True Crime With Caledonian Kitty : May 2025

From a Childhood of Hell to Pro Wrestler......and Serial Killer! | Dark History From The World of Wrestling: Part Six

(Juana Barraza. Picture credits: The Sun. Collage created by Caledonian Kitty)

*Please be aware that I will be sharing some sensitive details in this post that will include child abuse, elderly abuse and addiction. I will, as always, aim to be as sensitive as I can be with sharing the details without taking away from the facts of the case. If you have any questions or comments about the post, please feel free to email at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*

From a appalling childhood plagued with physical and psychological abuse at the hands of an alcoholic mother and struggles financially, when Juana Barraza became one of the most respected female wrestlers Mexico had ever seen, it was seen as a story of triumph despite the odds against her. At a time when female wrestlers were still working hard to be taken seriously, Like Chyna, Juana was helping pave the way for strong female wrestlers who had overcome many difficult barriers in their private lives to work their way to the top through sheer grit, hard work and determination.

The future looked bright for Juana, who wrestled under the name 'La Dama Del Silencio' meaning 'The Lady of Silence'. For her build, strength and demeanor it seemed an odd choice of name for her character but nonetheless, wrestling fans were in awe of what she was able to achieve in the ring. Juana didn't just catch the attention of wrestling fans in Mexico, people from all over the world were transfixed with her wrestling abilities and it seemed that she would go far, maybe end up in America at some point? The possibilities for her seemed endless but unfortunately Juana's life was to take another road, a very, very dark one at that.

Born Juana Dayanara Barraza Samperio (shorted to Juana Barazza) in Epazoyucan, Hidalgo (Mexico) on the 27th of December 1957. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, her childhood was hell. Her mother was a chronic alcoholic who basically did anything to ger her hands on booze...even if it meant prostituting out her own daughter in order to get alcohol. Juana's life was a nightmare, a horrendous non-stop ordeal which would shape the rest of her life. She ended up pregnant as a result of one of the horrendous r*pes that she was forced to endure. She soon found herself the mother of four children and struggling to make ends meet when she finally did escape her mother.

The road to freedom from her mother's evil abuse was not an easy one and more tragedy was to come for Juana when her son was murdered during an attack and robbery, he sadly passed away from his injuries. With so much pent up anger and several scars from her childhood, Juana threw herself into training and workouts. People would comment on how strong she seemed and that she should get into sports especially wrestling. Juana became a wrestler and wasn't sure if it would work out but it did. It took a lot for her to be able to stand in front of a crowd of people and prove herself as an athlete alongside other professional wrestlers but like Chyna (who I wrote about in a previous post in this series) she gave it her all and won the hearts of wrestling fans.

Everything was going great but the pain and memories of what happened in her childhood never escaped her. She may have been able to escape her Mother's evil grasp but the horrible memories that remained were not as easy to escape from. Despite her success as a wrestler she was suffering with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and had never had professional help and guidance in how to manage these painful thoughts and memories.

In an attempt to block out the pain she turned to alcohol and drugs but these were a temporary fix. As they wore off the memories and dreadful thoughts would come rushing back and her addictions were becoming expensive to maintain. Soon enough her wrestling career was suffering and eventually she found herself turning her back on what was to be a promising career by further spiralling out of control. Filled with anger at the past and anger that her career was ruined, she blamed her mother for everything and the more she would sit and dwell on the past, the more angry she became.

Sadly, Juana began to look at older women with misplaced hostility, she would see them and think of her mother. Thinking of the past she would fantasize about revenge and she would make herself feel better by taking her anger out on poor, defenceless elderly women. She would cast these innocent women in the role of her mother and she would murder them, often by strangulation. Juana would target an elderly woman and would appear on her doorstep dressed in smart clothing, with a fake ID, a stethoscope (which she often used to strangle her victims) and government papers in the pretence that she was a government official who was there to provide support and advice on how the women could claim welfare. It was cold and calculating how she was able to manipulate these vulnerable women by appearing to be nice and friendly until she had gotten into their homes.

For seven years, Juana stalked the streets of Mexico City murdering elderly women in what she would later say was in revenge for her childhood and the abuse she endured from her mother. The police found a difficult task on their hands when trying to investigate these murders as any witnesses that did come forward described the possible perpetrator as a 'man dressed in women's clothing'. With this common description given, the police questioned numerous transsexual prostitutes but seemed to be getting nowhere. Eventually they were able to come to a conclusion that the murderer was a woman with masculine features and there was an information poster that was shared around which fit the description of Juana. As she looked like the image she was brought in for questioning and her fingerprints matched 40 of the crime scenes in which elderly women had been strangled.

With the evidence all stacked against her she had no choice but to give in and confess. She said she murdered the women because of her mother. She claimed that she was helping society by murdering these elderly women. Juana was found guilty in March of 2008. She confessed to just three of the murders but her DNA was found in all of the cases that she was suspected of. She was found guilty of murdering eleven women but suspected of killing as many as 40. She was sentenced to 759 years in prison so it's a certainty that she will die behind bars.

Juana is currently serving her sentence at Santa Martha Acatitla, a maximum-security women's prison in Mexico City. She is reportedly a model prisoner who spends her time cooking for fellow prisoners, making money by selling tacos and personal training sessions. Despite being behind bars, Juana uses some of the money she makes to help support her family on the outside. She had also said to have had some romantic relationships with various men through a pen-pal service, even been married at one point but has since divorced.

The story of Juana is a heartbreaking one, her childhood of misery which was so traumatic that it affected the rest of her life. She tried to make something of herself and she was doing so well but the anger of the past had eaten away at her and innocent people were murdered. She not only managed to destroy her career, her life, herself but also the lives of these poor women and their loved ones. It's just a really tragic story all around. If only she had gotten the proper psychological help that she needed but even then, the horrendous abuse that she suffered was something that would never be able to be healed fully, she would probably need intense counselling and possibly medication for the rest of her life. In the poor circumstances in which she and many others were living, it just wasn't possible.

My heart goes out to the innocent women who were murdered and their families. I also feel for the trauma that Juana went through in her childhood, nobody deserves that. The only positive we can take from this is that she is behind bars and nobody else can come to harm at her hands again and also hopefully there is the opportunity there for her to have professional help for her trauma.

