She will be inducted as part of D Generation-X
WWE has announced that the late Chyna, a pioneer of women’s wrestling in the late 1990s, will be inducted into their 2019 Hall of Fame Class.
She will be inducted as part of D Generation-X, alongside Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Road Dogg, X-Pac and Billy Gun.
Chyna – who was born Joan Marie Laurer – died of an overdose at her home in April 2016, aged just 46.
BREAKING: As first reported by @espn, D-Generation X are the first inductees in the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2019. https://t.co/rIPCM14ewY
— WWE (@WWE) February 18, 2019
Her induction marks a change in outlook for WWE. In a 2015 appearance on the Stone Cold Steve Austin Podcast prior to her death, Triple H (now Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative) stated that while Chyna deserved to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, the fact that she had appeared in pornography post-wrestling was prohibiting it from happening. In particular, he stated that he didn’t want young fans Googling her name.
Following her death, both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon agreed that she should be awarded the honour, but did not say when it would happen.
Chyna was a genuine trailblazer in women’s wrestling, and fans have long pressed for her to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Debuting in the then-WWF in 1997 as Triple H’s enforcer and a founding member of D Generation-X, she was a striking and imposing figure in an era where nearly all on-screen female talent was there to merely provide titillation to male viewers.
She was the first – and still to this day, only – woman to win the Intercontinental Championship, and also the first woman to enter both the Royal Rumble and King of the Ring.
She regularly took on male wrestlers and held victories over the likes of Kurt Angle, and Jeff Jarrett. In 1999, she had a memorable feud with Chris Jericho.
Chyna left WWF in 2001, and later made appearances in both New Japan Pro Wrestling and TNA.
