The Phantom of the Ring — Lipstick, Dynamite and Glowworms, Part 17
October 14th, 2008Part 17 of an in depth look at the growth of women’s wrestling, from noted ring historian The Phantom of the Ring.
The Phantom of the Ring
Lipstick, Dynamite and Glowworms Part 17
Joanie and Jackie
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As we have seen in the last article, Vince McMahon, Jr. finally shook the jinx and established a women’s division in the WWF. He didn’t do it through talent, but by relying heavily on a GLOW-style T & A show. Where Vince got smart this time was by building a stable himself, not relying on outside contractors, such as Moolah, and by having replacements ready to go in case one started trouble.
But Vince couldn’t have done it without some talent. In fact, it is largely due to the efforts of one woman wrestler that the Diva brand got off the ground. And yet she never received the credit she was due for doing it. We’ll look at her career in this article. First, however, is a look at the most famous Diva Vince ever hired.
Joan Marie Laurer was born on December 27, 1972 in Rochester, New York. Her parents divorced when she was about four years old, and growing up, she had three different stepfathers and one stepmother. To say the least, it was a tumultuous childhood. As a child she played both the violin and cello and finished the last year of high school in Spain. She graduated from the University of Tampa in 1992 with a major in Spanish Literature; she also studied French and German, and is fluent in four languages. Her original goal was to join the FBI or DEA, but she ended up joining the Peace Corps and was assigned to Guatemala.
After returning from her stint in Guatemala, Laurer worked as a cocktail waitress in a strip club; a singer in a band; and even as a 900-number chat line worker. She even signed up for a class to be a flight attendant, but while on the way to her first flight, she was involved in a car accident that sent her to the hospital, suffering a fractured ankle, a broken nose, a strained back, and facial lacerations. After her recovery, she sold beepers and worked as a belly dancer. A bodybuilder since her mid teens, she also began entering fitness tournaments, competing in the 1996 New York City regional of the Fitness America competition.
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It was while doing the fitness competitions that someone told her of Killer Kowalski’s wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts. She trained there, and her first match was in 1995 against a male wrestler dressed as a woman. Laurer also worked for various independent promotions as Joanie Lee. (In fact, some of her earliest matches were booked by The Fabulous Moolah.)
In 1996, according to the story, Laurer met WWF stars Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Shawn Michaels after a professional wrestling card. They thought she could help them with their angle as a bodyguard, but the WWF had reservations. Killer Kowalski spoke to Shane McMahon about her potential and the fact that WCW was interested in her. WCW was indeed interested and wanted to bring her in as the first female member of the NWO. She was leaning toward the offer but turned it down when the WWF expressed interest in bringing her aboard.
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Laurer began her career in the WWF as an audience member who had a hatred of Marlena (Terri Runnels), later attacking her from the audience during an episode of Raw. At the In Your House 13: Final Four PPV on February 16, 1997, she was seen rising from a ringside seat to help Triple H during his match. She was later introduced as “Chyna,” the bodyguard for Triple H and D-Generation X. She often helped Triple H and the other members by interfering in matches using a low blow uppercut to the opponent’s crotch.
As she began to catch on with the audience, she became the first woman to be entered in the Royal Rumble (January 24, 1999). The day after the Rumble, Chyna turned on Triple H and aligned herself with his enemies, Vince McMahon and Kane (Triple H’s opponent at WrestleMania XV). A month later, she joined forces with with Kane at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre PPV, facing X-Pac and Triple H. At WrestleMania XV, Chyna turned on Kane and helped Triple H defeat him. The duo then turned against D-Generation X when they interfered to help Shawn Michaels defeat fellow member X-Pac. Triple H and Chyna then joined The Corporation, later Shane McMahon’s Corporate Ministry. When the angle ran its course a few months later, they worked together on their own.
In June, 1999, Chyna qualified in the King of the Ring tournament (again the first woman to do so). She was also the first woman to be named as the number one contender for the WWF Championship, but lost to Mick Foley before SummerSlam in August. After SummerSlam, she began a feud with Jeff Jarrett, facing him for the Intercontinental Championship at the Unforgiven PPV, where she lost. She came back to take the Championship from Jarrett in a “Good Housekeeping” match and win the services of his valet, Miss Kitty, at the No Mercy PPV on October 17, 1999. It was Jarrett’s last WWF match, and as his contract with the WWF had expired a day before, he demanded (and received) a reported $300,000 to do the job.