Further Reading & Sources:

- Juana Barraza: Article | BBC News

- Juana Barraza | IMDB

- Juana Barraza: Article | The Guardian

- Juana Barraza | Wikipedia

- Juana Barraza: Article | New York Post

- Mexico City | Wikipedia

- Lucha Libre | Wikipedia

Thank you as always for checking out my latest post, in particular this sixth part of my Dark History From The World of Wrestling, I really appreciate it. I welcome your thoughts either below in the comments section or by email: jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

I hope you will join me in the seventh part of this series and in the meantime, I hope to see you on my Socials

Take care until next time......x

Scandals, Bitterness, Betrayals & Shocking Deaths: The Story of The British Bulldogs | Dark History From The World of Wrestling Part Five

(Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith. Picture credit: Manchester Evening News)

*Please be aware that some of the details that I will be sharing in this post are quite sensitive. I will be talking about such issues such as steroid abuse and Domestic Violence. My aim, as always is to share the details and facts of events in a sensitive manner whilst also not taking away the reality and truth of the details. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or thoughts about this post: jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*

I'm not going to lie, after spending a considerable amount of time looking back over, researching and thinking about the stories and the lives of the people I have written about so far in this series. it does leave you with a feeling of sadness. I have to admit that whilst going back over the story of The Bulldogs (The British Bulldog - Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid - Tom Billington) I found myself shedding tears. This may sound odd but I was overcome with emotion when I was finishing off my notes about Tom Billington and for some reason or another, I found tears streaming down my face. Did I know him personally? No. Was he an amazing person that deserves my tears? Probably not. As I tried to understand my reaction to this all I can explain it as, is the wasted talent of someone who really did have it all at one point and destroyed himself in the process.

The Bulldogs were around before I had gotten into wrestling but I knew who they were and how important they had been to wrestling history and how they had inspired so many of our favourite wrestlers of recent times. To know of their legendary status and then to learn of what happened to them was heartbreaking. Although saddened by the outcome for both of these men, the story of Tom Billington (Dynamite Kid) was the one that got to me the most because he became a monster in a lot of ways and ended up back in England, living in a council house on welfare. There's nothing wrong with living in a council house (I grew up in them) but he was a wrestling legend and he threw it all away, in fact a better way to describe it is 'destroyed', he basically destroyed what he had worked so hard for and he hurt the people who loved him most. All he had left to show for it in the end was a stack of video tapes of recorded past glories and to me it just saddened me. He was confined to a wheelchair with not a penny to his name and that's all he had left until he passed away at the age of 60 on the very same date that he was born. It's just tragic all the way around, both for Tom and for Davey.

I was originally going to write this post sorely on Davey Boy Smith (The British Bulldog) but knowing the heartbreaking and unbelievable life and tragic death of Tom Billington (Dynamite Kid) and how these guys were not only cousins, iconic tag team members but how they ended up so close to the Hart family. it's funny sometimes with the wrestling world that a lot of people are linked somehow and The British Bulldogs (as Tom and Davey called themselves and their tag team) did make it all away across the pond not only to train in the infamous Hart Dungeon by the legendary Stu Hart, but they helped put British wrestling on the map. They were pioneers, especially Tom who many (including Bret Hart) have referred to as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

Another fact that saddens me (and I can understand why) is that Tom Billington will never be included in the WWE Hall of Fame and as we go along in this post you will probably understand why too. It doesn't make it any more less sad that his name will never be included especially after everything he achieved and sacrificed since he was 13 years old. Davey Boy Smith was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020, Davey had his troubles but Tom's past behaviours and actions were not those that can be papered over so easily no matter how much time has passed.

If you're a wrestling fan you will no doubt know the story of both of these men and if you are new to wrestling then you will probably have noticed the difference in how fans talk about Davey as opposed to Tom. Davey is looked back on with sadness and fond memories are shared. With Tom, there is negativity and a list of things he had done but who is to blame for that? Nobody but Tom, Some people will make excuses for his behaviour and say it was all drugs but he was a handful since he was a child, the steroids just amplified what was already there.

So, as both of these men led extremely wild and complicated lives I have had to break it down because so much had gone on with the pair of them that I could fill 5 blog posts just on them alone. In this post I aim to give you a brief background of Davey and Tom, their stories and the tragic endings for both of them.

So let's dive briefly in to the background of Tom, Davey and what was to become of one of the most infamous tag teams in wrestling history, The British Bulldogs.

Thomas Wilton Billington was born in Golborne, Manchester (England) on the 5th of December 1958. It was almost as if he was born to be a wrestler because he had that competitive streak in his blood and came from a line of bare-knuckle boxers as well as having and ancestor (James Billington) who had been a wrestler. He had two sisters and a brother and was quite quiet as a child who didn't pay much attention to his school work. He was quick to temper and due to having the male role models in his family being boxers in the past, he wanted to follow in their footsteps but he was self conscious about his size. He was considered small but skinny, fast and quick. Tom never wanted to be labelled as small and skinny. He started training intensely at the tender age of 13 and was determined to build himself up. He was introduced to Ted Betley (Dr Death) who was a former wrestler and Ted trained him for about three years. It wasn't long before he was making a name for himself in British wrestling and beyond.

Tom was a natural in the ring and exciting to watch, it was like he had years of experience already under his belt but he was still very young. At this point British wrestling was pretty much underground, there was a small following but nowhere near as huge as it was to become in the 1990's leading up to present day. Overseas it was huge and people often look back and comment about how the 80s and 90s were the glory days of wrestling. Tom caught the attention of the Harts and soon found himself on a plane to Calgary to train at the famous 'Dungeon' where the talent he already had was made even stronger. When he arrived at the Dungeon he compared himself to some of the other wrestlers who were training and he felt inadequate as he was 5 ft 7, for him this was an issue and he was very insecure about his height, this would lead him to try and overcompensate later by taking human growth hormones to make himself as big as he possibly could. (When Tom began taking steroids he was reported to have gained at least 30 to 40 pounds) With his performance and dedication to his craft everyone was impressed, even seasoned legends such as Stu Hart. Tom took everyone by storm and due to the fact that British wrestling seemed to be a lot more technical, almost taken more seriously than American wrestling he was able to bring some of that flavour too but had to learn how to be a bit more theatrical as was the usual routine with Canadian/American wrestling. The Dynamite Kid was making waves and it wasn't long before his cousin (who was just a few years younger than him) Davey followed in his footsteps.

Davey was also a hot headed young kid from humble beginnings just as his cousin Tom was. He'd been having some trouble at school and in his local area, it seemed that these kids had bags of energy and short fuses so it was put to Davey that he channel his energy into something positive. Davey already admired his older cousin and had an interest in wrestling so he started training too and soon found himself appearing on UK TV at just 15 years old. He ended up alongside Tom in the states as he had proven to be a talented wrestler too.

Looking back, it was amazing what they were both able to achieve in the late 70s into the 1980s, this was back at a time where (in British wrestling at least) it wasn't the glitz and glamour affair of today, it was rougher and not as polished, it was very rough and dare I say it....more a man's sport but when the Bulldogs ended up in the states, they saw the difference and adapted to a more glamorous tone. As the years went on they had widened their experience by wrestling in other countries as well as Japan. The Bulldogs, especially the Dynamite Kid ended up gaining a reputation for having a unique style of combining elements of European, Japanese and American wrestling. Everyone was excited to see what they would do next when they did perform in the ring either individually or as a tag team.

As well as having eventful careers in the ring their personal lives were something to behold too. Both of the cousins had romances with women who were close to the Hart family, cementing their connection to the iconic family even more. Davey marrying Stu and Helen's daughter Diana a day after her 21st birthday and had two children with her. Tom married the sister of Bret Hart's wife and they had a son and a daughter together. I had mentioned in my previous post about how close the Hart family were and they took Tom and Davey into their family and treated them the same as they treated everyone else.

