If you ever needed proof that WWE still hasn’t gotten over the departure of Chyna some 10 years later — this is it! As only the second woman to enter the Royal Rumble match, Beth Phoenix paid an homage of sorts to her predecessor after her own Rumble appearance. She told WWE.com:
“Tonight was my night to step up and step out of the Divas division into a league of my own,” Beth said. “With every single obstacle that’s been put in front of me, I’ve not only reached my goals,” Beth boasted, “but I’ve far surpassed what everyone has ever expected from me.”
“Despite Chyna’s accomplishments [in the Rumble],” Beth said, “I eliminated The Great Khali. Seven-foot-three, 420 pounds. No small feat.”
“I am WWE’s Glamazon. Chyna was WWE’s Ninth Wonder of the World … mostly called so because people wondered whether she was a man or a woman. I often wonder this, myself.”
“Chyna would have had a slight size advantage in her prime, but I’ll tell you what Chyna was missing and that was heart.”
“In the ring, toe-to-toe with me, Chyna doesn’t compare.”
Click here to read more.
Hmm, is anyone else getting a ‘work’ vibe? WWE rarely acknowledges past performers in such a manner unless of course, they are plotting some sort of comeback like Bret Hart. WrestleMania is just around the corner… could it be? Chyna, like Bret, has bad blood with WWE but the impossible eventually happened. Will Chyna follow suit
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53 Comments
My same thoughts (about Bret) and what I said in the other post.
Chyna has nothing on Beth Phoenix. Come back or not.
i HiGHLY D0UBT iT.. CHYNA HAS iSSUES (iF Y0U CATCH MY DRiFT) BUT THAT W0ULD BE AWES0ME iF SHE DiD C0ME BACK F0R WRESTLEMANiA!! MUCH BETTER THAN UNDERTAKER VS MiCHAELS PART 2. LAST YEAR WAS A GREAT MATCH!.. WHY W0ULD WWE WANT T0 D0 iT AGAiN.. AT LEAST WAiT M0RE THAN A YEAR T0 D0 iT! BUT i W0ULD L0VE F0R CHYNA T0 C0ME BACK!!! EVERY0NE W0ULD BE TUNiNG iN F0R 9TH W0NDER 0F THE W0RLD VS THE GLAMAZ0N!!
I completely agree with Beth’s words here. Chyna was more of a gimmick than a wrestler. Beth Phoenix isnt only a great athlete, but a true professional, something the WWE is lacking in the women’s division. I can honestly say i enjoy watching a Beth Phoenix match over a fair amount of the men in WWE. A true professional…an entertainer.
I hope they’re working on a Chyna vs Beth feud. People say Chyna would never want to return but she’s said in an interview (I forget which..) that she wouldn’t mind returning for a night or two she just wouldn’t want to go back into wrestling full time.
But anyways, off topic(ish) but I just seen the part where Beth enters the RR and it was the best thing ever. :D She got a huge reaction, too bad CM Punk ruined it. I just hope this doesn’t lead to a Beth / Khali angle..
I will say this, if it did come down to Beth and Chyna I would really hope it would mean a step towards more Diva exposure/pushes.
If there was ever a lack of “heart” to me it was when she was in women’s matches and the Women’s Champion, but that in part was due to the backstage stuff; also, due to the fact that she wanted to be Intercontinental Champion. At the same time, what’s the point in saying all this unless it’s a work. Beth is in my top 3 favorite Divas, but given this PG-era and all that entails, she hasn’t been allowed to do the stuff that was allowed when Chyna was around, thus something about this doesn’t work for me. Skill is one thing, but Chyna is a two time Intercontinental Champion (co-Champion the 2nd time) and the 1st female to participate in the Royal Rumble; she was also Women’s Champion and in D-X’s stable. Beth is a former Women’s Champion and her stable was Glamarella. I’m more impressed by the former rather than the latter, but then WWE decides the booking. WWE has allowed Beth to be a pale shadow of what I’m sure she could be, so to me they’re not comparable. I think Chyna’s had to deal with people saying she looks like a man for a long time and that’s something hurtful for a woman to have said about her.
