At the start of last week, an icon of female wrestling and former WWE employee, Chyna died. She started her pro-wrestling career with WWE and finished it too with them. During her time with the company, she was billed as 'ninth wonder of the world' (Andre the Giant was 8th wonder according to WWE) and wrestled not only her female counterparts but male superstars too and even defeated them convincingly. An epitome of power-wrestling, she went on to hold the prestigious WWF Intercontinental championship on two occasions and women's championship once. She was a heartthrob to younger generation of pro-wrestling fans. She was the bodyguard-on-screen for Triple H and his rumored girlfriend too. So popular was she that WWE made her one integral part of their most successful and iconic tag team of all time, DX (called D-Generation X). Then she left the company in 2000 to pursue other media interests. Reality shows and various TV outings followed and then in one shocking decision (least shocking to her), she decided to enter porn industry. PORN, you don't say that!!!! Why in hell should Chyna enter PORN industry? Was there any money issue? Could be. But she wasn't a befallen legend. She was very much intact and lively though occasional bouts of nervousness and depression surfaced. She started taking medication for them and last week, on one sunny day in April, she died allegedly of a drug overdose. She had released 6 full-length feature films from 2006-2013 and at the time of her sudden death, was filming a documentary portraying her life journey. But it had to stop now, everything had to stop now.
During these 6 'adventurous' years of PORN, WWE made plain and simple of the fact that Chyna didn't belonged to them. If it could have been upto them, they could have wiped every inch of her memory and stint with the company but because she was such a pioneer and one-of-a-kind performer that they couldn't do without her. But they didn't pay their respect either. No WWE Hall of Fame induction. No career recognition of any sort and Chyna was really disheartened over this dispassionate behaviour of WWE. When she died, WWE paid tribute to her on following week's Monday Night Raw episode with a video montage that had clippings of various Twitter posts of former WWE divas like Trish Stratus, Lita, Stephanie McMahon and Shane McMahon. Even Triple H posted his heartfelt response on Twitter. But fans and other media personalities were unimpressed with this obligatory WWE's response. They made a mockery of themselves by pretending to own their own when she was their own from day one. WWE praised her when entire world was done praising her for they knew Chyna's importance and worth. Many WWE divas of today opted to have a career in pro-wrestling just because of her and what a tremendous influence she had!!!
Through this episode, one must be curious to know how PORN accounted for career of Chyna. I must tell you that Chyna wasn't the first WWE performer who ventured into porn. There are at least 9 performers in PORN industry who once belonged to WWE. Even after Chyna, Candice Michelle, an active WWE Wrestler that time (in and around 2008-2010) was part of a critically acclaimed Softcore Porno Series and she had her share of hardcore stuff too in industry. PORN Superstars and Megastars are multimillionaires in today's America and many of them feature in prominent mainstream media publications be it TV, Print or Movies. Jenna Jameson, James Deen, Stoya, Jesse Jane, Evan Stone, Rocco Siffredi, etc are not only financially successful but have their influential presence in all popular social circles of Europe and USA. They go to universities for interactive sessions with students, host media shows and often address corporation and general public on motivational and health issues. There is no doubt that PORN is still considered a TABOO in various European and American social strata but it is at least now an openly debated topic. And when a country as conservative and traditionalist as ours (India) could pour its love on a much-famous-once-porn superstar, I could guess you can conveniently portray a picture of 'liberal' America in your mind now. But WWE relents. It's products are now PG-rated and kids-oriented. Kids, they say love, their programming but parents, don't bother for when a kid demands, parents give in and thus kids bring business. Its superstars now doesn't swear on television, not its Divas flaunt their skins in plentiful but they all once did and WWE benefited immensely from it. WWE doesn't have a rival now and is a standalone name in the world of professional wrestling but every now and then when they try to wipe one superstar out of their history and invariably change their history, they fail miserably. Hulk Hogan, probably the biggest WWE Icon ever, doesn't have a place in WWE memorabilia right now and he was like a mascot for Wrestlemania 30 only two years ago which he opened with Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. The reason; he was featured in an amateurish sex-tape that got unfortunately leaked by a big media outlet. Now a celebrity sex tape is an American invention and phenomenon. Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and many more Hollywood A-listers have filmed them and earned millions by selling them. The problem with Hogan's sex tape was that in it, he was having sex with the wife of one of his former wrestler friends. Now that was a big bad influence and WWE BANNED Hulk Hogan from its shows and schedules. Episodes with his presence were subject to extensive editing process. But what WWE missed was a big point. You see, cheating on someone's wife/husband is a serious offence but it isn't a new thing either like those sex-tapes. It's been happening since eternity. Even our Gods were found doing that but Hulk's case was about something else. Hulk Hogan filed a case with local court for his wasn't a sex-tape for public selling, it was a private affair and someone hacked it illegally without his permission and so it was a serious case of intrusion of privacy of a person. He had a great case and plenty of WWE money to fight it out with and after one and a half year of court battle, he won the case and USD 115 million in penalty. In Indian currency, it will be north of 600 crores. If Hogan wants, he could have a pro-wresling promotion of his own for wrestlers, unlike other TV personalities, come cheap. Now when Hogan is free from all blemishes, what can WWE do? One day, not now but several years from now on, they would cut a deal with Hogan and thus resurface him and his history in WWE Network videos. And in doing all that, WWE will look sheepish and foolish but they don't care. They never had and they never would for simple reason that there is no one to rival them and you can either hate or love them but you would certainly check on them from time to time.