With success on their side, beautiful wives, children and a hit with wrestling fans across the globe, all should have been well for Tom and Davey but events, over inflated egos and steroids were to poison not only their personal relationships but their reputations as a whole. In the case of Tom Billington, I mentioned earlier that I found myself shedding tears because I saw what became of the man and the path that he went down. Tom had it all (even Ozzy Osbourne was a huge fan - I had to get that in there somewhere) and instead of becoming a good person with it, he became a monster who's reputation was so toxic that today any chance of him being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame is highly unlikely. The guys were never angels, even before they hit the big time, both were known for being quick tempered and competitive but although those traits were negative it's what in part helped them become such great wrestlers. Adding steroids and other substances into the mix was just a recipe for disaster and it caused other people close to them to suffer and eventually their careers would suffer as a result.

Tom was a bully and Davey would be behind him joining in and this was all happening not as part of a storyline but just because Tom felt like it. Backstage in the locker room Tom would pick on new wrestlers, younger wrestlers, anyone who he saw as a potential threat and on one of these nasty occasions, Tom and Davey reportedly got into another wrestler's hotel room after they had spiked the man's drink with a sleeping pill, shaved off his eyebrows and defecated in the man's training bag. The constant harassment from Tom drove this man into having a break down and leaving the wrestling business. The Dynamite Kid was seen as an icon for so many kids and up and coming wrestlers (I mentioned in my Chris Benoit post about the huge impact he had on Chris who practically worshipped him) but the way he was throwing his weight around backstage, bullying people and then it became known that he was abusive to his wife. He created a very uncomfortable atmosphere and fellow wrestlers began losing all respect for him and he ended up being taken down a peg or two when one of his 'victims' who'd had enough of the bullying grabbed a fist full of coins and punched him in the face knocking his teeth out. This completely stunned Tom as well as humiliated him. People still talk about that to this day, many believing that it was him getting his just deserts for the way he had treated other people.

Both Davey and Tom had addiction problems, refusal to take time off from various injuries sustained and constant drama caused by them in their personal lives it got to the point where Vince McMahon was wanting rid of them due to their bad reputations and for learning that they'd been taking steroids and Vince was already under fire at that time so didn't need any more drama. Davey who was deemed the lesser evil of the two ended up trying to distance himself from Tom's bad reputation. He may have joined in on the bullying at times but was never a major player he just did what Tom told him to do. Tom came across as a very intimidating person and people enjoyed watching this in the ring but he was even worse in his personal life and with some of the other wrestlers he encountered. Out of the pair of them it seemed that Davey was the one who could possibly turn his life around and repair some of the damage that had been caused. Tom on the other hand just got worse and at one point pointed a gun at his pregnant wife after she told him to leave due to the constant abuse she had endured whenever he was home. His wife and kids didn't want him around because he was frightening.

Despite the ups and downs of Davey's wrestling career, it is fair to say that Vince McMahon did try his best to support him. I know that will raise a few eyebrows with me speaking of Vince in a sort of positive light but Vince did pay for Davey's rehab and always gave him chances when other doors were closed.

It just goes to show you how bad Tom's reputation was that people were willing to give Davey a chance despite his troubles but they had washed their hands with the guy who had basically inspired other wrestlers and helped put British wrestling on the map and proved to be a huge draw in the beginning.

The relationship between Davey and Tom soured and continued to sour. In the matches that Davey and Tom participated in, Davey felt he was the one doing all of the work due to Tom's back injuries where he shouldn't have been wrestling, Tom's behaviour was getting worse and more toxic. Despite Davey doing his best to support him Tom blamed Davey for his injuries and things were just never the same between them. Eventually the pair would cut ties altogether when, after a road accident Davey was left pretty shaken up and determined to turn his life around so he returned to WWF determined to make a go of things but this time without Tom, he wanted to go solo. In what some would say was a bit of a backstabbing move, Davey trademarked 'The British Bulldog' so that Tom could no longer use it and the pair reportedly never spoke to each other again after that.

Davey tried to turn things around but his addictions were still very much in control of him and more drama in his personal life didn't help matters either. He assaulted a man in a bar who he believed had been making inappropriate comments to Diana and the man ended up in the hospital with head injuries. He was originally charged with aggravated assault but these charges were later dropped.

After Owen Hart's tragic death (I previously covered Owen's story here) Davey had caused some tension with Bret Hart because he made comments about Owen's death just being a tragic accident. Davey wasn't with the WWF at this time but he was looking to return and Bret felt betrayed both by what he had said about Owen and also about him wanting to return to WWF. Vince always kept the door open for Davey under the condition that he was 100% clean but he could never conquer his demons. Like his cousin Tom, he was very abusive to his wife and had threatened to kill her. He was in a very bad place and a Doctor had told him that he had an enlarged heart. He was supposed to be taking things easy but he continued to push things.

On the 18th of May 2002 (at the age of just 39 years old) Davey Boy Smith aka The British Bulldog sadly passed away due to a heart attack. His death was determined to be from complications of having a heart that was too big for his chest despite evidence of steroids and other substances in his body. The levels of these substances were not enough to have contributed to his death according to the medical examiner.

Not to play down the tragedy of his death but another soap-opera style detail in this sad and unbelievable story is that Dave had been on holiday at the time of his death.....with Bruce Hart's estranged wife Andrea. He reportedly had two funerals, The Hart family paid their tributes and another one was held by Andrea.

Davey was buried back in Golborne, England, the very place he was born, so he basically came back home to rest and his memorial stone is a beautiful black monument. There is calls for a statue of The British Bulldog to be placed in his hometown as a tribute to him. To this very day there is tribute accounts to Davey, people like to focus on the good times.

With Tom, despite all of his achievements there's still that black shadow of his behaviour towards others and the pain and hurt caused. I know there was an episode of 'Darkside of The Ring' which focused on Tom but I have yet to see it. I know the details revealed in the programme shocked many fans as some were unaware of the full extent to the problems as well as the horrible incident with him threatening his wife with the gun. There's just too much negativity towards others that makes one find it a bit difficult to try to find some light in the darkness when it comes to Tom, all I can say is the truth that he was a pioneer, a very talented man but also a very troubled man. He gave his life to wrestling and sacrificed it all including his sanity. Davey passing away at the age of just 39 was so tragic and everyone did all they could to help him but having been in that life since a young teenager (it's unclear when Tom first introduced Davey to steroids but we know they were both young and continued to take them throughout the years) one can only imagine how difficult it was to try and break free. These steroids don't only wreak havoc with the human body, they also destroy the mind.

