10 Backstage Stories About Chyna That We Can't Believe

Chyna broke the mold when it came to women in the wrestling industry due to her success in the Attitude Era. The star power of Chyna saw her drawing money for WWE that made them realize that women could get over at that level. Chyna’s intergender matches against male wrestlers also played a role in the genre still having success and interest today.

RELATED: 10 Best Matches Of Chyna's Career

The backstage world of WWE was even more controversial back then leading to quite a few surprising stories about the booking and general decision making for Chyna. New Japan and TNA even tried to get another run out of the legend at various points. Find out more about Chyna outside of the scripted world of professional wrestling.

10 Chris Jericho got in trouble when working with her

Chris Jericho’s first major storyline in WWE saw him working with Chyna as co-Intercontinental Champions. The star power of Chyna won her the belt and Jericho eventually got involved in the title picture as well to make them both the champions.

RELATED: 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Feuds Of Chyna's WWE Career

Jericho shared that it was a tough time in his career, and he felt that it was done to bury him. Triple H and Jericho had issues that culminated in Jericho getting yelled at by Vince McMahon for working stiff with her. The two didn’t get along professionally and were happy to end the angle.

9 Vince was initially against signing her

Chyna was one of the first women in WWE to get offense in on male wrestlers and even defeat them in matches. The original debut angle was that her strength and power allowed her to give Triple H an advantage by attacking his male opponents.

Vince McMahon never promoted the intergender style of wrestling up to that point and was hesitant about signing Chyna for that reason. WCW reaching out eventually forced his hand to sign her to the planned run that Triple H originally pitched.

8 Jeff Jarrett didn't want to lose to her

Jeff Jarrett had one of the most controversial Chyna stories when he refused to lose the Intercontinental Championship to her at the end of their angle. WWE let Jarrett’s contract expire right before the big match and he demanded six figures, or he was going to take the belt to WCW.

Chyna revealed in future interviews and books that Jarrett didn’t want to lose to a woman, especially based on his traditional wrestling mindset. Things grew hostile backstage between Shane McMahon and Jarrett, but Vince paid him to drop the belt to Chyna for her career-defining victory.

7 Helped Eddie Guerrero get acclimated to WWE in their angle

The reputation of Chyna was hit or miss depending on how the wrestler to work with her meshed. Eddie Guerrero was one of the top names to develop chemistry with Chyna right away from their feud to the romantic angle together creating the Latino Heat moniker.

Vince McMahon saw a lot of potential in Eddie and wanted him involved in a storyline with a bigger star that showed his character work. The outstanding run of Guerrero and Chyna together saw him having huge praise for her helping him find his footing in the new company.

6 NJPW wanted to give her a huge push

New Japan was the promotion to reach out to Chyna after her time in WWE ended. Many fans were surprised since NJPW was viewed as a pure sports promotion, but they wanted the star power and entertainment value of a former WWE top star.

Chyna wrestled about a dozen matches in NJPW against the top male wrestlers. Matches involving the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Masahiro Chono, and The Great Muta saw her winning most of them. The run ended after a few months as Chyna transitioned out of wrestling.

5 Didn't want to put over Lita

The final major feud for Chyna in WWE saw her working with Lita in a match for the Women’s Championship. Reports indicated that WWE wanted Lita to win since she was being set up for a huge push after getting over as a face.

RELATED: 10 Wrestlers We Forgot Lost To Chyna

Chyna was always a bit hesitant about facing the female wrestlers after beating top male stars and declined to put over Lita. However, she did raise Lita’s hand to show respect after the match. Lita didn’t suffer from the change as she still saw her huge push coming with nothing stopping it.

4 WWE refused her contract demands in 2001

The love triangle between Triple H, Chyna, and Stephanie McMahon ended with Chyna leaving the company for good. Chyna felt the writing on the wall with WWE slowing down on negotiation talks when her contract was expiring.

The sister of Chyna and Jim Ross both revealed that the talks ended when she requested a $1 million downside guarantee. Chyna felt she deserved the same perk as top stars like Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H based on her success, but WWE turned it down.

3 TNA wanted her involved in New Age Outlaws angle

Road Dogg and Billy Gunn started to take shots at Triple H and Shawn Michaels during their time in TNA. The new name of the Voodoo Kin Mafia saw the former New Age Outlaws burying the WWE stars for bringing back D-Generation X without them.

Christy Hemme got involved in the feud cutting a heel promo against Road Dogg and Billy for excluding Chyna from the conversation. Multiple people from TNA claimed in future interviews that they reached out to Chyna to get involved in the DX drama angle, but she had no interest in wrestling at the time.

2 Steve Austin changed plans of her winning WWE Championship

Chyna was reportedly close to having the biggest accomplishment of one’s career in 1999. The SummerSlam title shot against Steve Austin was won by her during an episode of Raw for a planned triple threat involving Triple H.

Austin was protective of his character at the time and didn’t want to wrestle nor lose to a woman. WWE pulled Chyna from the match and replaced her with Mankind. The finish saw Mankind winning the title which likely implies Chyna was the one originally planned for the role as rumored.

1 WCW wanted to hire her to join the nWo

WWE signed Chyna in early 1997, but it almost didn’t happen due to Vince McMahon not being sold on the idea. One major aspect of WWE signing her was WCW showing interest upon seeing her potential and hearing about her discussions with WWE.

Eric Bischoff reached out with the idea of her joining WCW as the only female member of the New World Order in a role similar to what she eventually had in D-Generation X. WWE reached out with a counteroffer and Vince put his ego aside. Chyna’s close relationship with Triple H made WWE the better bet and it turned into a huge signing.

NEXT: WWE: 5 Reasons Chyna Was The Biggest Female Star Of The 90s (& 5 Why It Was Sable)