All language subtitles for biography_wwe_legends_s03e03_chyna

Got the slow motion yet? No, we're going
to... One second.

All right.

My

experience

is really difficult to put in words
because it's so far from...

The norm, and it's so far from any other
female that I've met.

It was just so totally unaccepted at
that time. I got shot down every time I

tried to do something. It was always two
steps forward, one step back.

I knew in my heart that I was going to
end up doing something because that, I

felt, has always been my destiny. I
would have to do that or I'd be a very

unhappy person.

But I knew that I was going up against a
lot.

She was living, breathing Wonder Woman.

Just unbelievable sight to see. Look at
the size of this woman.

She was the ninth wonder of the world.

She was a true superstar.

Where did she come from anyway? The
glass you hear break when Austin's music

hit, that was the ceiling that China
busted through.

China, perhaps the most physically
talented woman ever here. You know, I

want to just rise to the top of what the
women are doing. That's not why I

joined the business.

She knew how to stand

there and let you drink it in.

When she came out and she was as big as
the dude and could beat the dude up,

like, holy mackerel, this is a whole new
thing. We haven't seen this before.

Women can do it.

What else?

She did things in the ring that females
had never done.

And it took her to another level.

First female Intercontinental Champion,
first King of the Ring female

participant, first female participant
entrant into the WWE Royal Rumble.

I feel that it's time for a new breed of
female pro wrestler.

You don't slow that train down. You let
that train pull into the station and

blow people's minds.

She was a sought -after sex symbol,
someone you'd make a movie about.

She is the ninth wonder of the world. To
readers of Playboy, she is the November

cover girl.

From the time when a little girl wanted
to be the famous larger -than -life

woman. She shot up to fame like a meteor
that just kind of disappears,

and it's gone.

I want to be...

top of what I'm doing, and even though I
feel like I have the ability to do

that, I can't. The downward spiral was
so dramatic that that's what people

remember.

Towards the end, drug use sort of
escalated.

She tried to drink away that hurt, and
she tried to snort away that hurt, and

she tried to smoke away that hurt.

It's one thing to get to the top of the
mountain. It's another thing altogether

to stay there, and it is lonely at the
top.

I'm Tyna.

I'm a champion.

One of the greatest days I ever had was
when Johnny was born.

I remember her being delivered very
quickly. I was kind of hoping maybe she

would be a Christmas baby, but as usual,
she had to do things a different way.

Right out of the gate, she was a very
happy baby.

Always had a smile on her face. She was
giggly.

She was just so stinking cute. She
really was.

She was a cute baby.

She and Sonny and Kathy, when they were
all... They would play a lot together.

At an early age, you could tell that
Joni was really enjoying being in the

spotlight, always wanting to entertain
people.

Joni was always a great self -motivator,
but if there was an outside factor that

was motivating her, it was to impress
her big sister.

We used to play charades an awful lot,
and my grandparents were a really good

audience, and she fed into that.

She put on these puppet shows, and she'd
have the little puppets, and she'd do

this, and she'd do that, and she'd be
coming out the side and smiling and

blah, blah, and she'd have everybody in
stitches.

So we moved an awful lot as children.

I can't even tell you how many
apartments we moved around in the city

was always usually a financial struggle
going on of some sort.

Most of her memories from childhood were
negative. Her family struggled

financially. They were on welfare.

They bounced around from one low -rent
apartment to the next. They depended on

food stamps a lot of times.

There's one thing to be struggling with,
not being able to buy the kids clothes,

but there's another thing about the
tension and the fear and the horrible

feeling that you feel all the time.

When you're put in those types of
circumstances, that you can't hide.

Whenever Joni would talk about her life
before she found pro wrestling, it was

always one person, and that was Kathy.
Not only did they have that sisterhood

bond, Kathy was very motherly in a lot
of ways, looking after her and being a

protector.

I remember that my father was a heavy...

He was an alcoholic.

He would go in the hospital and going to
visit him and his eyeballs were yellow

from his liver failure.

I remember a time that he chased my mom
around with a butcher knife.

He picked up this, it was a butcher
knife, and he started chasing me with

And the cops came.

It was terrible. And you've got three
little kids, you know, and they're

screaming and, oh, those are...

Bad days.

It was not good.

It was really scary for little kids.

There was a lot going on at home, which
didn't allow us to really feel secure

there because my brother left home at
16.

Luckily, I was going into college, so I
was out of there.

And I think Joni, unfortunately, was
sort of abandoned by Sonny and I, and

was stuck there.

Eventually China's birth parents
divorced, and by the time she was 16,

was on her third husband.

If I did ever come home from college or
we talked, there was just a great sense

of unhappiness. There was a lot of
arguing going on. They were accusing her

doing drugs or hanging out with bad
people.

That's when I found what I thought was
marijuana.

There was a drug rehab building just
down the street from us.

And so I told her, I said, come on,
we're going to go.

And we went in, and they wanted to take
a sample of her urine. So they sent me

into the bathroom with her, and she went
in the cup and threw it at me.

Just threw it at me. It was very, what's
the right word, defiant.

Like, all right, take that.

She caught her with some marijuana and
just basically picked her out.

Give me a break.

I mean, what kid doesn't smoke pot,
right?

I just don't like the way that whole
thing was handled.

I'll go live with my father.

Well, at that time I couldn't stop her.
When her mother kicked her out of the

house at age 16, she never saw China
again.

One thing that really saved China was
when she was in high school.

She became interested in lifting
weights, and she kind of found a safe

the gym. Every day after school, she
would pretty much race to the gym and

there until it closed.

I think she felt very comfortable in the
gym. It was a place where she could go.

She felt safe. She felt that she wasn't
being judged on her appearance.

based on other places where maybe people
would say she's too jacked or she looks

weird, she's trying to look like a guy
or, you know, whatever.

I think being at the gym was really sort
of her safe place.

When Joni left home, she moved in with
my father, Joe Lauer, and I think he

encouraged her to go be her best self.

There was really not a lot of control
going on in that house. He sort of said,

go do whatever you want to do.

Two years later, she was in college.

She attended the University of Tampa.
She graduated from there in 1991, and

definitely was trying to make something
of herself.

But at the same time, once she
graduated, she still didn't quite know

wanted to do. She was kind of drifting
along in life, trying to find her place.

She was working all sorts of odd jobs.
She tried selling cars at one point. She

went and joined the Peace Corps.

She was doing singing telegrams. She was
a cocktail waitress at a strip club

called Melon.

I don't know exactly what she did. She
told me, as her sister, that she was the

hostess. And I took her at face value on
that.

And then she got a job. She was hired to
work as an airline attendant.

She called me up one night and said,
Kathy, I got my first gig. I'm flying

of Miami tonight.

She drove to Miami, didn't even get out
of the Keys, and she was hit head on.

She landed in the hospital.

You know, her car was ruined.

Basically, her job was now down the
toilet.

And I said to her, Joni, that's enough.
Come to New Hampshire. I'll get you a

job. We'll live together.