Despite health problems continuing to plague him and ending up back in England penniless, living in a council house on welfare, Tom managed to survive somehow to the age of 60. The age of 60 is still a young and tragic death but considering how much substances he had taken over the years and the damage to his body he was quite strong to last that long. Tom was also confined to a wheelchair and I know a lot of his downfall was his own doing but it doesn't fill me with pleasure to see what became of him. I just find the whole thing so sad. Some people visited him, he did receive letters and well-wishes from fans who still respected him for what he had done for wrestling. The achievements he made were still recognised by many but what a truly sad ending to an unbelievable story of two young boys who left England and became wrestling superstars for a time in wrestling history. Tom died on the same date that he was born, his cause of death has never been determined for whatever reason but we do know that he was suffering from depression. Tom was cremated and no other details are known. I know it's not appropriate to speculate these types of situations but the day of his death being his 60th birthday, the state of his health and the circumstances must have been incredibly difficult for him. Tom had a vast amount of video tapes from his glory days and it's kind of heartbreaking to think of him sitting there watching the tapes remembering the good times, no longer the strapping young man that he was, full of energy living his best life in the states, living the dream, his wrestling dream and then for it all to come to what it did, it's just so sad and what else can you say?

I'm not a fan of bullies but I think he didn't deserve what became of him. Some people say he had changed his ways and had a different outlook on life. I hope that despite everything that happened he at least maybe knew that there was an appreciation for what he did achieve.

RIP Davey and Tom. Aside from the dark times, your contribution to wrestling forever remains unmatched and you will never be forgotten. Thank you for paving the way for others with a dream.

Further Reading & Sources:

- Dynamite & Davey | Book by Steven Bell

- Pure Dynamite: The Autobiography of Tom 'Dynamite Kid' Billington | Book by Tom Billington

- Davey Boy Smith | Find A Grave

- Tom Billington | Find A Grave

- The British Bulldogs | Wikipedia

- Davey Boy Smith | Wikipedia

- Best of The British Bulldog | WWE Network/Netflix

- British Bulldog | WWE

- British Bulldog: Article | BBC News

- The British Bulldog | Instagram

- WWE Hall of Fame

- WWE Hall of Fame | Pro Wrestling

- Golborne | Wikipedia

I would love to know your thoughts on this post, Davey and Tom. If you've made it this far, thank you. As always I appreciate it. I hope you will join me for part six in my Dark History From The World of Wrestling Series. In the meantime, I hope to see you elsewhere on my socials. Take care until next time x

Under-Pressure! The reluctant Wrestler Who Became An Icon: The Story of Owen Hart | Dark History From The World of Wrestling Part Four

(Owen Hart. Picture credit: The Independent)

This is one of those moments in wrestling history that will forever bring a wave of sadness over any wrestling fan and that is the shocking, untimely death of Owen Hart. Owen's legacy is very much carved into wrestling history and so it should be. As the son of a wrestling legend (Stu Hart) and the brother of a WWF/WWE Superstar (Bret Hart) he was born on the 7th of May 1965 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, into a wrestling dynasty. It was like the Hart family had a special wrestling gene that ran through their veins.

We have a few famous wrestling families but the Hart family were on their own level. Owen's father had trained future wrestling superstars, when it came to wrestling and bringing out the best in athletes, Stu Hart was nothing short of a genius. Owen James Hart, who was the youngest of 12 children to Stu and his wife Helen, would watch in awe as a child as his father would take ambitious future wrestlers down to the family's basement of their mansion which had been converted into what they called 'The Dungeon', it wasn't fancy or full of gym equipment but what was learned down there was the making of true wrestling. Basically you'd train with Stu and his colleagues, Mr Hito and Kazuo Sakurada and you'd go in there wet behind the ears, be put through your paces and if you were strong enough you would come out of it with the potential to be a wrestling superstar. Ambitious boys who'd maybe done some training in a gym and thought they knew it all would go to the Dungeon and go through hell physically and mentally and come out of it as men. It was the toughest bootcamp but it produced results and every ambitious wrestler wanted to train with Stu. Stu reportedly didn't take any money from the people he trained, he just did it all because he was so passionate about wrestling.

I could write many posts on the Hart family alone because of the remarkable things various members of the family have achieved but my aim in this post is to focus mostly on Owen's story but give you the background of how he came to be in wrestling. Being born into this extraordinary family as the last of the Hart children to amazing parents. I've mentioned how Stu helped shape wrestling legends but Owen's mother was an incredible force in his life too, Helen would work all the hours that she could to help manage the family's wrestling business. Stu and Helen were the owners of legendary Stampede wrestling which Stu had founded in 1948 in Calgary, Canada. Stu had worked his way up through poverty and all of his years of struggling and working hard had paid off. He was very much a family man as well as being devoted to wrestling, his sons had all followed him into the business and Owen was said to have been like his father in so many ways especially when it came to family.

When Owen was growing up his father wasn't as active in the business but was still involved and doing some training, in between this he would take care of the children and the house whilst Helen was busy working. Stu was very hands on with the cooking, cleaning and both Owen's parents had the perfect balance of discipline and love when it came to raising their children. Owen watched his father and studied him, growing up to hugely admire him.

Stu Hart was an incredible role model in so many ways with his commitment to wrestling, his devotion to family and the down to earth values he bestowed upon his children.

Growing up in a big house full of so many relatives with various people coming and going, it was no surprise that although Owen was very close with his family, when he had gotten a bit older and met his true love, Martha, all he wanted to do was lead a quiet and private life. But when he was a teenager, although he claimed he wasn't forced, it was kind of expected that he would also have a wrestling career. He had gotten involved in amateur wrestling in high school which was in huge part to impress his father because it had been a personal dream of Stu's to have made accomplishments in both the amateur and Olympic field. Wrestling was never Owen's passion but it's often been said about Owen over the years that he didn't choose wrestling, wrestling chose him.

Uneducated people tend to scoff at wrestling and think that it's all easy and fake but the truth is, is that it is a lot of hard work, a LOT of hard work, it takes over an individual's life and requires commitment, blood, sweat and tears as well as a lot of time away from loved ones. Horrific injuries can occur, numerous surgeries are often required and in many cases we have seen a lot of very tragic times when someone has passed away.

Owen had a natural ability to be an incredible performer in the ring and he had a real presence about him. For someone who's heart wasn't really in wrestling, he really gave it his all and as well as being an incredible athlete and being able to perform risky stunts as well as being very entertaining at promos, he was a great actor as well as having a great sense of humour. He was known for being the life and soul of the party, someone who would tell jokes and play harmless pranks on people. His sense of humour was not malicious, in many ways he was like a big kid and that would probably explain why he was also so great with children and would go on to be an incredible father.

Despite being a natural at wrestling and accomplishing many goals, he still wasn't comfortable with living his his older brother Brett's shadow. With the rise of WWF (World Wrestling Federation) it was agreed that Owen would follow his brother not only for the sake of his career but for financial reasons. Owen had high hopes for his time at WWF but it wasn't what he was expecting, the character they wanted him to portray was ridiculous to him and part of the role was that he would lose matches and come across as an imbecile. Owen wasn't comfortable with any of this and decided just to go home and start another chapter in his life with his sweetheart Martha.