Her personal issues aside, I admire her because of her power and the fact she had even more opportunities than Divas are ever allowed now. Whenever a woman has intergender matches and/or takes the fight to a man in a strong way (which she did on a regular basis – she WAS HHH’s bodyguard at first) or wins a title commonly only held by men, it’s a big deal to me. Chyna was freakin’ awesome to her fans and a huge star in the way that Beth is not (nor will ever be, if WWE continues in the present way in regards to Divas) YET, and that’s not to say that Beth can’t become a huge star. But if it came down to a match, I’d be pulling for mamacita!
If those comments are from wwe.com then Beth probably didnt write them herself, wrestlers rarely write those parts, thats just the guy who maintain the site.
But i dont see Chyna come back, at least not as a wrestler. She has really hit rockbottom past few years, and unless she has worked out in the gym past year she is going to look like a joke and will instantly ruin what reputation she has left. As a guest host it would make sense to have her come back, but Beth is on Smackdown, so that eliminates that option.
it would be awesome to see beth vs chyna, but i just never see it happening, and i seriously think chyna doesnt have it anymore, even though she was one of my fave divas of all time, but she has been away from the buisness too long, and if she did return it would probally ruin a big part of her career, coz she has gottan lower and lower over the past few years, but has started to get her reputaion back, but it will be all ruined if she returns and humiliates her self, espcially if it is at wrestlemania, but it would be awesome to see her, on our tv screens after all these years sx D
I love Beth, but Chyna is Chyna. She might only be strength and steroids but she did way more than Beth. Sorry, but its the true.
She was a THREE time Intercontinental Champion, a “mens” title.
She only had One women’s championship, but thats normal, since she usually feuded with men.
She was number 106 at PWi’s top 500 in 2000. The only other girl (that I remember) that was there, was Jacqueline.
She was a part of two of the most historic stables in WWE history: DX and The Corporation.
She was the first woman to enter the Rumble.
She faced the likes of Triple H, X pac, the Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle.
Beth might be a more complete and healthy athlete, but you can’t deny history. To bad her issues with Stephanie ended her career, because she was great and she will always be a mark in women’s wrestling.
I honestly doubt she’ll be back and if she does is a way bad decision. She doesn’t wrestle for a while and she would probably ruin her reputation.
There shouldn’t even been comparisons between Beth and Chyna, they are two different women from different eras of WWE and the only reason Chyna is being mentioned is because of WWE involving her name in the whole thing. It is obvious that what Beth said is kayfabe and through WWE’s mouth, not her own.
Chyna accomplished a lot in WWE because she was there for a long time, Beth is only just beginning her career there. Who knows what the future holds for her? I won’t compare the two women because in Chyna’s day in WWE, she was seen as a seperate entity to their Divas and was wrestling in the mens division. But Beth is part of the womens division and it is a different ball-game nowadays for women in WWE.
I just think it is something to be celebrated that another woman got to be in the Royal Rumble! Let’s hope there is more female domination to come.
Kerry: actually Chyna was in WWF/E for 1997 to 2001, aka 4 years. Beth entered WWE in 2006, so she’s there for almost 4 years also. Not to mention that Beth started training BEFORE 1999, in High School. So its possibly that Beth as been wrestling for more time than what people think, especially since Chyna retire in 2004.
Naw Chyna won’t do that. She has other problems to step into the ring again.
And Chyna was amazing tbh. She didn’t do just power moves she also did huricanranas and such things. Sure its nothing special but when you look at women like chyna you would never think she could do that. She has all my respect.
As much as I do like her (and I do), Chyna wasn’t all that exciting to watch in the ring though, I’m not sure this’ll be a very good contest. It’s interesting sure to think about, but dream matches seem better on paper.
I dobut this I mean unless she is bak to how she orginally looks , all musclar and big and what not. Ive seen chyna over the years and she was really hit rockbottom. I think this was wwe portraying Beth’s character nothing to get ur hopes up about
I always loved when she’d military press men way over her head and drop them. :P
As others have said, Chyna was a gimmick. Everything she achieved was just born out of her look and had little to do with the minimal ring ability she possessed. The tragedy is, if Chyna hadn’t already been given those opportunities, and in a less PG WWE than we have today, Beth could have done everything Chyna did in a much more ‘legitimate’ way.