Let's just have you start over again
here, and let's do it together as

The childhood China experience really
could have depleted a lot of people. It

could have really set a lot of people
back, but I think she was determined not

to let that get the best of her. I mean,
she stared adversity in the face, and

she could have floundered, but instead
she flirted.

Met Joni 25 years ago. It was a typical
day of work. A good close friend of mine

was the manager of a gym in New
Hampshire.

He gave me a call and said, hey, I got
one of my aerobics instructors that

help. She wants to do her first fitness
show.

She comes around the corner and she had
this big, huge smile, this red hair,

full of energy.

I walked away from that interview that
day and I couldn't stop thinking about

her. And I know that was very
unprofessional of me, but I ended up

few days later and I said, listen, I
have your plan.

I'm very excited for you. We're
definitely going to do really well in

competition.

But would you like to go to the movie
with me?

And then it blossomed into a
relationship.

And their relationship really was
centered around fitness, physique,

out.

diet, their food.

I mean, it was all -encompassing in
their lives, and they both loved it.

As the relationship evolved on a
romantic standpoint, on a preparation

just kept going at it harder and better
and harder and better. And she was all

in.

I'm 5 '9". I'm 170 pounds.

And this is what I have to offer.

We would go to the gym.

Whatever idea I had in my head that
week, I would try it on her, and it just

kept working and working and working.

She responded like that.

The numbers that she was putting up in
the weight room were just insane.

She could bench press 315 pounds, four
reps.

She was instantly getting stronger,
instantly growing.

Squatting 450 pounds.

10 to 12 reps.

Hard to fap for a female.

People in the gym didn't know what they
were looking at. They were doing double

takes. Where did this girl come from?

In retrospect, she really was ahead of
her time because when I remember the two

of us going to the gym, there were no
jacked women in there. It wasn't a

If we would go out to a public place
like the mall or we'd go out to eat,

people's heads turned. People noticed
she was different. She loved that.

For another time, Joni said, let's go to
Boston. We're going to go to a

wrestling match.

And she said, you and I are going to
dress up, and we're just going to go,

we're going to see what people say about
us.

We had our costumes on, and we went in.

were looking at us thinking, should I
know who these girls are?

And people were turning away from the
ring and pointing at these girls in the

stands because their biceps were
showing, they looked jacked up.

Anybody that was sitting near us was
watching us going, are they going to do

something?

Joni loved it. She was just soaking it
up. And Joni would say, isn't this

awesome? People are looking at us.

Someone said to us, you guys really
should.

Think about being tag team wrestlers.
You know, we kind of laughed it off at

time. And on the way home, we were
talking about it, and Joni said, you

what, there might be something to that,
Kathy.

And I said, hell no, I'm not in.

And she said, okay, well, I'm going to
do it. And at the time, I kind of

laughed, and I'm like, sure.

Okay, go ahead.

And, boy, did she prove me wrong.

Chyna, within days, had looked up Killer
Kowalski.

Professional wrestling is the most
brutal sport of all, or is it? Believe

not, there's a secret school for pro
wrestlers, and we got inside.

To learn the secrets of wrestling, you
need to go to a place like this, Killer

Kowalski School of Professional
Wrestling.

He had the reputation of being tough,
hard -nosed, physical -type guy.

Killer Kowalski learned his secrets the
hard way, in the ring.

He earned his name Killer by knocking an
opponent's ear off, then laughing at

him. There was no nonsense in any of his
matches. It was just go in there and

grab a hold and grind your opponent down
to the ground. Now, Killer imparts his

secrets to a willing audience of Hulk
Hogan wannabes. He couldn't stop staring

at Joni. He got up, walked right up to
it.

And he says, can I help you?

And Joanie's like, well, you know, we
heard about your school, and we want to

come in and see what it's all about. And
he goes, all right.

So then he jumps in the ring, and he
starts doing this claw thing.

He goes, this is what you do. And he,
like, puts the claw on some guy, and

he body slams him.

And Joanie was just shaking her head.
She didn't know what to make of it.

She approached him and said, well, what
do I have to do? I'd like to do this.

He goes, all right, $2 ,000.

When we graduate from this school, we
are professionals.

Come in here as novices, absolute
amateurs, and when they get through,

mean.

You know, sign the waiver.

Pay the money. Sign the waiver. Pay the
money.

And she was like, I don't have that kind
of money on me.

I said, Joni, please, please do this.
This will be the greatest thing you ever

do.

And he said, OK, I think you're legit. I
think you really want to do this. He

said, but I want you to know I'm not
going to give you any preferential

treatment.

You're going to go into the ring. You're
going to wrestle the guys.

They're going to throw you around.
You're going to throw them around.

And it's going to hurt.

When guys get in the ring with a female,
there's a little bit of hesitation of

what are you going to do? How hard are
you going to swing?

What if you miss?

And you catch one or two potatoes from
Joni.

and you realize she's tough enough and
she can handle it.

Come here.

You see that?

Stay at home.

Do the laundry.

Make some meat, huh? She used to come
home with all sorts of bruises, black

blue everywhere.

I can manhandle any guy in here.

In a sadistic sort of way, I think she
thrived on that, not backing down.

Right here. Get a close -up of that. I
want everybody to see that.

I got caught by the best.

Now I've wrestled men, I've wrestled
women, okay? And I beat them

all. Word started getting around that
this girl is crazy.

Anybody else that steps in that ring is
going to do the same thing because I'm

going to leave them behind me like the
trash I left out yesterday morning.

Joni quit her job and she chased
wrestling.

She started collecting all the video
footage.

pictures. She made her own portfolio.

She spent hours upon hours on a VHS
machine with a camcorder making her own

promotional video.

I spent a lot of hours in the gym
bodybuilding and now I'm putting that

bodybuilding to use in the wrestling
ring.

Joni right away started making sure she
looked television ready and

presented herself as a professional
before she got to that level.

And if you're hungry enough and you keep
scratching for that food, you get it.

Like pretty much everybody hanging
around the wrestling business at that

you know, Joni's goal was very simple.
She wanted to be in WWE.

She ended up getting in a car with
promotional tape, portfolio, everything,

driving down in Massachusetts.

We were coming back from a show.

and we were staying in a hotel at the
Springfield Airport, Massachusetts.

One of the agents that I respected most
was in there talking to her, and Sean

and I see the sides of her, and we're
like, holy... 200 -pound, just jacked

woman. I mean, just had such a stunning
presence.

I'll be honest, that was her sales
pitch.

So those guys had an eye for talent back
then, and when they looked at Joni,

They saw talent.

The more opponents that I can meet, the
better I'm going to be. And that's what

my goal is, to be the best.

We had all seen beautiful women, as
ballets, as seconds, but no one had ever

seen the likes of Joanie.

I'm not sure who that was supposed to
hurt.

All these girls can really take it. Here
she comes running right over the road.

You know, before China came on the
scene, female wrestling was like the

match. And they called that the match
that they put on the card when nothing

really going on, when people would go to
the bathroom or go buy popcorn.

That's shampoo in the eyes.