Back home with Martha and away from wrestling was where Owen was his happiest, that's all he wanted was a family life and a steady job. They both had dreams of living in a beautiful big house, raising children and growing old together. The pair married in a beautiful ceremony and worked on plans for their dream home. Owen had previous visions of originally becoming a PE teacher but that didn't work out so he now turned his attention to becoming a fireman. In the process of applying for the role, Martha had fallen pregnant with their son Oje and they couldn't be happier but as time went on, Owen realised that the career as a fireman was just not going to happen and with a family to support and a dream home in the works, he felt that he had no choice but to return to wrestling.

Owen returned to wrestling and at first it took some time before things took a positive turn in his career, he was put in a storyline with his brother Bret and it was one of the most popular angles in wrestling history. Bret was just as good an actor as Owen and the brothers had to portray that they hated each other. As a true Hart would, they played the roles to a tee making sure they were never seen talking to each other outside of the ring or in public. The storyline went on for a year and really boosted Owen's popularity with the fans.

Having grown up with wrestling all around him since the day he was born, Owen had seen the business from all levels and what it all took to not only become a wrestler but what also went on behind the scenes. He knew so much about the business aspect of it as well as from the point of view of a wrestler. Owen may not have wanted to be a wrestler deep down but he still respected the business, it was a huge part of his father's life and his family's life. So when he saw what was becoming of WWF it was beginning to leave a sour taste in his mouth. For a lot of us as fans watching these shows, we all found it amusing but imagine being an actual part of some of these crazy storylines. It was pretty much 'The Jerry Springer Show meets WWF'. Female wrestlers were not taken seriously, there would be bra and panties matches, they would be paraded about in next to nothing whilst the most outrageous storylines would be going on. The ratings were high but the standards were low and Vince McMahon wanted Owen to be part of it. Despite it all being what I call 'adult pantomime', Owen wasn't comfortable with what they wanted him to do. He wasn't happy either at the way his brother Bret had been treated after so many years with the company. Bret was no longer at WWF and the story goes that Bret had previously turned down a very lucrative contract with a rival wrestling company out of loyalty to Vince. Vince then persuaded Bret to sign a contract that would mean less money for him and because being a Hart he was loyal, he signed it.

Vince McMahon for all of his faults is a genius when it comes to being a businessman but he has left a lot of angry faces behind him. Some of what he has done for the sake of money and viewings is appalling. With the situation with Bret Hart, fans of wrestling are divided, there are those who believe that Bret has been treated badly over the years by the company and others who consider him to be bitter and responsible for any issues that have arisen over the years. The story behind Bret being thrown out of WWF was apparently due to his contract being too much money, Vince was concerned going forward that some of his other star wrestlers would notice how much money Bret was being payed and then ask for the same. There was a similar situation with Chyna (who I have previously written about in part three of this series) when she asked for a certain amount of money which was reasonable considering she was a huge draw. She was refused and excuses were made about Playboy and adult film work but Vince didn't seem to have an issue with other female wrestlers who had partaken in similar things outside of the company. If anything, he pushed that sort of display or narrative, the sleazier the better in his book.

So without his brother there and wanting out of WWF himself, Vince refused to let him go and put various storylines to him which he refused to do. Owen began to get worried because of the contract stating that he could be fired if he continued to say no to things. At this point he had two children with Martha (he now had a little girl called Athena) and they were just weeks away from moving into their dream home that they worked so hard for. If he was fired there would be issues with the money and legal problems would come into play and Owen couldn't be bothered with all of the stress of that. Vince put a final idea to him and that was to return to his character The Blue Blazer which Owen felt he had no choice but to agree to. Owen felt that this was Vince punishing him for refusing to take part in the risky storylines (just to give you an idea of one of the storylines, Vince wanted Owen's character to pretend to be having an affair with a fellow female wrestler, Owen didn't feel comfortable with this and didn't want to disrespect his wife who was pregnant at that time).

At this point in his career, Owen had established himself as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time and had proven that he had accomplished all of the dreams and goals that his father had for him. He wanted out of it desperately and was never comfortable with the fame. I think the house was the biggest goal for him after marrying Martha and having the children, I think the house would have completed their dream and he would have just left the wrestling world behind for good. It seemed like he was just getting the final bit of money and security together for his family and then that was going to be it.

However, any hopes and dreams that Owen and Martha had planned with their beautiful children was not to become a reality. Vince had decided that Owen would take part in an unnecessary stunt which was to take place at the Kemper Arena on May the 23rd 1999. Owen was not a fan of heights and this stunt was unbelievable if you have actually seen the layout of the arena and the height that he was expected to come down from (which was 80ft). One cannot imagine how terrifying that must have been. Owen may have been a heavily built guy (he was 5ft 10 weighing 230 pounds) but he was very much a gentle soul and had a hard time putting his foot down with certain things. He felt pressured to do this and had vocalised this just hours before he was expected to perform this very dangerous and very risky stunt.

On the day of his appearance (which would sadly be his last) Owen drove to the Kemper Arena, arriving early to prepare himself and take part in a rehearsal. According to Vince McMahon this particular stunt had been performed many times across various venues by other wrestlers and there had been no previous problems. He also claimed that there had been a number of rehearsals that afternoon but according to reports, Owen had a quick rehearsal and went back stage to get changed. When the time came for Owen to perform the stunt, he had a coverall to hide his costume and quickly ran up to the top of the Arena, nobody noticed him at the time, He then climbed a ladder which took him up to a catwalk, he ran across this to riggers who were waiting to hook him up to the rigging device. He took off the coveralls and adjusted his costume before putting on his mask and he was connected to the device where he was gently swung out above the crowds 80ft in the air. The thought of this is terrifying, 80ft is the equivalent of an 8 story building and for someone who was afraid of heights it doesn't even bare thinking about. Something happened up there and the device couldn't hold Owen's weight and the poor man fell to his what what was to be his last moments. He reportedly hit the ropes and the lights came on as crew rushed around him. Owen's blood could be seen on in the on the floor of the ring. A reported said that he saw Owen lying on his back and for a moment Owen briefly lifted his head up but quickly fell back again. He was stretchered out of the arena to the hospital but it was sadly too late. Owen Hart was pronounced dead at the age of just 34.

Other wrestlers as well as the announcers and crew knew that Owen had died but a decision was made to carry on with the show despite Owen's blood still being in the ring. This decision to carry on in what was a very traumatic and very disturbing moment in wrestling history has forever left a huge black mark on the world of wrestling especially Vince McMahon. It goes alongside some of the other things he has done which people have felt to be heartless and in bad taste. The Hart family found this to be hugely disrespectful especially Martha who made a point of inviting Vince to Owen's funeral.

Martha wanted Vince at the funeral to make it clear to him that his extreme desperation for views and money ended up costing a married young father his life. She wanted to show him that the wrestlers he would often chew up and spit out were actually human beings with feelings and they were not robots or invincible. Martha decided to file a lawsuit against WWF and Vince McMahon and all who were responsible for the shoddy set up of the stunt device which on further inspection was no way suitable to hold the weight of a 230 pound man.