Beth in the men’s division wouldn’t seem ‘gimmicky’ (at least, if it hadn’t been done before), because she’s got both the power AND the ability to believably pull it off. Just as the likes of Melissa and Nikki (AKA Del Rey) did back in their APW days – it was rarely an issue that they were competing against men, and winning on occassion. It was simply about good wrestlers putting on good matches.
Which is why I have no desire at all to see Chyna back.
Sorry but Beth will NEVER be as good as Chyna. Chyna was competing in the mens division, she won the IC title like 3 times, what has Beth done besides having 2 boring womens title reigns???? NOTHING
For me, Beth is nothing but a comedy act. I havn’t been able to take her seriously since her storyline with santino and last night at the rumble, she runs down to the ring like she’s in a marathon and kisses the great khali…. there was nothing serious about her entry.
When Chyna was in the rumble, she was all SERIOUS, she elimination people left and right and she lasted way long than beth
Because. thats. how. the. wwe. booked. it.
I think people are really discounting Chyna’s ability. I think she managed to have some good matches! I don’t really think she was that much of a gimmick either. If you go back to her match with Triple H to be the number on contender Triple H man handled her because sure, she was 5’9 and 170 lbs (though they said she was well over 200 and 6′) But the fact of the matter is that Chyna would have still been a cruiser weight! And, a light one at that! Even still, Chyna still had a capable showing of power (lifting men over her head that were probably close to 100lbs heavier than she was.)
I think anyway we cut this Chyna is much stronger than Beth, who has trouble lifting Michelle McCool. I think Victoria in her prime was stronger than Beth, and it frustrates me that she is left out too.
I agree, Edazon; I was just watching some Chyna matches tonight, actually. The kinds of matches she had and the aggression/power she had when going against males (and females) was something that was different. For her time she was very unique in the biz (at least in the U.S.) and there has not been another like her in WWE since nor do I anticipate it at this point. I’ve never felt Chyna was a gimmick; her size and strength were her before she ever started wrestling (through body-building); she was already built/equipped to handle men so I guess that means her gimmick was being herself.
I had forgotten how strong Victoria was; that’s true. :)
I completely agree with Edazon :)
Chyna is great – much love and respect for her. Personally i’d much rather see her come back & show Beth what shes made of than see a match with Maria :) (Apparently thats in the works?!)
Also i do agree that Victoria in her prime was stronger than Beth :)
Whatever.This is so obviously a work.Beth vs Chyna?Yeah right.I doubt it will actually go down,but WWE is always very unpredictable,so you never know…I mean,look at last years Diva Trade(s)!They were random and unexpected.
As for who is better.Overall I’d say Beth is better,but she hasn’t accmplished near what she should have by now thanks to the ‘women’s wrestling rut’ as I like to call it.Even though I think Beth is better,I’d be rooting for Chyna all the way.And I would love to see the lights black out ne more time,and hear the words,”Don’t treat me like a woman,don’t treat me like a man,don’t treat me like you know me,just treat me for who and what I am”.
:D
I don’t think this will lead to anything, yet the 9th Wonder of The World vs The Glamazon would be awesome to see. :)
Well I was totally awed by Beth’s performance in the Royal Rumble last night.First off I was around and watched Chyna in action years ago and I don’t believe that Chyna had the same kind of talent that Beth has.Beth is more versatlle in the ring and on camera back stage doing pretaped segement’s.Yes Chyna was strong in the ring but I don’t think she did as good a show as Beth does.Beth is very entertaining all the way around..
Now as for Beth last night I was very impressed with her work in the ring last night.I
think that she more then proved she is the most Dominate Diva in the WWE .And the
other Diva’s are gonna know that Beth is gonna have to be delt with.Beth is most
Deservedly of a Women’s championship.
this made me laugh. chyna in her prime would’ve made MINCE MEAT out of beth. everyone knows that. and i don’t think beth would’ve had the guts to say any of that stuff if chyna was still active.
it’s sad that the wwe, beth and others are trying to smear chyna’s legacy, just because she’s had personal difficulties in recent years and because she didn’t leave on good terms. Beth just comes across as a bit sad and lame if you ask me, and she’ll never ever achieve some of what chyna achieved because although she’s very talented, she doesn’t have a warm enough personality that the fans will ever truly be able to take to.
