Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #475571 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review

The name list compiled by the WWF creative department included Teeva Gweeve, Phalan, Sheera, Venus, and Tigress. Teeva Gweeve?! What is that all about? Sounds like the name of a female pig in a cartoon. Phalan? Sheera? Why didn't they just come out and call me Butch Woman?

In the end, of course, they settled on the name Chyna--The 9th Wonder of the World--and not-so-little Joanie Laurer took a giant stride on her way to being the biggest, baddest, silicone-enhanced butt-buster in wrestling history.

Brutally candid -- and, those of a tender disposition should note, not shy of employing the sort of language that they just don't like to encourage on The Tweenies -- Chyna bares all in a non-stop expose of what it really took to be the first woman to hold the WWF Intercontinental Belt. It's a classic, sometimes harrowing story of one woman's battle to define her own identity in the face of overbearing, manipulative parents and a world which has firm ideas about how 'little girls' should look and behave.

Chyna lifts the lid off the WWF, taking no prisoners in her assessments of the biggest names -- including The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin -- the backstage bust-ups and what happens when things go wrong for real in the ring.

A genuinely funny, perceptive account of the game by one of its defining performers, lavishly illustrated with dozens of never-seen-before private photos and all-out action shots of the woman at work -- If Only They Knew is simply a must-read for WWF fans. --Alex Hankin

Synopsis
The story of Chyna - wrestling's first-ever female intercontinental champion - who showed tremendous personal and physical courage to overcome childhood abuse and prejudice in later life to establish herself as the "First Lady of WWF".

Customer Reviews

I really liked her before this book
Chyna was one of my favourite WWF performers until I read this. She insults everyone who ever helped her (except those who had her career in their hands at time of writing), there are so many typos, it takes only a couple of hours to read and ignores the 2 biggest WWF events of all time - Owen's death and Montreal. There is no humility at all - she deserves everything she gets. Well, that came back to haunt her now the WWF fired her.

Mick Foley's book was awesome, the Rock's was shallow but this is, at times, nasty.

Well, we know now!!!
Joanie Laurer aka Chyna had been through a heck of a lot in her life before she became successful in the WWF as has been well documented but this time it's Joanie herself who tells the tale.

There are a lot of shocking revelations in this book and it's makes you wonder how Joanie managed to carry herself through it all.

Her storytelling style is very much in the vein of Mick Foley (for those of you who have read "Have A Nice day") and her irreverant humour shines throughout.

However, I do have two slight moans :

1) The language! For a woman who comes across as thoughtful, polite and intelligent in her television and magazine interviews, it makes you wonder if this is the same person who wrote this book as it's chock full with gratuitous profanity. I wonder if her writing partner was Roy "Chubby" Brown...

2) Joanie doesn't actually tell everything. There are some chapters of her life that she either completely ignores or relegates to a passing mention - for example, her relationship with Gerry Blias, the man who taught her all she knew about bodybuilding and nutrition. Also, there is no mention of Owen Hart's tragic death (unlike Foley and The Rock's books) or the Montreal Screwjob, both of which happened during her tenure in the WWF.

I do feel though, that this book is somewhat "rushed", which is probably why so much is missing. This is evident by the fact that it only takes a couple of hours to read.

Having said that though, this is a great read and you are left with a different appreciation for Joanie Laurer. Oh and there are some great photos too.

I would recommend this to any Chyna fan, and I don't think it would hurt for any non-Chyna fans to read this - if they could put their prejudice against Chyna aside for a moment.

Interesting but a bit difficult to read
Definitely better in content than most books written about joanie laurer but still a bit hard to read. Although she talks about key moments in her life there is a tendency for her to wonder off onto another subject which makes for tricky reading at times. Her past relationship with HHH is mentioned although not in great detail, but still a book any fan should buy just to hear her story which is interesting.