Martha and the Hart estate were paid $18 million from WWF for the wrongful death of Owen Hart. Martha used some of the money to establish the Owen Hart Foundation which helps support people from all over the world who are living in poverty and going through hard times.

Forever devoted to her husband and keeping his legacy alive. Martha wrote a book which was released in 2002 called Broken Harts: The Life & Death of Owen Hart

Owen Hart was buried in Queen's Park Cemetery in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His beautiful memorial stone has the inscriptions: Oje Loves Dad, Athena Loves Dad, Martha And Owen Forever.

Owen's father, Stu sadly passed away in 2003 at the age of 88, his devoted wife Helen died at the age of 77 in 2001. They had been married for 53 years. They had 12 children, 10 of which survived them and had been the grandparents to 35 grandchildren. Before Helen passed away she was able to enjoy alongside her husband, the joy of becoming a great-grandparent.

In tribute to Owen, the WWE superstar Kevin Owens named his son after the late legend and also included his wrestling surname as a tribute to both Owen and his son.

RIP Owen, Stu and Helen. The Hart family legacy continues and will always be a huge part of wrestling history.

Further Reading & Sources:

- Broken Harts: The Life & Death of Owen Hart | Book by Martha Hart

- The Owen Hart Foundation

- WWE | Wikipedia

- WWF Superstars of Wrestling | Wikipedia

- Kamper Arena | Wikipedia

- Owen Hart | Wikipedia

- Vince McMahon: Article | Daily Mail

- Owen Hart | Imdb

- Owen Hart: Article | Sports Illustrated

- Owen Hart - Hart of Gold | Dvd

- Owen Hart: Article | Calgary Herald

- Hart Dungeon | Wikipedia

- Hart House | Wikipedia

- Owen Hart | Find A Grave

- Stu Hart | WWE

If you have made it this far in the post, I thank you, it means a lot to me. The story of what happened to Owen will always be such a sad and tragic memory, at only 34 he had so much still to do with his life with his beautiful family. He deserved to have the life he so desperately wanted and worked so hard for. In the end he died because he put other people before himself as he always did. It was true that he was just like his father, selfless to a fault. We talk a lot about people who dream about becoming a wrestler but what about the people who are born into the world of fame, they are forever under the spotlight expected to achieve the same accomplishments and awards that their parents or siblings have done, it's a tremendous amount of pressure. For Owen he had so many natural talents and one of them was wrestling, it was in his blood and people loved him, his wife, children, family, the fans, his colleagues, he was an entertainer and a real people person. Notice how all of the things he really wanted to do involved helping people, he was just a giver with a heart of gold and the foundation that Martha set up in his honour is a beautiful tribute to a man who gave his all right up to the very last moment. I consider him a true hero not just a wrestler.

I would love to hear read your thoughts on this and your memories of Owen either below or in confidence via my email or on my Socials

Stay safe and I hope you will join me for my fifth instalment in this series x

Abused, Betrayed & Exploited! The Heartbreaking Life & Tragic Death of Joanie Laurer AKA 'Chyna' | Dark History From The World of Wrestling Part Three

(Collage created by Caledonian Kitty. Picture credits: Pinterest / Wrestle Talk / Reddit)

*Please be aware that I will be discussing sensitive subjects in this post which will involve details regarding sexual abuse, domestic violence, accidental overdose, suicide, mental health issues and substance misuse. I will, as always, try to be as sensitive as I can be about the subject matter without taking away the facts of the story. You can contact me via email at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com if you have any questions or enquiries regarding this post*

Looking back over some of the sad and tragic stories of what became of some of our favorite wrestlers through the decades, one legend comes to mind....Chyna! What a life, what a career and what a woman! She was incredible and we'll never see another like her, she exploded on to the wrestling scene and she became a phenomenon, she had the guys running for cover and the fans on the edge of their seats.

I count myself lucky to have watched some of the greatest WWE moments when they were happening, I drove my mum crazy because I would sit up late to watch the matches and the drama, I was addicted and fascinated with these wrestlers and especially Chyna who was built like a mountain. The dreaded words of 'Enough of that wrestling, you've got school in the morning' would come from my mum but I would always respond with ''Just 10 more minutes''. I watched wrestling whenever I could and it never mattered what time it was, I was obsessed. To this day it still hooks me but I have to admit, back then it was so awesome, the Attitude era was everything.

I remember how the boys at school would make fun of Chyna because she didn't look like the other female wrestlers. Truth be told, I took Chyna more serious than the other female wrestlers because she gave it her all and she knew her craft, she didn't care how she looked at that time but she soon succumbed to the pressure of the constant negative comments from fans about her masculine appearance. Chyna appeared to be intimidating at 5 ft 10 and 200 pounds of pure muscle, she was strength and power personified but underneath all of that was a girl who was trying to heal from a childhood of abuse and neglect. She pushed herself because her life had always been hard, she never knew what a stress-free life was like. She faced ridicule and hardships from basically the day she was born. She grew a tough, thick skin but there was times when it all became too much and she'd be broken down.

I'm going to talk a bit about Chyna in this post, the pioneer who made men sit up and take notice that women could compete in wrestling and be taken seriously, the very woman that Jim Ross described as being every bit as important to WWE as Stone Cold Steve Austin is and was. Make mistake about it, when Chyna appeared on the screen, you couldn't take your eyes off of her, she was like a powerful female superhero brought to life.

Chyna (her real name: Joan Marie Laurer and also known as Joanie Laurer) came into the world on the 27th of December 1969 in Rochester, New York. Her childhood was tough due to her father's alcoholism and drug addiction which she later started to dabble in herself. Her relationship with her mother was also difficult. After a tense and unhealthy marriage her parents eventually split up and her father moved elsewhere. Chyna (I'll call her by her wrestling name to avoid confusion and also because she did eventually have her name officially changed from Joanie to Chyna) carried on living with her mother and began abusing drugs and alcohol which her mother was trying to get her help but she refused to attend any counselling or rehab. Eventually the relationship between mother and daughter deteriorated to the point that after another explosive argument, Chyna packed her bags and went to live with her father.

School was difficult for Chyna, not academically but because she felt different and was bullied for her looks and size. From a young age there seemed to be this constant theme of rejection with her feeling that she didn't fit in anywhere, she had an incredibly tough time and despite the obstacles in her way, she continued on and eventually went to university where she graduated. A lot of wrestling fans are not aware that Chyna was incredibly gifted academically, she could speak various languages and it seemed that no matter what she tried her hand at, she made it a success because she just never gave up. She graduated from university having studied German, French and Spanish which was no easy task, she could speak each language fluently. Her major was Spanish Literature and her dream at that time was to have a career in the Criminology field, preferably working with the FBI.