To say she often wonders whether chyna is a woman or a man is damn right rude too.
a very,very,very big ROFTL to all the ones that truly believe that Beth was talking by herself and not following the script they gave her…..
and one more thing,listening to the reaction she´s got during all her presence in the match i doubt she would be the kind of person that doesn´t have a “warm personality” that the fans would care….she does exactly the opposite in her contact with the fans..
whoever thinks the opposite doesn´t have a clue of how Beth is really or simply don´t like her.
Don’t pretend like you all didn’t love Chyna when she was in the prime of her career. Beth has proved herself to be a great wrestler and entertainer but lets face it Chyna’s one of the reasons we want to see Beth as a strong domineering female. The other reason is because we know she can hold that spot and do it well. The WWE will always force her to be a “Diva” though…
-Mister Macabre
I’ve lost alot of respect for Beth with those comments. Someone is getting to full of themselves.
Beth will never do half the stuff Chyna was able to accoplish in WWE. Pretty messed to insult your predecessor, who’s next? Is she going to insult Miss Elizabeth?
“Also i do agree that Victoria in her prime was stronger than Beth .”
where the hell hell are you guys getting this bs? if you do a litte research you’ll know how freakishly strong beth really is. she did the that bit with melina and mickie in the indies with two guys in her shoulder. same routine, a lot more force and a hell of alot more weight but with eased.
she didn’t have any problems lifting mccool because of her weight. it’s the height difference between the two that made it looked awkward. even in chyna’s day, she only mps guys that are about close to her height or shorter.
i loved what chyna did back in the day. her image fit her profile. but she was never that great. she can work but very limited to be considered one of the best. she made a lot of history but impressive she is not. still she deserves her spot in the history book for she was different and was a great footnote in the attitude era.
relax It’s just a work
Macho Madness wrote:
“I’ve lost alot of respect for Beth with those comments. Someone is getting to full of themselves.”
*sigh*
She most likely didnt even write that article, it was an in-character comment. Usually written by the people who run wwe.com
If you loose respect for a professional wrestler due to a kayfabe thing, that says more about you than about Beth.
@mikas “If you loose respect for a professional wrestler due to a kayfabe thing, that says more about you than about Beth.”
aren’t you just getting a bit biblical now?
and it’s lose, not loose :P
soz – but i hate bad gramarr
I’m sorry..but I if had to choose between Beth and Chyna..I’m picking Chyna. It’s fine to like Beth, but to say Chyna wasn’t that great is a little silly. It’s sad to me that she’s been chewed up and spit out by WWE.
There is no proof this was Kayfabe. If it was that was diffrent, but if this wasn’t kayfabe.
but untill I find out it is, my comment still stands. Totally uncalled for. She could’ve shown respect for Chyna, yet is totally disrespectful. Not cool.
it would be cool if those have a match and Joanie would put Beth phoeinix Over to pass the torch per se…but she does have…”Demons” as they say in the business..
but it would be a cool deal.
plus Chyna’s rumble performance were much better
She elminated Mark Henry and Chris Jericho by kicking their ass…not kissing them over the top rope(i know that was what WWE told her to do, I’m just saying)
I truly would love to see Chyna come back and if this is the way to usher her back in then hell I’ll take it. Matter of fact I haven’t checked up on her much so as far as I’m concerned she could actually be getting her life back together. But of course we wouldn’t know that. So anyway I still do respect Beth because now that you guys mentioned it, it might as well be a work.
If you know it what’s the WWE booked, which of course it is, then why even mention it? Chyna’s so called ‘achievements’ were scripted. You can’t compare Beth and Chyna based on what’s happened in their WWE careers, cos the WWE shaped ‘em both. That’d be like saying Ashley was a fantastic wrestler if she’d ever won the women’s title.
Chyna got lucky, and came along at the right time, so the WWE put her up as a novelty. Beth is clearly a genuine talent who always brings her a-game to whatever tosh the WWE choose to lumber her with (Cough**Santino**Cough).
Ultimately, Beth has talent that still hasn’t been used to it’s potential. And Chyna had very little talent, but was simpy given more opportunities than so many other talented women in the WWE over the years.