Back then, it was, you know, stupid,
silly, paddle on the pole match, bra and

panties match, hard and feathered match.

I mean, like, stupid.

China came through and busted that glass
ceiling and kind of said, you ain't

putting me in a bad light.

I'll take your light and shove it.

Shawn Michaels and Triple H, they were
at the top of the pecking order at that

time in the WWE.

So for them to put themselves on the
line for Joni, she had to produce.

No one's ever done that in the business
before. Big jacked up female heater. I

know both of us at the same time were
thinking like, ooh, female bodyguard.

We brought it to Vince and he hated it.

Oh, come on. No one's going to buy that.

Nobody's going to want to sell for a
girl.

You guys are morons.

This was something we both really
believed in. We just knew it would work.

if she's a screw -up, if she's a ped
case, it's on you. It's your fault.

You can have all the credentials in the
world if you're a football player, and

they hand you the ball, you better not
fumble.

Well, Joni didn't fumble.

Who the hell's that?

Who is that in the world? Is that a
woman?

She was an anonymous figure first coming
and grabbing Marlena from the crowd and

just this...

physical specimen of a woman, unlike
anything I'd ever seen before.

I vividly remember the first time I saw
Joni. I was actually in the audience,

kind of in disguise.

And we saw Joni come out of the crowd
and shake Terry Runnels like a rag doll.

She shook the living dog caca out of me.
The smaller I was, the larger

Joni was, the more amazing it looked.

I remember telling her, don't go easy. I
would much rather it hurt me tomorrow

than it look like on live TV.

The next morning, we were in the hotel,
and I went to turn, and I was like...

It was like I had been...

and some god -awful car crash.

She arrived.

Welcome to the party, girl. You are now
officially one of us.

Talk about your psalms. Talk about John
316.

Austin 316 says I just whipped your ass.

If you smash...

Everywhere I go somewhere today,
somebody will come up to me and talk

Attitude Era.

There was never anything like it to that
point, and there will never be anything

like it in the future.

WWE had traditionally been a pretty
conservative company, but by the late

90s, the presentation had changed.

Limits were being pushed.

The Attitude Era pushed every envelope
across every line possible.

But that was by design.

WWE was going hard head -to -head
against WCW. And at that time, WCW was

winning. They were stealing left and
right, taking our superstars. And WWE

to come up with something special,
something unique.

As WWE was becoming edgier, I think DX
was at the forefront of that.

Hunter and Shawn are pretty much at the
top of this thing.

That's how she was coming in.

You'd see Hunter and Sean out there
acting like immature schoolboys that

be sent to the principal. And then in
the back was Chyna.

No nonsense, staring straight ahead at
the camera with her arms folded.

She was the straight man that DX needed.
Like in comic terms, there's the

straight man, right? Like we needed to
have somebody that was like the rudder

for all of the other immaturity to kind
of bounce off of and bounce around.

Show us what you're bringing to the
barbecue, girl.

Before Joni even debuted in WWE, the
company wanted to come up with a name

her, and they pitched a bunch of names
her way.

Venus, Fallon, She -Ra, and she didn't
like any of those names.

And then she remembered she had known a
stripper who called herself Chyna, and

she described that Chyna as exotic and
intoxicating, and that was kind of what

she was going for.

If Joanie was at ringside, you're
watching her as much as you're watching

match. In the beginning, all she had to
do was just stand there, and people were

like, well, what's going on with that
person right there? What is that?

When she would move, the crowd would
react because she never moved. When she

stood there with her arms crossed and
those biceps and those delts.

197 pounds.

The woman has a 320 -pound mid -trap.

She's got muscles in places I don't even
have places.

That's how she got the name the ninth
wonder of the world.

So, of course, Andre the Giant was the
eighth wonder of the world.

I mean, he turned heads. He caused you
to drop your jaw and say,

wow, I heard he was big, but I didn't
know he was that big.

And when you saw China, you did the same
thing.

China was dangerous.

It wasn't throwing Miss Elizabeth in
front, who's, you know, delicate, and a

chivalrous man would never touch Miss
Elizabeth.

But, like, you throw Chyna in front,
there's a new dynamic, there's a little

confusion. Oh, my God, this woman hit
me, and it feels like a man hitting me.

I supposed to hit her back?

In the formative years of Chyna with DX,
nobody laid a hand on her.

Striking Joanie was off the table, so we
had to be creative.

There's a concern always with your top
male wrestlers. Just from a presentation

of a character, you don't want to
emasculate them. There's a way to do it

the female star can be elevated, but the
male star doesn't have to be brought

down a notch.

A lot of the pitch was designed around
we would make sure that we would take

care of those guys so that when she did
show offense or look to be beating up a

man, so to speak, we would put them in a
vulnerable enough position.

that it seemed plausible for her to be
able to do that.

I

remember

one major star just flat out saying, no,
I'm not going to let a woman do that to

me. He actually used a more colorful
language.

And I kind of stepped up as soon as I
had the chance and said, let's... Let's

something.

Triple H reversed an Irish whip outside
on the floor, and Joni power

slammed me into the stairs.

And I believe that opened up a
discussion among my colleagues who

Mick will do it, then I guess we can.

The thing is that I get paid to not so
much to talk, but to...

Kick guys in the nads tomorrow.

At the end of the day, you want to make
the best impression you can with your

time in the ring. And I think all of us
were well served by having Joni get

involved in our matches. I loved it.
China's ring debut came as a bodyguard

Hunter Hearst Helmsley. But now she's
one of the stars of the show.

Most girls shouldn't be wrestling guys,
and most girls aren't China. And if you

can find another woman like me, then
we'll talk about it.

I don't think anything could have
prepared her for...

The speed with which her career took
off, it was like the Millennium Falcon.

They're driving through space, and Han
Solo hits the pedal, and all of a sudden

they're in warp speed.

Gosh, it was like my head's spinning,
getting ready to go on the road again

tomorrow. So this has been a lot of work
and a lot of fun.

She was overwhelmed and excited and
giddy. She couldn't believe it. She

to just pinch herself.

I can't believe I'm actually doing this.

One of the things that a lot of fans
don't realize is the camaraderie that is

inside a wrestling company like the WWE.

She found some relationships in DX that
she hadn't had as a kid growing up.

When Joni was traveling with the WWE
during the height of her fame, Joni

often tell me that these were the people
that she could bond with very easily.

I think the acceptance that Joni found
in the WWE dressing rooms meant a lot to

her. It was very laid back. It's really
like you were at home with your family.

It can sound like a cliche, but in this
case it was true. Joni was one of the

boys. We really accepted her. We loved
her. We loved having her around.

Like you could be in awe or enamored by
her physical appearance.

But when you fell in love with Chyna was
when you got to know her. She was very

motherly with me.

You know, you're Chyna.

You see this, but you meet her and you
just see this. You know what I mean? And

it's just, you just want to hug her. You
were enamored by this body, but then

she would giggle and laugh. And it was
just like she was this little girl.

For a period of time, my daughter,
Noelle, who was four at the time,

Joni to be her very best friend.