Chris Jericho then challenged Chyna for the belt. She defeated him at the Survivor Series PPV, but lost the title to him the next month at the Armageddon PPV. A rematch on December 28 on SmackDown! ended with both participants pinning each other. As a result, then General Manager Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley declared them co-champions. At the Royal Rumble, Jericho and Chyna faced Hardcore Holly in a Triple Threat match for the belt, which Jericho won.
Laurer’s next role was as “Mamacita,” the on-screen girlfriend of Eddie Guerrero. They faced Val Venis and Trish Stratus in an inter gender tag team match at SummerSlam for the Intercontinental Title. Chyna won the belt that night, but lost it two weeks later in another Triple Threat match with Guerrero and Kurt Angle. Guerrero claimed the belt. The angle ended with the two breaking up on screen a couple of weeks later when Chyna caught Eddie in the shower with two other women.
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A new angle was cooked up over Laurer posing nude for Playboy (November, 2000). (Before the pictorial was announced, Laurer underwent plastic surgery to streamline her jaw line and well as supply a set of breast implants. Her implants were later custom made after she sprung a leak in her first set during a match) This was the feud with the Right to Censor group (Stevie Richards, Test, the Goodfather, and Ivory). Laurer began a feud with Ivory over the Women’s Championship that culminated at the Royal Rumble where Laurer “re-injured” while attempting a handspring back elbow. When Chyna returned from her “injury”, she took the Women’s Championship from Ivory at WrestleMania X-Seven. Chyna also defended the title against Lita at the Judgment Day PPV (May 20, 2001), which would be her swan song in the WWF because of the tension raised when real-life boyfriend Triple H left her for Stephanie McMahon (whom he later married). She officially left the WWF on November 30, 2001, though she had disappeared from television months earlier. It was announced that she had not been fired, but rather left for personal reasons.
Before she left the WWF, she released her autobiography, If They Only Knew, under the WWF imprint. The interest in Chyna was still there, for the book stayed several weeks on the best seller lists.
After she left the WWF, it was all downhill for Chyna. Prohibited from using the handle “Chyna,” due to trademark rights held by the WWF, she billed herself as “Chyna Doll.” (In 2007 she filed to change her legal name to Chyna.) She had a short run with New Japan, but nothing spectacular. Laurer also appeared in a second Playboy nude pictorial, besides starring in a Playboy adult documentary entitled Joanie Laurer Nude: Wrestling Superstar to Warrior Princess. The documentary was simply a record of her nude layout.
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She moved in with boyfriend Sean Waltman (X-Pac) with whom she had a rocky relationship, marked by several charges on both sides of domestic violence. They were engaged in 2003, then broke up and became engaged again. This continued until 2005, when they split for good. She also made the infamous sex tape, 1 Night in Chyna, with Waltman. Released by the same company that released Paris Hilton’s celebrity sex tape, it sold over 100,000 copies. Laurer and Waltman received a share of the profits, though Laurer later claimed she didn’t see a penny from the video.
Her television appearances were limited to such shows as The Surreal Life, The Surreal Life: Fame Games and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, all on VH-1 and all trading off her fading celebrity. In 2006, she appeared in the movies Just Another Romantic Wrestling Comedy and Illegal Aliens, most famous for being the last appearance of Anna Nicole Smith.
Chyna’s fame in the WWF came from her freakish size. (She was billed by the WWF as “The Ninth Wonder of the World,” André, of course being the Eighth.) However, her work rate was slow and plodding and she functioned much better as a bodyguard who interfered in matches rather than a wrestler in her own right. Her Playboy pictorials brought her fame outside the ring, but once the plug was pulled by the WWF, she suddenly found herself on the outside looking in.
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We now come to the wrestler whose efforts helped make the WWF Diva the successful brand it is today, for better or worse. The first female ever to make Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s annual list of the 500 best wrestlers, she is no longer with the WWF. Though her accomplishments are greatly overlooked today, without her, the reestablishment of the Women’s Division might have taken a bit longer and may not have lasted, given the impatience of the WWF. Her name is Jacqueline Moore, better known to WWF fans as Miss Jacqueline, or simply Jacqueline.
