REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Chyna, the WWE star who became one of the best-known and most-popular female professional wrestlers in history, has died at age 45.
Los Angeles County coroner’s Lt. Larry Dietz says Chyna, whose real name is Joan Marie Laurer, was found dead in Redondo Beach on Wednesday. Dietz said his investigator was still at the location with the body late Wednesday night, and he had no further information on the death.
The tall, muscle-bound, raven-haired Chyna billed herself as the “9th Wonder of the World” because her wrestling predecessor Andre the Giant had already called himself the eighth.
Rising to prominence in the late 1990s, she was a member of the wrestling squad that dubbed itself “D-Generation X,” often wrestled against men and at one point was the WWE women’s champion.