So I would be backstage a lot, and my
dad would go off and do his thing. So

was always the one that would take care
of me, hang out with me.

She would do my hair and my nails and
just hang out like two best friends.

And it was just adorable.

This magnificent woman who was one of
the most popular people in WWE, one of

most... recognizable faces in popular
culture at the time, is her best friend.

I don't think people realize what it is
that we actually do.

The part that we're in the ring is not
really where the work is.

The work is traveling 250 days out of
the year, trying to keep your body in

shape, trying to deal with life outside
the ring.

That's a lot of work.

Joni and Paul were together all the time
because they were traveling on the

road. I think they had a lot in common
as friends, and it blossomed into a

relationship.

Eighty percent of our relationship
encompasses wrestling.

When it all happened, it happened fast.

Me and her were in a serious
relationship.

She started going on the road with Paul.

She would go away for four or five days.
She would come home for a day or two.

She'd go away for ten days.

She'd be home for a day or two. And it
started ripping me apart.

So at some point, we had to have the sit
-down, and we just decided, okay,

that's it. We'll go our separate ways,
and if at some point 20 years down the

road we can be friends again, we'll do
it.

Their relationship just kind of formed,
and I don't think any of us knew when

that happened.

I noticed they checked into one hotel
room, and I was like, oh, okay, well,

maybe they, because I didn't think they
were anything but workout partners and

friends.

It was just after a while, you sort of,
you know, see them quietly chatting with

each other. It doesn't look like that's
a business conversation.

I asked Hunter, and Hunter finally said,
like, we get the same room every night,

dude. We've been going out for, you
know. And I was like, oh, my God, I

even see that.

I remember the first time they came to
my house as a couple.

They stepped into the back door, and
they were like these two giants side by

side. They were larger than life, but
they were so happy together.

I think that Hunter was the best friend
that she probably never had as a child

growing up.

You could tell. They worked out
together. They did everything together.

like, held each other accountable.

A little tiny, tiny bit.

Look,

we'd go to Denny's and I would get moons
over my hammy and they would get 12 egg

whites and steamed so -and -so, you know
what I mean, and dry wheat toast.

They just did everything together
exactly alike. It was almost like, how

they ever have an argument? They both
agree that we should do chest and

on Tuesday.

They're both muscleheads, for sure.

very much into bodybuilding.

I'd be on the recumbent cycle and I
would just watch them do each other's

and chalk up and... They

worked out every day. They wrapped their
knees and squatted until they threw up

and said, if you don't throw up when
you're doing squats, you ain't doing it

right. I've never met somebody that can
train as focused or...

Hard as China does. He was very
respectful of Joni, very encouraging of

again, this is another man in her life
that accepted her just the way that she

was. If it were not for Paul, she would
not have made it as easily in

our industry because Paul marked her up
and really taught her what to do, what

not to do.

That is a gift that he gave her.

Attention!

We are D -Generation X, and we will take
no prisoners.

Who is the world in professional
wrestling?

D -Generation X!

Hold a minute. Wait a minute.

I remember Joni saying she was tired of
the guys always showing off their

butt. Sean and Billy and Hunter all had
nice asses, so they would moon the

people. Like, I'm not mooning the
people. I got a big zit on my right

like, hair.

Anyway. Did it ever occur to you guys
that people are sick and tired of

at your asses every week? Everybody
wants to see our ass. What's your point?

She's starting to...

moon people now. And of course, clearly
she was in phenomenal shape.

My daughter turned to me and she said,
why China's showing her peaches?

That was a father daughter talk that I
rather would not have had.

It allowed the audience to see a whole
different side of her personality.

And I think that's when she really
started to get over individually because

there was so much there and they were
finally getting to see that.

That was all by design, to go very slow,
so that in the long run, she was her

own brand, her own commodity.

It's been real hard because I always
wanted to break away a little bit. Now

there seems to be this discrepancy about
whether we should stay together or

whether we should split.

It broke my heart a little, personally,
when we split up. But in professional

wrestling, you don't stay a team
forever.

When DX splits and goes its own separate
way, China sort of does her own thing.

It's extremely frustrating sometimes.

I would have to stand outside the ring
while Hunter did this great stuff.

Every step I take, I'll say, okay, let's
try it, but it probably won't be that

good. And then I achieve it, and that
will allow me to move to the next level,

the next step, do something else.

It's a marathon, not a sprint, to keep
your head above water in WWE and to

really stand the test of time, which
Joni did.

So I think it was really beneficial to
her that she was outside the ring

destruction before we saw her actually
set foot in the ring as a competitor.

And when she did, she knocked everyone's
socks off.

From the very beginning, there were no
opponents from a female perspective on

her side. But once she started putting
together a string of matches, that's

her special athletic ability shined.

Power was at the forefront of

Joni's offense.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for
the 1990s.

You know, one of the most groundbreaking
things that I can remember about Chyna

was she was the first woman to enter the
WWE Royal Rumble.

The first woman ever to enter the Royal
Rumble, man. The roof went off in that

place. It was crazy.

And the walk down that ring, it's just
all purposeful, not cracking a smile.

Her statement was, I'm going to go for
the biggest, strongest man in this ring,

and that is Mark Henry.

China gets in the ring, and she throws
Mark Henry, the world's strongest man,

out of the ring.

And so it kind of kept being these
series of tests.

Can China hang with all these guys?

255 pounds!

It's over!

It's almost like everybody would set me
up to fail, but then when I didn't,

they'd be surprised and then want more
of it.

You know, when I was a little girl, I
only wanted to be a princess.

But now I'm all grown up, and tonight,
I'm going to be a queen.

King of the Ring. That's the first woman
ever to be in the King of the Ring

tournament, and I wrestled her. Road
Dogg, you got big brass balls to step in

the ring with me.

It was about the spectacle of it, like
it's a big muscular woman versus this

white trash dude.

She had hit me in a low blow several
times in the build up to this.

So that was the infamous, I came
prepared.

And as I had my back turned, she slipped
in and hit me in the groin again. And I

pulled out the metal cup.

We had a competitive match.

And honestly, if a creative decision was
made for her to beat me, she could have

beat me all day long. And people
wouldn't have batted an eye because

believable she was.

I mean, she got to the point where she
was.

a believable contender for a title. And
there came a time when the evolution of

China had to happen.

Who's the heel?

Jeff Jarrett is scheduled to come out
here. Well, Jeff Jarrett is scheduled to

meet China.

Double J stepped up to the plate.

My name is Jeff Jarrett, and I'm a man's
man.

My side of the fence, the way I was
handling the females and the women was

have their place, barefoot and pregnant
in the kitchen.

Oh, Jeff Jarrett took that ball and ran
with it. He's like, oh, you want me to

be a jerk? Watch this.

Women are only good for three things.

Cooking, cleaning, and making babies.

Oh, it was excellent.

All these antiquated stereotypes, like
this is trash. This is absolutely

degrading to these ladies. Oh, come on
now. It's supposed to make you mad.

You need a good villain to push all
those buttons. And it made China the

What took it

to another level was I was the reigning
Intercontinental Champion.