Despite all of the achievements she had made at university another traumatic experience was brought into her life when she had been sexually assaulted by two male students after a party. Chyna had already faced a lot of hardships in her life up to that point and dealt with it the only way she knew how at that time, to bury it and take pills. She was never on to give up and decided that she wanted to go to Costa Rica to work as a literacy teacher in the peace corps. At this stage in her life she was confused about what she wanted to do. Her plans to work for the FBI had fallen by the wayside maybe because she needed money and wanted a break from studying after working so hard at university. She started to look for a normal 9 to 5 job and this proved to be difficult so she pretty much took any job that was going. Chyna was always a hard worker and self motivated individual so she did whatever job was in front of her. She did a number jobs, bouncing from one to the other, working in car dealerships to being a waitress.

She moved in with her sister and was still trying to figure out what to do with her life. As a way to keep in shape and keep their spirits up, her sister encouraged her to join a gym and they would go together. It was at the gym that she met a guy who was a personal trainer. The pair became close and would workout together and they were both so committed (and some would say, obsessed) to their workout sessions that they would get up around 4am to train, sometimes spending two or three sessions at the gym per day. Chyna started to really beef up and after a night of resting on the sofa trying to figure out what to watch, she came across a wrestling show and then decided that she was interested in that.

Her idea to become a wrestler was something she was really serious about and with the help of her boyfriend, she was able to secure some training sessions with the late and legendary Wladek Kowalski aka Killer Kowalski. Kowalski was said to have been impressed with Chyna as soon as he laid eyes on her. He had arranged for some matches for Chyna but was struggling to find another female who could match her strength and ability. Eventually having tried to secure another female being an impossible task, it was decided that a male wrestler would dress up as a woman and fight Chyna. Some people would disagree with this but it was Chyna who wanted to work with men all of the time.

Chyna had heard that WWE were coming to Massachusetts and was determined to go, she was determined to make things happen. So along with her boyfriend she attended the show and waited backstage for the wrestlers Triple H and Shawn Michaels, her plan was to see if they could put a good word in for her with Vince McMahon. She didn't have to work hard trying to persuade the guys to help her get her chance because they were transfixed with her and wanted her to come and be a part of their tag team. They needed to run everything by Vince first but with Triple H and Shawn being quite close with Vince at the time and also two of the most popular wrestlers at that time, they figured Vince wouldn't say no.

When she went home after the show her boyfriend later said in an interview that she didn't sleep that night because she was too excited. Both Chyna and her boyfriend knew that her life was going to change completely and everything she had been working so hard for was about to become true. When the guys had originally pitched the idea of Chyna coming on board with the tag team to Vince, he was sceptical and didn't think it would work, he didn't think the fans would like seeing a strong heavily built woman throwing men around the ring but he soon changed his mind and when Chyna did make her debut it was a groundbreaking moment which many WWE fans recall at the drop of a hat. All of a sudden there was this huge, tough woman who looked like she could chew you up and spit you out. She was perfect in the role of a wrestler, it was like she was born to take on that role. All of a sudden more women were watching wrestling because of Chyna.

(From top: Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chyna. Picture credit: pinterest)

Chyna eventually joined the Degeneration X tag team as a bodyguard and it was fantastic, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chyna had all eyes on them and although there were some negative and ignorant comments about Chyna's appearance, on the whole the majority of fans were intrigued with Chyna and enjoyed having her as part of WWE.

No stranger to hard work, Chyna threw herself into her new life as a WWE wrestler and she spend a lot of time with Paul Michael Levesque (Triple H) and Shawn Michaels that they became close. Chyna found in WWE what she had been looking for her whole life, acceptance, love, security and respect. Sure there was some negativity but she was finally feeling that she was being accepted for being herself. Things got really close with Paul who actually shared a few things in common with Chyna. Paul had been previously trained by Killer Kowalski and was also from her hometown so they ended up having a relationship which lasted for four years, they moved in together and there was talk about the possibility of children and marriage in the future but the pair were still very much focused on their wrestling career path.

Chyna's popularity in WWE was continuing to grow and so was Paul's. They were very much in love and Chyna was said to have bee the happiest she had ever been in her life, she had the WWE career, the money, the boyfriend, the house, all of the hardships were to be no more, she had finally turned the corner. But again, drama was never too far from the door for Chyna. As the success continued, Chyna decided to have some surgical procedures done as she was tired of the negative comments regarding her appearance, she wanted to have a more softer jawline. Triple H (Paul) began acting as a go-between with Chyna and Vince and was reportedly making decisions without consulting her first. There seemed to be a lot of conversations and decisions being made about Chyna and her career at WWE without anyone talking to her about it. Chyna knew her worth, she knew how popular she was (especially as she had been the first woman to have ever won the Intercontinental Championship) and she started to demand certain things as well as more money which was causing tensions between her and WWE.

(Chyna and Triple H. Picture credit: Wrestle Talk)

At the same time that this was happening Triple H was part of a storyline with Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie and rumours began to circulate that the two of them were having an affair. The situation placed Chyna in a difficult position because she was head over heels in love with Paul, they were living happily together at the time and she knew how much his career meant to him so to have gotten that close to Vince and be involved in that storyline was a major deal for him. She thought she was just being paranoid until she found a love letter that Stephanie and written for Paul. The letter was dated from the year before so the affair had been going on for quite some time, Chyna was utterly heartbroken and again thrown into a difficult situation.

In her career she was at the top but suddenly found herself out in the cold and not knowing how to handle it because the 'other woman' was the daughter of her boss. When asked about this in later interviews, Chyna was always very respectful in how she responded but the truth was, the situation was incredibly difficult. It seemed that WWE were looking for an excuse for some reason to let her go and at the time, Chyna had been offered various outside projects (including Playboy) that would have made her more money than what she would be receiving from WWE. She explained to Vince how much she wanted and he refused. Very strange that they would choose to let go one of their biggest and most popular stars who was well worth the big pay check but some people believe that they wanted her out of the way due to the relationship between Paul and Stephanie, how awkward it would possibly be with them all being there.

Chyna did reflect on this later on and said that she would have found it difficult seeing them and with Vince being Stephanie's father. She was also unhappy with the path they were trying to put her on they wanted her to be like the other female wrestlers but she wanted to wrestle the men.

Despite the harsh way she had been treated by WWE, Paul and Stephanie, she had positive hopes that more doors outside of the world of wrestling would open for her. She had made a lot of money from her deal and photoshoot with Playboy which turned out to be a very popular issue for them. Apart from appearances in some low budget films nothing else was on the table. Today, Chyna would have been offered so many roles I believe, especially with action and superhero themed movies, female heroines are a big thing now and you could just imagine her as a James Bond villain or having a part in a Batman or Mission Impossible movie. With the realisation of having had her dreams come true then watching helplessly as her career, financial security and love life was ripped away one by one with nothing else to hold on to, it was not surprising that she found herself reaching for the bottle of alcohol again.