Born January 6, 1966, she grew up in Dallas, Texas, a fan of professional wrestling, and the Von Erichs in particular. A third degree black belt in taekwondo, with experience in in kick boxing and boxing, she began her wrestling training at a nearby gym, where Skandor Akbar was training future wrestlers. The only woman in her class, she learned how to handle herself against bigger opponents (which would later come in handy as she frequently wrestled men). She made her debut in 1989 as Sweet Georgia Brown in the Von Erich’s World Class Championship Wrestling promotion.
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Moore moved to the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association in 1992, where she was billed as “Miss Texas.” On March 2, 1992, she won a tournament to crown the first USWA Women’s Champion. She dropped the belt to Lauren Davenport on April 13 and regained it on August 24. During this time she feuded with Davenport, Moondog Fifi, Leslie Belanger, Sensational Sherri Martel and Luna Vachon. During her stay in the USWA she held the title fourteen times before losing it for good to Tasha Simone on November 4, 1996.
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Tasha Simone
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She moved to Smoky Mountain Wrestling in November, 1995, and was billed as Sgt. Rock defeating Ron Davis in her debut. Her only other highlight was a feud with the Wolfman.
She sent pictures of herself to WCW and was offered a contract by J.J. Dillon. She came into WCW in January, 1997, as the “girlfriend” of Kevin Sullivan and joined him in his feud with his estranged wife Woman and her boyfriend Chris Benoit. The feud ended when Benoit defeated Sullivan in a retirement match. At the Road Wild PPV on August 9, she became the manager of Harlem Heat. She later briefly feuded with Disco Inferno, defeating him at the Halloween Havoc PPV on October 26. Her contract expired in early 1998, and WCW, having no new angles for her, simply decided to let her go.
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Jacqueline was soon hired by the WWF and made her debut on the June 1 edition of Raw once again playing someone’s girlfriend. This time her “boyfriend” was Marc Mero and Jacqueline soon began a feud with Mero’s estranged wife, the wildly popular Sable. They began by trading insults on Raw for several weeks until Jacqueline challenged Sable to a bikini contest at the Fully Loaded PPV on July 26. Sable was declared the winner after removing her halter top to reveal a painted-on pair of hands over her breasts. But the following evening on Raw, WWF Chairman Vince McMahon disqualified Sable because she was not wearing a bikini as such. Jacqueline was declared the winner and given the trophy.
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photo by Paul Stratoti
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Sable, not yet ready for the ring, recruited Luna Vachon to fight Jacqueline on her behalf. On the August 10 edition of Raw, Luna pinned Jacqueline, and Sable presented Jacqueline’s trophy to Luna. Demanding her trophy be returned, Jacqueline faced off against Sable in in an arm wrestling contest on the August 17th Raw. During the contest, Jacqueline pushed the table into Sable’s stomach and in the melee, retrieved her trophy. On August 30, Jacqueline and Mero then teamed together and lost to Sable and her mystery partner (Edge) at SummerSlam.
A defeat at the hands of Sable in an “Evening Gown Match” on the September 14th Raw led to a singles match on Raw the following week for the revived WWF Women’s Championship (dormant since January, 1996). Jacqueline won the title after Mero interfered, tripping Sable and holding her foot down so she couldn’t kick out of Jacqueline’s pin. The feud continued with Jacqueline relieving Sable of her ponytail on the October 5 Raw, but at Survivor Series, Sable defeated Jacqueline to become the new WWF Women’s Champion.
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The loss of the title caused Mero to jilt her on the November 22nd Sunday Night Heat. Jacqueline then joined Terri Runnels (who recently separated from Goldust) to form the Pretty Mean Sisters (PMS). After being involved in a few skits, Jacqueline returned to the women’s division in March, and on the April 12th 1999 Raw, she took part with Ivory, Sable and Tori in a four way match for the Women’s Championship. The match ended as a no-contest after Sable’s bodyguard Nicole Bass interfered and choke slammed all three challengers.