You're going to see who's wearing the
pants, and then you're going to see

going to be wearing your
Intercontinental title.

There was nothing like the build -up to
that Intercontinental title match.

You're going to get your rematch all
right, but it's going to be the good

housekeeping way.

And we just knew that he was going to
get what he deserved, and he did.

A first -ever good housekeeping matchup,
King. This was going to be history

-making.

There was that excitement, but I could
see there was nerves.

I think she was having some doubts. Am I
going to be able to live up to these

expectations?

What is that? Oh, my goodness.

You've been crowned with a seat from the
throne. Joni kind of took up the torch

for all of womanhood in that moment.

They literally hit each other with
everything, including the kitchen sink.

And I just remember the plethora of
weapons being used in very unique ways.

You know, somehow the word had gotten
out to the fans that it was his last

in the WWE.

So, naturally, everybody's expecting,
well, Jeff's going to lose.

China's going to become the first female
intercontinental champion.

But then comes the swerve.

Boom! He hits China with the belt. And
to everybody's shock and amazement, one,

two, three, Jeff wins. I'll do it!

The place, you could have heard a pin
drop. The crowd was shocked.

How dare that dastardly double J do that
to us?

The referees determined that, wait a
minute, that

championship belt is not a household
item. The match should continue. And in

meantime, Chyna grabs Jeff's guitar.

I mean, China's standing there with an
intercontinental championship.

She's holding it high above her head,
and I could tell that she knew that she

was part of history.

I remember standing straight up, and
truly the first thought that came to my

mind was, times, they are a -changing. I
can only think that, you know, from her

story and how many mountains she had to
climb to get to that point and how many

times she was told, no, you're not the
right fit.

Of course you're not the right fit.

You weren't meant to be the right fit.
You were meant to be bigger than that.

You're a star.

As the years have gone on and you hear
little girls who are now adults say,

yeah, I watched child on TV.

She gave me hope because there she was,
a woman succeeding in a man's

world. Right now, I'm the reigning
intercontinental champion.

That belt means that she's the number
two athlete in our industry. We don't

an Intercontinental Championship for
women. She said, yeah, yeah, well, you

now, because I'm taking it. What I
really think people want to see is a

like me taking some guys.

I'm China.

Welcome to my workout.

Don't treat me like a woman.

Don't treat me like a man.

Wrestling is not just a man's game
anymore.

I'm probably one of the most
recognizable female athletes in the

now.

If I go to India, people know who I am.
If I go to Germany, people are there

with posters to sign.

Joni was really beloved.

But in the first couple of years, at
least, that love did not extend to the

audience. So I remember on several
occasions, she would come back and she'd

a spit that had landed on her. And she
took it in stride as being part of the

job. But deep down, she was a woman who
always wanted to feel beautiful.

You know, she also had a ton of
insecurities and shyness inside and

negative self -image at times because of
some of the...

criticism that she would take she'd walk
down the entrance ramp and people would

say do you have a penis her fans say
she's a great performer her critics say

looks like a pumped up i'm sure you've
heard the rumors some people even say

this china used to be a man because
you're so muscular have you heard this

before oh please you've heard all of us
yeah been there done that before a

thousand times really so she's working
incredibly hard to achieve this look and

then she's being knocked and teased she
was seeing all these wonderful changes

in her body but she may not have been
seeing the feminine things and some of

those things that could not have been
changed without a little help from a

surgeon so she took some time off to
have a little bit of work done that made

her feel better about herself i
sometimes wonder if she knew how the

beauty that she had at that time far

exceeded what you might have seen on the
outside.

Funny, the irony is Hunter fell head
over heels in love with the first one.

I do not remember

the city we were in, but we were in the
dressing room.

Her demeanor was just like, like she
wasn't there.

Chyna had her suspicions that Triple H
and Stephanie McMahon were in more than

just an on -camera relationship.

You mean the world to me.

I love you more than anything in the
world.

So she had found a letter at their house
in Hunter's stuff where it just came

out and Stephanie admitted that she had
feelings for Hunter and it devastated

Chyna. I get out of control too.

Okay. I remember being on either the
bike or the Stairmaster.

And she got on the apparatus next to me.
We started talking and she broke down

in tears.

I mean, I can't fathom that.

Where I used to be like at the pinnacle
and now everyone's whispering and

talking.

It clearly was going to make her future
in WWE a lot more cloudy.

Once Chyna and Triple H.

Broke up, you know, in a way, she kind
of got pushed down to the women's

division. She started having more
matches with females, whether it was

Lita or Trish Stratus, all very
accomplished wrestlers, some of the best

history, but also much smaller and not
as physically strong as Chyna. Lita's in

deep, deep trouble. Look at the strength
of Chyna, the number one winner of the

world. With the women, I think she was a
little bit like, ah, this is a night

off. She's been up there a long time.
Boom!

It wasn't personal, but she did see that
as, like, I've earned this spot, and

I'm not looking to give up my spot
lightly.

As much as I respect all of the women in
the World Wrestling Federation, and I

do, I felt as of late that I really
don't have a whole lot of competition.

So instead of pinning my fellow divas,
from now on,

I'm just going to have to spank them.

How far can she go working with the men?

Were we going to eventually put her
against The Rock or Stone Cold and have

beat her? Like, that's not good for her
either, I don't think.

Or are we going to invest in, like we
see today, this women's wrestling being

thing in the future?

WrestleMania 17, I think it's probably
bittersweet for Chyna because, you know,

she had been used to wrestling men and
being in some real high -profile

and now she was wrestling Ivory for the
women's title.

Ivory was, like, the most annoying thing
on your television at the time.

Ivory didn't stand much of a chance, but
it was the way to get the title onto

Chyna.

She did kind of have a lackadaisical
pinfall on Ivory, and you almost wonder

she did that on purpose to kind of show
the WWE, like, hey, I'm better than

this.

But I just think that was a time in
Chyna's life where for the first time

could sense that men were looking at her
in a sexual way. They were looking at

her thinking, wow, that lady is hot. And
I think she loved it.

She was the double -headed sex symbol.
One minute she's picking up and scowling

as she body slams someone, and the next
day she's in Playboy.

Joni was approached by Hugh Hackner.
There was some talk about her doing

Playboy, and she was all in right from
the get -go.

By doing this, and especially by getting
the cover and such a big layout, it's

really such a unique opportunity because
it shows a very strong, sexy, powerful,

millennium woman, and I believe it's me.

When people told me...

That I was ugly and could never grace
the cover or be Playboy material.

Well, I guess that I had to prove them
wrong.

Oh, yeah.

And you did it, young lady.

And we're damn proud of you. You ready?

Yes, I'm ready. I was so proud of her
because I thought she was just

beautiful.

She was feminine. She was athletic
looking, confident.

Isn't that what all women want, right?

The Playboy cover that turned out to be
the best -selling issue in 10 years.

Now she's being embraced as one of the
sexiest women in the world.

It's just one other example of so many
of the things that I've been able to do.

