a great week in reporting (being first) and featured tons of exclusive content. Credit where credit is due. False, click bait, and speculative headlines designed for hits are garbage, way too rampant, and deserve to be called out. It is laughable at best and very embarrassing at worst.

TNA being in financial trouble is clear as day to anybody paying attention.

chien_clean: What a lazy poorly researched article. I could have written that in 5 seconds.

…except you didn’t. You wasted your time thinking of that clever remark. Enjoy the comment section. I will enjoy my eighth year writing columns online.

Thank you very much.

Backstory

Last week, the world lost yet another wrestling legend. This time, it was Chyna. Former IC Champion, Women’s champion, first female to compete in the Royal Rumble match, and one of the most recognizable names during the booming Attitude Era. As the tributes and perspectives came in the past few days, I decided to sit on writing a column, as I knew my feelings were pretty strong on the matter and likely not what was needed with the news still very fresh in the minds of people all over the globe.

Since nearly a week has gone by, it is time to step back and look at the untimely death – both the positive and the negative…the truth.

TRUTH: Chyna deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame

Before this columns makes a complete 180, let’s just state the obvious. Yes, Chyna deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame. Whether you loved her or hated her, I can not think of ONE person that would argue against her placement. If anybody wants to legitimately try and make a claim against this notion, by all means, go ahead and try. My guess is we can all agree she 100% deserves to be inducted someday. Even in his (non) controversial interview/podcast with Stone Cold Steve Austin in 2015, Triple H made it very clear she absolutely should go in.

TRUTH/LIE: Chyna will get a proper tribute on WWE Raw.

Like every week, I am writing this before RAW even goes on the air, so we shall see come Monday night what happens. My guess (and this is only a guess) is we do not get a ten bell salute. Instead, we get the standard RIP graphic to start the show and then a couple of Chyna highlight videos sprinkled throughout the three hours. Maybe some interviews with the women’s roster or something. I just don’t know if WWE will go ‘all the way’ and have an emotional ten bell salute…


LIE: WWE has “ignored” Chyna’s time in the company.

Complete BS. For some reason, my Twitter timeline over the weekend was filled with garbage about WWE ignoring Chyna.

Um, no.

Every time there was a list on WWE.com or the WWE Network and she deserved mention, it was there. Every year when the Royal Rumble was built up, guess what? Chyna got her spotlight. Triple H’s documentary and other historic moment? Yep. There was absolutely NO blacklisting or whatever people have tried to claim. Just another case of pointing the finger at the supposed evil corporation, despite the facts saying otherwise…

LIE: Chyna did not return to WWE because of her time doing adult films.

Okay, I have discussed this many times before (just two months ago was the most recent), but let’s revisit the infamous Triple H quote from February 2015, shall we?

“Does she deserve to go in the Hall of Fame? Absolutely. Well, it is a little bit of a double sided edge. It’s not just as easy as should this person go in the Hall of Fame. Completely 100% transcended the business. Changed the business, ‘paradigm shifter’ of the business. Did what no woman ever did before and was awesome at it and a phenomenal talent. All the other stuff that happened happened, and I don’t need to get into the other stuff. There is no beef on this side with anything, and I mean that 100%. From a career standpoint, should she be in the Hall of Fame? Absolutely.

That is the quote folks. No bad blood, no burying, nothing. All the while, a picture of Chyna was immediately put on the background screen, indicating the question/segment was set beforehand and approved. Here is the video:

As he continues, not once does he mention her time making adult films for her exclusion from the WWE Hall of Fame. Not once…

“I got an eight year old kid, and my eight year old sees Hall of Fame, and my eight year old kid goes on the internet to look at “Oh, this is Chyna. I never heard of her. I’m eight years old. I’ve never heard of that, so I go type that in and I punch it up, and what comes up? I’m not criticizing anybody, I’m not criticizing lifestyle choices. Everybody has their reasons. I don’t know what they were, and I don’t care to know. It’s not a morality thing or anything else. It is just the fact of what it is.”

Again, not one single comment about her adult films. Like the Daniel Bryan/retirement stuff we just went through for the past year, fans took one thing and ran with it in a completely ridiculous over the top way. Bryan was kept out of the ring because of jealousy. He was being held back to protect Roman Reigns. Daniel was healthy and coming back as a WORK!!! Blah, blah, blah.

No, WWE knew the story. We didn’t. Once all the facts came out, guess who had egg all over their face – WWE or the conspiracy theorists?

LIE: WWE should have brought back Chyna in recent years.

Okay, this is the part where we get real.

Probably too real for some…

Chyna has battled drug addiction, which she never recovered from. Her Youtube channel is all the evidence you need. Chyna has accused Triple H of pedophilia and physical abuse. Chyna has threatened to kill Stephanie McMahon. Chyna has wrestled for TNA Impact Wrestling (minor offense admittedly). Chyna has had quite a few major incidents (embarrassing reality show appearances, passing out in public), and just recently during WWE WrestleMania 32, yet another cancellation/no show from her popped up.

Gee, I wonder why a publicly traded company wouldn’t hire her back.

Oh, and she never stopped ripping WWE, HHH, Steph, and just about everything else wrestling related for the past decade – going so far as to showing up UNINVITED to WWE headquarters last year. Seriously. She showed up invited which had to scare the pants off just about every single employee in the building.

Luckily, security quickly gave her the boot.

Notice I did not say one word about her adult films keeping her away from the company. Folks, if you don’t understand why WWE wouldn’t bring back Chyna these past few years, then you are so far out of touch with reality. Save me all the excuses and whining about double standards. Jake Roberts, Scott Hall, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and even Sunny (at the time) had shut up and turned their lives around. Then WWE trusted the guys/gals enough to bring them back into the fold. Chyna and Triple H broke up 15 years ago. Fifteen years ago.

Fifteen years ago.

The blame for the rocky relationship is not the fault of WWE. Not one bit. Sorry to burst the bubble of everybody, but that’s the truth…

To end this topic in a more upbeat mood, Chyna was at the nearby GLCW show in December 2015. I even wrote a column previewing the show. My buddy was super stoked to learn of her appearance. He loved her and was willing to pay any price for the meet/greet opportunity. We planned on attending and really making it a fun night. Well, as life goes, plans changed, and we ended up not going.

“Next time for sure.”

“Next time, we will go.”

Folks, there may not be a next time. I say this as both a wrestling fan and human being. If you have a chance to do something or in this case meet a legend from the Attitude Era, do it! Don’t wait. Don’t assume another chance will present itself. Don’t take ‘next time’ for granted. My buddy and I did…

…such a shame.

#RIPChyna

Samoa Joe As New NXT Champion

I wrote a column (on another website) outlining the “shocking” development last Thursday night, with Samoa Joe winning the NXT Champion at a live event. I put the word shocking in quotation marks because as stunning as it seemed on the surface, many were well aware of the outcome happening earlier in the day.

Myself included.

The full column can be read elsewhere, along with my thoughts on the title change. Find the link at @JustinWatry on Twitter for all the details…

Self Promotion

Multiple columns posted weekly

Follow on Twitter: @JustinWatry

Email feedback: [email protected]

Thanks.

More Trending Stories

article topics :

Chyna, WWE, Justin Watry

More Stories

loading