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The rest of 1999 was relatively quiet, save for a loss to Jeff Jarrett on the September 6th Raw, where he choked her in the ring ropes, made her submit to the figure-four leglock, and broke his guitar over her head. This was all in preparation for his upcoming match with Chyna (see above). Her highlight of those months was a victory over Ivory in a “gravy bowl match” on November 25 to claim the Golden Ladle Trophy.
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On February 1, 2000, Jacqueline defeated “Hervina” (Harvey Wippleman in drag) to win the WWF Women’s belt a second time. Her reign lasted until March, when she lost the to Stephanie McMahon (Note: an untrained wrestler) after continuous interference from D-Generation X. Jacqueline lost a battle royal for the number one contendership to Lita, but on the July 2 episode of Sunday Night Heat, she responded to WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko’s challenge for anyone to come out and face him. Though she submitted to Malenko’s cloverleaf, she was granted a title shot with new WWE Women’s Champion Lita. The two feuded throughout August and September, with Jacqueline bringing Edge and Christian to ringside as a counter to Lita’s companions, the Hardy Boyz. Though granted a couple of title shots, she failed to unseat Lita and the feud played out.
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Jacqueline’s next angle came when The Acolytes Protection Agency (Faarooq and Bradshaw) recruited her on the December 18th Raw to join them in a six-man tag match with Trish Stratus and her charges, T & A. Jacqueline pinned Stratus to win the match, which led into her next feud when she challenged Ivory for the title. Ivory pinned her on the December 21st SmackDown!, after the other members of Ivory’s Right To Censor group interfered. The APA came down the aisle to save Jacqueline from a group beating, which in turn led to a feud between the APA and RTC.
Jacqueline’s career took a back seat in Mid-2001 to her new position as a trainer along with Tazz, Al Snow, and Tori on the MTV reality series Tough Enough, helping to train Nidia and Maven.
In late-2001, Jacqueline feuded with former WCW members Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson, and Mighty Molly, as well as Ivory. She participated in a six-pack challenge match at the November 18, 2001, Survivor Series that was won by Trish Stratus. Several weeks later she unsuccessfully challenged Trish for the title at the Vengeance PPV.
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In 2002, Jacqueline added the title of referee to her resume. Her debut match was refereeing a Women’s Championship bout between Jazz and Trish Stratus at the Royal Rumble. In late 2002, she and Trish Stratus began a feud with Victoria and Jazz, This resulted in a four-way match for the title at the Judgment Day PPV on May 18, 2003, won by Jazz. Jacqueline also took part in a battle royal (which was won by the debuting Gail Kim) for the title on June 30.
Jacqueline’s appearances throughout the rest of 2003 and mid-2004 were rare. She instead spent most of her time working as a trainer in Ohio Valley Wrestling. Her last hurrah as a WWE wrestler was on SmackDown! (May 4, 2004) when she defeated Chavo Guerrero for the WWE Cruiserweight Title. Guerrero won it back at the May 16, 2004, Judgment Day PPV in a match where he had one arm tied behind his back. The WWE released Moore in June, 2004, when the writers failed to come up with any new angles for her character.
After her release, she took acting classes and landed a part in the film Knight Fever, playing a detective named Venus Jackson.
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TNAWrestling.com — photo by Lee South
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Jacqueline signed with TNA Wrestling and made her debut on the November 7, 2004, Victory Road PPV, losing to Trinity (Stephanie Finochio). Her next appearance with TNA was at the December 5 Turning Point PPV, where she refereed a tag team match between Pat Kenney and Johnny B. Badd against Johnny Swinger and Glenn Gilberti.
She returned to TNA at the January 14, 2007, Final Resolution PPV, joining with James Storm and attacking his manager, Gail Kim. Storm and Moore then teamed to defeat Kim and Petey Williams at both the Against All Odds and Destination X PPVs. Moore also took part in TNA’s first women’s steel cage match, at the Lockdown PPV on April 15, 2007, losing to Gail Kim in 7:13. She continues with TNA as of this writing, taking part in their Knockout Division as well as seconding Beer Money (Robert Roode and James Storm) in their matches.
Next: Trish knocks the WWE Divas into the “Stratus-sphere.
– The Phantom of the Ring
You can write to the Phantom care of Karen Belcher
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