I don't know if she could go any higher.
You know, on the late -night talk show,

Jay Leno, cover of Playboy, cover of TV
Guide.

There's China, the perfect combination
of brawn and beauty.

I am China, the superstar. I wrestle in
the ring. I am able to do other TV

shows. I've done movies, and I have an
autobiography coming out in January.

So she was at the pinnacle of her
career.

And unfortunately, when you're at the
pinnacle, there's really no place to go

but down.

I just worry sometimes that I dedicate
everything to this job and that maybe,

you know, 10 years from now I'm not
doing this anymore and I will have not,

know, gotten married or had kids or done
things that normal people do.

This is a very short -lived business and
I just sometimes think, you know, that

day is going to come for me when I'm
going to plan on being here but, you

suddenly I'll be gone and I'll think,
now look what I did.

China's contract was up.

So she had to go in and renegotiate. She
wanted equal pay to the guys. She was

one of the main faces of the company
that she busted her ass to become.

And she wanted the same contract that
the other faces of the company had at

time. The Rock, Stone Cold, The
Undertaker.

Joni may have just drawn a line in the
sand saying, I want a million

She thought she deserved it, and the
office didn't agree.

This is an historic day because the
World Wrestling Federation today is

Wall Street.

Years later, she would tell people that
they didn't renew her contract or that

they cut her because Stephanie McMahon
was mad at her because of the Triple H

deal, but that's not the case. You know,
Chyna was offered a chance to stay in

WWE for a good salary.

And she decided not to do it. And I
think that was probably the decision

started her downfall.

I wasn't too particularly happy at how
it all ended, how it went down.

I mean, you don't want to see your
friends hurt.

I do feel like there was a sense of
abandonment that Joni felt because

we did not keep in touch. We, the WWE
community, did not keep in touch with

like we used to.

Once you're accepted in the club and
there are wrestling clubs, we do look at

each other like family.

And there's an intimacy you can't avoid
when you're riding together and, you

know, you're wrestling together, you're
getting hurt together. Then being

suddenly torn out of that world, I could
see that being difficult to kind of

readjust and get your feet back on the
ground.

When Joni left the WWE, she decided that
she was going to try to do some acting

and see if she could make go of the
whole Hollywood thing.

What?

She was stereotyped as a wrestler, so
pretty much any of the roles that she

were as a big, brawny, wrestling type of
character.

It was starting to get increasingly
harder and harder to keep things going.

It didn't materialize into anything that
stuck.

What?

You don't recognize me?

She couldn't legally use the name Chyna
because the WWE owned that contract.

WB lawyers have asked us not to refer to
this former wrestler by her stage name.

So she couldn't sell herself out in the
entertainment world as China.

She had to go by Joni Lauer. Now nobody
knows Joni Lauer.

During this period, Joni's spending a
lot of time at the Playboy Mansion.

She moved to Hollywood, and all of a
sudden, you know, someone that had been

clean, her whole life started dabbling
in drugs and alcohol.

She would no -show casting calls because
she was hungover or on drugs somewhere.

I think Chyna was longing.

for genuine friendships, and she had
trouble finding them. You know, I think

most of the people that she was hanging
around were associating themselves with

her because she was famous.

She'd have a couple of gigs, and then
they would go away, and then

now what?

Things started going downhill with my
wife. I just finally had enough.

And I left.

I had moved out to L .A. I was really
brokenhearted.

My grandmother says, Johnny,

like, China's out there. You guys always
got along great. You should look her

up.

My grandma had a really track record as
a matchmaker.

That was a really bad idea.

I never looked at Johnny like that, I
swear to God. Like, before, like, our

relationship blossomed, I never thought
twice about... Like, anything

romantically with her. I was in heaven,
man. Like, that was, I was, I just

thought, okay, happiness.

And I think she felt that, too, man.
Like, it was, like, there was a couple

months there that everything was just,
like, heaven.

Joni became involved with Sean, another
wonderful guy. Three for three with men.

that loved her, really truly loved her
and accepted her the way that she was.

But he was in a bad place, too, so I
think two wrongs made a really bad

They really met each other when both of
them were at rock bottom. Together, you

know, they just kind of started this
downward spiral that lasted for quite a

while. There's that hurt, right? I'm
just, I'm hurting.

I'm hurting, and she makes me feel
better.

And she's the only thing that, besides
like the drugs, I just started getting

into the speed and all that.

And it hadn't, it didn't seem like a big
deal at the time. It took a little bit

for that to really like grab ahold of me
and kick my ass.

I don't want to cast aspersions on how
their relationship was.

From the outside, it looked very toxic
and not good for either one of them.

Look, I'm itching and scratching. I'm
uncomfortable talking about it because

was just weird to me. And I know it
wasn't a good part of their lives.

I was hiding my drug use from her.

And I didn't realize at the time that
she was hiding hers from me as well.

I was doing drugs in the bathroom, in
the shower.

I would spend a lot of time in the
shower.

A lot of time in the shower.

And, you know, finally she found the
paraphernalia.

Like, I just thought it was over. Like,
okay.

Bummer, man. I'm so happy in this, you
know.

And now it's all f***ed up.

And she was just like, huh.

Yeah, well, I do this.

So you guys no longer had to hide from
each other? No.

No. And that wasn't a very good thing.

So around 2002, a new opportunity
presented itself.

After she was invited to leave by WWE,
the company New Japan saw her worth and

invited her to come and play with them.

Tokyo Dome sold out 60 ,000 plus people.

Masahiro Chono against female wrestler.
This was a huge deal.

Her walking down that ramp, you know, in
that beautiful outfit, it was like

nothing that I've seen before,
especially in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

He was their number one person in Japan,
and she was going toe -to -toe

with him.

Chono was like blood coming out of her
ear, and her face was red.

Chono won the match.

Even with him winning, she really was
the star of the match completely.

Obviously the star of the show.

Let me wait until everybody's in here to
tell you that I didn't lose that match

because I beat his ass in front of all
of his fans.

I can remember sitting in the corner
watching her interview and how proud she

was. Realistically, I was quite honored
to fight Chunk.

He's the best.

When she came home, I really noticed
that she was different.

I couldn't have a regular conversation
with her.

She would be calling me at all hours of
the day and the night.

The drug use sort of escalated. I knew
there was a problem.

She kind of stopped training with us. We
just kind of saw less and less of her

until eventually it was just like, oh,
we're not doing business with China

anymore. I think the change really began
after her run in Japan was over. I wish

she had gone about establishing herself
on the independent circuit. She would

have been a huge draw everywhere she
went. But she kind of gave up on

after that.

And in a sense, it felt like wrestling
gave up on her.

For two or three years, between about
2003 and 2005, China and Xbox were doing

lot of drugs together. They were doing
crystal meth.

I think they called it ice.

She said it keeps her up for days on
end. She can get so much done.

And then when she did fall asleep, she
would crash.

That's kind of how the two of them were
living.

We were doing the same exact drugs, but
I had graduated to the needle, and that

really bothered her.

Oh, it is a great recipe for disaster.