(Stephanie and Triple H. Picture credit: Reddit)

She entered into a relationship with a former wrestler that many people described as the worst person for her as he had a heavy drug addiction. There was a turn of events when some positive news came through that she had a chance at reviving her wrestling career by moving to Japan. She was excited at this opportunity and whilst over there she wowed everyone and was popular from the moment she arrived but things soon turned sour when her boyfriend encouraged her to 'party' with him and she became addicted to drugs again. She became someone who she was not, no longer a reliable, hardworking and focused individual. She was late, rude and had this couldn't be bothered attitude. A great opportunity went down the pan and the path of self-destruction was truly ready for Chyna to walk on unfortunately.

Things just went from bad to worse, desperate for more drugs and to help maintain the lifestyle she was no longer able to afford. Chyna and her boyfriend made homemade porn tapes with the idea to sell them but according to Chyna, they had a distributor who had conned the out of money, she earned basically nothing out of these porn tapes. The stress and strain continued and the relationship turned violent with Chyna physically assaulting her boyfriend. The toxic relationship had finally came to an end but her reputation was beyond repair.

Chyna had a habit of cutting off people in her life if they tried to help her get clean. The last person to stand by her was her sister who had put up with a lot over the years and she had seen how far Chyna had fallen back into the alcohol and drugs. Despite her sister's best efforts to try and get through to her, Chyna refused to accept help and refused to see or speak to her sister again.

At this point Chyna was viewed as a joke (I'm sorry to say) and a car crash of a person. The awful porn tapes continued to come back to haunt her, Paul and Stephanie seemed to be going from strength to strength and it seemed like WWE and the fans had forgotten her. She was seen as someone who had the talent and a great opportunity and threw it all away. People forgot about the incredible achievements she had made, it had all been overshadowed by the Playboy pictures, homemade porn tapes, the violence, the alcohol and the drugs.

As stinging as this was, when Triple H was asked in an interview why Chyna was not yet included in the WWE Hall of Fame he said that he didn't want kids to go online to look up wrestlers and type in Chyna to find all of this porn and Playboy stuff. It was a harsh statement but it was sadly true. Due to her dramatic and quick decline, Chyna had been offered reality TV show appearances and she took them because she needed the money. She moved to Las Vegas against the better judgement of the few friends that she had left.

There was a short period of time where she was attempting to get sober and there was the possibility of joining TNA, they gave her a contract but after two shows they let her go. It was disaster after disaster, part of the reason they let her go was because they found out that she'd done another porn movie and shockingly and disturbingly you might say, this 'movie' depicted Chyna having sex with various men dressed up as WWE wrestlers. Well you can imagine the reaction to that. TNA didn't want anything to do with her and WWE made it clear that they wanted no tie to her whatsoever and these decisions that she had made had cost her any chance of a future reconciliation with WWE or the chance to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Eventually she tried to escape from everything and attempt to turn her life around by moving once again to Japan. This time giving up on wrestling and fame altogether, trying to live a quiet life, turning to religion and teaching English. It was a far cry away to the life she had before but it was keeping her on the straight and narrow until yet more drama popped up. All credit to her because she had lived a quiet life in Japan for three years but issues with her Visa meant she had no choice to return to California. Back in California she had gotten in touch with her former manager and was in talks to try again at looking at some other career paths. She had been under the care of a Doctor as she had been suffering from anxiety for which she was supposed to be taking medication regularly but Chyna had become disorganized when tasked with taking pills at a set time.

On the 20th of April 2016, the woman who was nicknamed 'The Ninth Wonder of The World' (fellow wrestler, the late and legendary Andre The Giant was the eighth) was sadly found dead in her apartment at the age of just 46 from what was declared, an accidental overdose. A toxicology report indicated that Chyna had a cocktail of pills in her system which included: alcohol, a sleeping pill (Temazepam), Diazepam and Nordazepam (for anxiety), Oxycodone and Oxymorphone (painkillers).

After Chyna's autopsy there was a suggestion that her brain be donated to medical science to test for the possibility of her suffering from CTE (I mentioned this is my last post about Chris Benoit) but her brain was too far into decomposition for that ti be determined. Chyna was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. Despite the difficult years she had endured her memorial service set as a reminder of how much she actually was loved and admired by so many people. Attendees of her memorial service ranged from the world of hip hop right though to highly respected veteran actors. Despite her mistakes she was a gentle soul who just wanted to be loved. She was eventually added into the WWE Hall of Fame (most probably because the fans had demanded for years that she be given her flowers) but it was bittersweet. Another sad fact was it took Chyna's death to shock everyone into remembering who she actually was and how incredible she was. She never needed to do any of the porn stuff or the reality TV crap, she was a very intelligent, academically and musically gifted woman (I forgot to mention that she could also play the cello and violin) who stole the show amongst wrestling legends and wowed us all. The mistakes she made were acts of desperation, there was nobody there to guide her, she found herself trying to get through a traumatic upbringing to all of a sudden she's in front of thousands of people, living her dreams being ridiculed at the same time but on the whole having everything she ever dreamed of.

There was a lot that she went through that she never properly had the chance to deal with and just seemed to constantly throw herself into different things. It's heartbreaking when I think about how talented and lovely she was. If you watch an interview with her you'll see that gentle, sweet side come through, there was a vulnerability to her. She is so very missed and it's sad that we can look back now and see how she had fallen on to this dark path and in a way understand why. She was placed in so many difficult situations and wasn't able to fully understand or deal with these issues. She was highly intelligent in some ways but very naive in others.

One thing is for sure, Chyna is remembered for being one of the greatest female wrestlers of all time. We have some talented female wrestlers today but honestly speaking, I said it before and I'll say it again, there's only one Chyna. I'm glad that people recall her days in WWE with fondness and they don't focus so much anymore on what happened afterwards.

RIP Chyna, you will never be forgotten x

Further Reading & Sources:

- Chyna: If Only They Knew | Book by Joanie Laurer and Michael Angeli

- Chyna: The Ninth Wonder of WWE | Book by Marlow J Martin

- WWE: 100 Greatest Matches | Book by Dean Miller

- Wrestling For My Life | Book by Shawn Michaels, Daniel Butler, David Thomas & Zonderban

- Under The Black Hat | Book by Jim Ross

- WWE Encyclopedia | Book by DK

- Chyna | Wikipedia

- Chyna: Biography | WWE Website

- Chyna | IMDB

- WWE.Com | Official Website

- WWE | Wikipedia

- WWE: Hall of Fame | WWE Official Website

- Killer Kowalski | WWE.Com

- Vince McMahon | Wikipedia

- CTE | NHS

- Attitude Era | Wikipedia

- Chyna: Interview | Vince Russo: Youtube

- Chyna: Interview Clip 2001 | Off The Record

- Chyna: Memorial | Find A Grave

- Chris Benoit Story | True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

- Miss Elizabeth Story | True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

If you have made it this far in the post, thank you so much! I really have appreciated all of the comments, messages and emails that I've received from wrestling fans about these posts. I hope you will join me next time when I share my fourth instalment with you.

Until next time, stay safe x