Chyna wasn’t “given” anything…she had to push hard for those oppertunities and work her ass of to get them…and she def didnt “come along at the right time” Vince didnt even want to hire at first because he didnt think it was believeable that women could beat up a man
according to that logic, HHH/ Ric Flair/ Shawn Michaels/ Bret Hart ect. have done nothing because their achievement were “scripted”
and i talking about Beth kissing Khali over the top rope when i said thats what they told her to do.
my point she sonds like she is actling like she body slammed him over the top rope, when she was picked up and kissed.
Chyna actually went in there and kicked ass and threw people over the top rope.
I can’t believe people are getting worked up over kayfabe comments. This was hardly an RF shoot. lol Anyway, Chyna was all look with very little substance. She had terrible matches regardless of her opponents’ gender. Beth, on the other hand, is much more versatile and has actually had a lot of decent matches both before and during her WWE run.
trip-h, shawn and bret are all talented well rounded wrestlers. chyna wasn’t. she was close to the people that control backstage politics. that is well documented. being paul’s girlfriend have its perks. the people that gave her all her opportunities unfortunately are the same people responsible for her demised.
not taking anything away from the character “chyna”. but when everything is said and done she was just another product of the wwe attitude era machinery. a succesful collaboration of having the right friends, the right image and being in the right place at the right time. as a character she was superb, as a wrestler shes third rate, mediocre at best.
“Chyna wasn’t “given” anything…she had to push hard for those oppertunities and work her ass of to get them…and she def didnt “come along at the right time” Vince didnt even want to hire at first because he didnt think it was believeable that women could beat up a man”
She was friends with “the clique”, who held the backstage power back then, thats why she was hired (HHH and Michaels pursuaded Vince). Sure, she definately worked very hard, but if she didnt have the ties to the Clique she wouldnt be in DX, or probably not even hired at all.
Bring back Chyna! That would be the best showdown ever, book it people!
i agree with your point mikas, and that is def true.
I’m not trying to take anything away from beth, she is an amazing diva and athlete. This has nothing to do with how good she is.
Point is she shouldn’t have made those comments, kayfabe or not. Chyna paved the way for Beth to be in the rumble and she needs to show some respect. It was rude, and made her look like a bitch. Chyna has only said nice things when asked about Beth.
It’s would’ve been no big deal what so ever if Beth said she could beat chyna.
The comments that were uncalled for where the ones where she called her a man, and said she had no heart.
Funny Beth because Chyna sold more playboys then any other Diva in history.
lol calling her a man XD that’s wwe writing, Beth has said before she had respect for chyna and looked up to her so she wouldn’t say this to be a beyotch
it seems like a story devise but can chyna even wrestle anymore tho?
CHYNA HANDS DOWN!!!!….. Sure it’s easy to say you are better when your second fiddle… I beg you to look @ Chyna’s Biggest Pop in relation to Beth’s …..absolutely no contest… Chyna was able to transcend her gender barriers, Her Match with Jeff Jarrett and Chris Jericho are Classic…. Not to mention her programs with Road dogg, Mr. ASS, Val Venis and Eddie Guerrero…. She definitely had bad moments but count the BOTCHES, Beth has a far amount more…. but DIVA-DIRT HASN’T REALLY LOOKED AT CHYNA IN HER HEY-DAY…. SHE was considered one on the TOP STARS PERIOD (not diva)…. She was the only female #1 contender for the WWF Title… prestige much????… Guest host MadTV alone without any other star…. Even if its scripted they put a vast amount of trust in her and SHE DELIVERED…. Beth has an era of youtube, wwe universe, tweeter, OVW, and even Diva Dirt to create… Majority of chyna buzz came from RAW monday nights and SmackDown Thursdays… Ask a random person have they heard of BETH PHOENIX, and ask if they heard of CHYNA… CHYNA was very entertaining in the ring, and out…. Successful Heel and Face runs with substance.. TOP ROPE PEDIGREE!!!! Remember she kinda revolutionized the back handspring elbow every new diva copies…. Beth has yet to show she can carry a complete program with competitive male opponent….. SO LET’S NOT JUMP THE GUN….. CHYNA 4 THE WIN!!!