Now you've got two people, and so you've
got to buy twice the dope, and so

you've got to get twice the money. And
so now we're willing to do anything.

Eventually, China and Xbox, you know,
had sexual intercourse. They filmed it.

Ended up selling that film.

The worst idea ever.

I mean, we're both just... People that
have been there, as far as drug -wise

knows, like, your inhibitions and all
that goes out the window.

I don't think there's anybody

that is...

Really proud of that. I think you do
that out of necessity. You look around

say, well, where else am I going to make
this kind of money?

It ended up a deal being done with the
same people that did the Tommy Lee,

Pamela Anderson tape.

My initial reaction was horror.

Black? Yeah.

All right.

Secondly, I thought, that's not the real
Joni. That's just, that's drugs.

She was grasping for straws to get
money, to get publicity.

I don't know if Joni ever outran the
shame of it.

Things had progressively gotten worse,
and I knew, like, I was in rough shape

too, and at least, like, realized, like,
I need help myself. I can't help

anyone. She got to the point where I was
so worried about her drug use.

And Sean was worried about her drug use,
that he actually called me and said,

you need to come out here and try to get
Joni into a rehab.

So I actually got on a plane. I showed
up at her door. She had no idea I was

coming. And as I opened the door,
there's Kathy right in front of me.

Classic intervention.

Joni, I think you've got a problem. I
really, really love you.

Please do this for me.

Will you consider going to rehab?

I somehow managed to drag her butt on a
plane.

to this place in Arizona.

She got there, and they gave her the
papers to sign in, and she said nope

and walked out the door and left.

And that was the end of our
relationship.

From then on, Joni wasn't really
speaking to me anymore because she was

at me for trying to do this.

Of all the people, like damage and all
that, Kathy was hurt the worst of anyone

besides Joni herself.

I think all of that, like, spun her into
a downward spiral, and I don't know if

she ever kicked out of it.

It wasn't so much, like, coke or
anything at this point. It was

pills. It was alcohol and, like, Xanax.
They would go on these massive drug

binges where they would get in fights.
At one point, she punched him and broke

his nose. Another time, she allegedly
attacked him in front of his kid.

It got to the point where...

He drove her to Cedars -Sinai Medical
Center in 2005 and dropped her off and

said, this girl needs help.

I never saw her again. I never saw her
in person again.

It was hard for a long time after that.

Within months, Chyna went from being in
People magazine and TV Guide

to getting lampooned on TMZ.

Cruel. It's cruel. I know. I'm sorry.
I'm a man -eater.

Cruel. I had found a niche at that time
and phase of my life where I was placing

celebrities on these celebrity -based
reality shows.

And I had a slew of them. I knew if I
saw her on TV at that period in time, it

was going to be a train wreck.

No one wants to be the boring person on
a reality show.

But I think she overplayed it to the
point where it was hard to tell where

old Joanie ended and this new Joanie
began.

When you're tuning into Celebrity Rehab,
specifically because

you know someone who's on there, that's
a bad sign.

What scares you most about being here?

The confusion of why I'm here.

It is sad when your heroes let you down.

It's a bummer. For about 10 years, China
just continued to go through ups and

downs and peaks and valleys. But things
actually got so bad around 2012 that her

friend got worried about her, went over
to check on her. China was in an

apartment with no furniture.

There was an air mattress on the floor
that she was sleeping on with no sheets.

The apartment reeked of whiskey.

There was cigarette butts everywhere.

She answered the door with heavy
eyelids, reeking of alcohol.

At that point, her friend said, Joni,
you're coming with me. I'm taking you

to Hawaii, and we're going to get your
life in order. I'm not taking no for an

answer. China packed up her stuff, went
to Hawaii, and tried to make some

changes.

Joni spent a very brief period in
Hawaii, and then she... packed up her

and moved to Japan.

There we are.

Learn English with me.

She got her head straight. She was
teaching these Japanese kids English.

I'm getting used to living in Japan.

I almost felt, for the first time, a
sense of relief.

This is what she needs. She needs, like,
a boring schedule that just gives her

somewhere to be, something that's
helping others and giving her a purpose.

Joni loved Japan.

She loved it. She loved going there. She
loved the culture. She loved the

people.

This is kind of like a little scrapbook
from people that were in Japan with her.

This means a lot to me because it tells
me how these people knew her not as

a wrestler.

She looks happy.

She looks very happy.

I don't think China got any better in
Japan. I think she got worse.

Within a couple of weeks, you know, she
was found on her kitchen floor with deep

cuts in her forearms, and she had to be
rushed to the hospital.

It's only recently I found out that they
prescribed her some medication because

she was in a severe depression. I'm just
sitting here in an empty room in the

boiling heat.

To the point where she tried to take her
life by attacking a policeman.

And police in Japan don't carry
firearms, or else it may have been a

story.

A group of police officers tackled her,
put her in handcuffs and took her to a

mental asylum.

The incidents cost China her job.

I figured the one way that I can get
China back to the state

and do something with her is bring back
the idea of reconstruction of China,

which back in the mid 2000s was a
reality show that we were pitching. So

to make sure that you are provided.

With the lifestyle and the people that
you're surrounded with, that is only

going to bring you joy and happiness
from now until the day you die. Let's

make it a documentary.

We'll film a year of her life.

Eventually, she did get out of there,
and that's when she flew back to the

United States to try to make her
documentary.

She's going to face her demons.

She's going to be put in some very
uncomfortable situation.

Basically, what Anthony was trying to
design was like a...

B -level version of the resurrection of
Jake the Snake Roberts.

If you want to stay with us, you don't
drink ever again in the presence of us,

period. So when was the last time you
put some scissors or some knives to

your... It smelled fishy right from the
get -go. She thought she was going to

make a fresh start.

All it really did was bring everything
right, bubble right back up to the

surface again.

I feel pretty tired.

That's what we charge.

$100 for the two.

Jet lag is starting to set in now. I'm
still assimilating just being in the

United States. She did her first Comic
-Con in Long Island. Mick came up to her

and they hugged for like five minutes in
tears and whatnot.

Hi, Joni. She wrapped her arms around
me. It was like I'd rediscovered a great

friend. I'm about 35 minutes away from
here. Do you want to come over and have

dinner with the police?

My dad called and he said, yeah, Joni's
coming over. And I'm like, what?

Like, she is?

I got the

sense. I

wish she had not agreed to have

her journey documented.

We are here to tell you about a very
special project.

It's called the reconstruction of China.

Joni showed me her upcoming schedule.

You went away for, what, four years?

And I just felt like she was diving into
the deep end of the pool when she

should have been dipping her toes into
the shallow end. Suddenly, I wasn't

remembered for, like, all the great
things I did in wrestling, but, like,

become this monster.

I voiced my concern. Like, that's all
you can do is give a friend the best

advice you can and let them know.

You were there for them. The documentary
ended up being just a series of

manufactured events that would look good
on TV.

We're about to go into the headquarter
office of WWE.

We're going to ask for Hunter.

We're going to ask for Vince.

We're driving cross -country.

Let's stop by and see if they owe you
any money.