WWE personifies both Greatness and Hypocrisy in one guise and this is why they would never be the true substitute of a pure-entertainment spectacle.
During these 6 'adventurous' years of PORN, WWE made plain and simple of the fact that Chyna didn't belonged to them. If it could have been upto them, they could have wiped every inch of her memory and stint with the company but because she was such a pioneer and one-of-a-kind performer that they couldn't do without her. But they didn't pay their respect either. No WWE Hall of Fame induction. No career recognition of any sort and Chyna was really disheartened over this dispassionate behaviour of WWE. When she died, WWE paid tribute to her on following week's Monday Night Raw episode with a video montage that had clippings of various Twitter posts of former WWE divas like Trish Stratus, Lita, Stephanie McMahon and Shane McMahon. Even Triple H posted his heartfelt response on Twitter. But fans and other media personalities were unimpressed with this obligatory WWE's response. They made a mockery of themselves by pretending to own their own when she was their own from day one. WWE praised her when entire world was done praising her for they knew Chyna's importance and worth. Many WWE divas of today opted to have a career in pro-wrestling just because of her and what a tremendous influence she had!!!
Through this episode, one must be curious to know how PORN accounted for career of Chyna. I must tell you that Chyna wasn't the first WWE performer who ventured into porn. There are at least 9 performers in PORN industry who once belonged to WWE. Even after Chyna, Candice Michelle, an active WWE Wrestler that time (in and around 2008-2010) was part of a critically acclaimed Softcore Porno Series and she had her share of hardcore stuff too in industry. PORN Superstars and Megastars are multimillionaires in today's America and many of them feature in prominent mainstream media publications be it TV, Print or Movies. Jenna Jameson, James Deen, Stoya, Jesse Jane, Evan Stone, Rocco Siffredi, etc are not only financially successful but have their influential presence in all popular social circles of Europe and USA. They go to universities for interactive sessions with students, host media shows and often address corporation and general public on motivational and health issues. There is no doubt that PORN is still considered a TABOO in various European and American social strata but it is at least now an openly debated topic. And when a country as conservative and traditionalist as ours (India) could pour its love on a much-famous-once-porn superstar, I could guess you can conveniently portray a picture of 'liberal' America in your mind now. But WWE relents. It's products are now PG-rated and kids-oriented. Kids, they say love, their programming but parents, don't bother for when a kid demands, parents give in and thus kids bring business. Its superstars now doesn't swear on television, not its Divas flaunt their skins in plentiful but they all once did and WWE benefited immensely from it. WWE doesn't have a rival now and is a standalone name in the world of professional wrestling but every now and then when they try to wipe one superstar out of their history and invariably change their history, they fail miserably. Hulk Hogan, probably the biggest WWE Icon ever, doesn't have a place in WWE memorabilia right now and he was like a mascot for Wrestlemania 30 only two years ago which he opened with Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. The reason; he was featured in an amateurish sex-tape that got unfortunately leaked by a big media outlet. Now a celebrity sex tape is an American invention and phenomenon. Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and many more Hollywood A-listers have filmed them and earned millions by selling them. The problem with Hogan's sex tape was that in it, he was having sex with the wife of one of his former wrestler friends. Now that was a big bad influence and WWE BANNED Hulk Hogan from its shows and schedules. Episodes with his presence were subject to extensive editing process. But what WWE missed was a big point. You see, cheating on someone's wife/husband is a serious offence but it isn't a new thing either like those sex-tapes. It's been happening since eternity. Even our Gods were found doing that but Hulk's case was about something else. Hulk Hogan filed a case with local court for his wasn't a sex-tape for public selling, it was a private affair and someone hacked it illegally without his permission and so it was a serious case of intrusion of privacy of a person. He had a great case and plenty of WWE money to fight it out with and after one and a half year of court battle, he won the case and USD 115 million in penalty. In Indian currency, it will be north of 600 crores. If Hogan wants, he could have a pro-wresling promotion of his own for wrestlers, unlike other TV personalities, come cheap. Now when Hogan is free from all blemishes, what can WWE do? One day, not now but several years from now on, they would cut a deal with Hogan and thus resurface him and his history in WWE Network videos. And in doing all that, WWE will look sheepish and foolish but they don't care. They never had and they never would for simple reason that there is no one to rival them and you can either hate or love them but you would certainly check on them from time to time.
WWE personifies both Greatness and Hypocrisy in one guise and this is why they would never be the true substitute of a pure-entertainment spectacle.
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