Harmless to me.

And he goes in with a camera person and
forces a meeting at the WWE headquarters

without no appointment.

And we were asked to simply leave.

We were not greeted favorably.

Everybody was staring right at me. I got
a couple smiles.

She was in no mental shape to take on
that kind of schedule or that kind of

spotlight. Now this morning, we are on
our way to Miami, where my father

is buried.

There were a lot of people that wanted
to help her, and she was very good at

keeping a distance and not letting
people back in.

And she certainly did that with me. You
told me all those things, but then you

were never there.

I don't know why. I mean, I think,
unfortunately, Joni probably suffered

some mental illnesses at a very young
age that went undiagnosed, undetected.

They certainly exacerbated all the
problems that she had later in her life.

Hey!

90 % of the time, China was incredible,
down -to -earth, hilarious.

Unfortunately, there was still that 10 %
to 20 % side that wanted to be a diva,

that wanted to get house.

Anthony showed up, and he went like
this.

He took some pictures and some markers
at me, and like, like, what the f***?

Who the f***?

So she never really felt like she had a
problem, an addiction problem.

But she obviously did.

She would binge sometimes 17 straight
days. She'd probably sleep two of those.

Having a hard time eating. I need some
help.

What do you want? Can you help me? You
have to remember, Joni was fragile.

I'm trying to, bitch! As powerful as she
was, she was dealt a bad hand. And the

right people were not there for her in
the right place at the right time.

I spent a long 10 years, 15 years. I
don't know how long.

No.

But I'm tired.

Retina, I'm a champion.

Don't treat me that way.

She leaves a voicemail. Hey, guys, I'm
going to seek rehab. I'm going to try to

clean myself up. And don't tell Anthony.

A day or so went by.

She wasn't responding to texts. She no
-showed an appointment.

She probably had a big bender right
before she went to rehab. A lot of

do that.

He went over, snuck in past the security
gate at the apartment, went up to her

floor, and the door was unlocked.

He walks in conveniently with another
guy filming on a camera phone behind

I think he knew once the door was
unlocked and he could just walk in

something might not be good.

China was found dead here at her
apartment in Redondo Beach, California.

A friend told cops that China hadn't
answered her phone in days and came to

check on her. That's when the friend
found her lying in bed.

I was in Atlanta airport and it was on
the news.

The news came in and I burst into tears,
burst into tears.

It was a combination of alcohol and
sedatives. You do anything in excess,

you're...

you're likely to pay, and in this case,
it cost her her life.

She was so much more than just another
celebrity gone from

an overdose.

She was way more than that.

I think I mourned her death years before
she actually died. You know, when she

died, it was horrible, but I remember
also thinking, thank God this woman

finally has some peace.

The memorial service for China was like
nothing I've ever seen. It seemed like

more of a production than a memorial
service.

The goal was, let's get a bunch of
celebrities here, let's sell some

let's sell some shirts, and do something
that people are going to talk about.

They sold tickets for that?

Oh, hell, really?

that memorial show was a low -rent hot
mess.

Yes, I was invited. No, I did not
attend.

In my opinion, it was a joke.

When he held up the urn and he said, The
bitch is in the house!

I was mortified.

This urn was custom -made. It's got her
classic colors, and the font is similar

to what she sort of...

was using towards the end. And I think
that she would really, really love this.

This is China.

The morning after the memorial service,
a small group of people went out on a

boat and spread China's ashes into the
Pacific Ocean.

The horizon where the sky meets the
ocean is three miles.

No matter where you are in the ocean. We
did it exactly three miles out of her

apartment. So that if you go to her
apartment and you stand out and look

the ocean, you're with her.

Here's this famous woman who not long
ago was on The Tonight Show, a woman who

was on billboards and in Playboy. And
now I'm on this boat and no one that's

here toward the end of her life other
than Anthony really knew her. And it was

just a sad thing, but it also just kind
of illustrated.

All the problems that were in her life.
That was the issue. She didn't have any

close friends.

If I had the chance to talk to her
again, I would have reiterated that I

her and I was there for her. But more
importantly, I would have backed it up

with my actions.

There always seemed to be a tomorrow
until there wasn't.

I got some people in my life I'd love to
have one more opportunity with, and I

would love one more opportunity with
her. I'd love to have dinner. I'd love

have lunch, have a conversation, have a
coffee, anything with her, and just

spend some time and laugh.

Sorry. She was so funny, man. She was so
fun to be around.

I just miss her.

I didn't do that. I didn't call her and
say, hey, guess what I'm doing now.

Thank you.

Maybe that phone call would have let her
have one less drink.

Let her have one less bump.

There's a lot to put on myself, but you
know, you always wonder.

Because she meant a lot to me.

She meant a lot. Can we take a break?
Let's take a break.

We'd like to welcome you to the 2019 WWE
Hall of Fame ceremony.

I was asked to go to the Hall of Fame
induction for DX, of which Joni was a

part. I have never, ever attended
anything like that in my entire life.

all, the WWE, if they do it, they do it
big.

Joni was on everybody's mind that night.

Her legacy goes way beyond our industry.
In some manner, I look at her during

that time frame.

has like this paradigm shift of the
thinking of how people saw women and

of power and what women can do with that
power. It's fitting in this moment that

at WrestleMania tomorrow night, the
women will headline WrestleMania for the

first time in history.

And the night before that, probably the
most impactful woman to ever step foot

in this ring gets inducted into the Hall
of Fame.

She set the table for...

Every woman that came after her, for me
personally, she encouraged me. She

believed in me, and she told me any
dream I had, anything I wanted to do in

company, that I could do that. I feel
sad that Joni didn't really get to see

much she meant to these next
generations, myself being one of them.

those good things she did often get
forgotten about, and that's what

happen. I just wish history had not
taken so long.

to recognize her contributions.

I wouldn't be where I am without her in
my career.

The ex wouldn't be where it is.

I see her so differently than her China
persona. To me, she's not China. To me,

she's Joni. I really miss her every
single day.

Gabby, she's here.

She's here.

The real her.

You know, Mick Foley had always told his
daughter, Noelle, back when she was

about four, that China was strong. Oh,
there's no one stronger than China. I

remember saying to my dad, Joni is
strong like dolphin, or she's maybe even

stronger than dolphin.

That was my daughter's gauge on
strength.

So if you were up there with dolphins,
you were doing really well in my

daughter's mind.

We all kind of found a place on the
boat. We were getting ready to drive

All of a sudden, someone goes, oh, my
gosh, look at these dolphins.

And everyone hopped out from their seat
and went over to the side of the boat,

and there was literally like four or
five dolphins on the side of the boat,

of like escorting the boat back to the
dock.

And then someone said, they're over
here, too. And, like, I ran over to the

other side, and there was four or five
more just flanking the boat, guiding us

back to shore.

Jason was there to document it.

Dolphins emerged.

Wow.

Dolphins emerged.

during the sprinkling of the ashes.

It's actually fitting, I think.

I felt like those dolphins were kind of
China's way of saying, hey,

I'm good.

I'll be okay.