In this edition of Glitter and Slam the summer hiatus ends with a look back at Chyna winning the Intercontintental Championship at the 2000 Summerslam – by pinning Trish Stratus.
Chyna becoming Intercontinental Champion in an era dominated by bra-and-panty matches was astonishing enough, in hindsight. What made the former bodyguard to a young HHH and her title win even more remarkable is that she pinned another woman to do it. This is the only time in the history of professional wrestling that a woman did not win a male title by pinning a man.
(Before winning men's gold, Chyna was already an attractive anomaly who rose to intial fame as Triple H's bodyguard. Source: Cageside Seats)
Chyna had already broken down many barriers. At Triple H's insistence she became the official Degeneration X bodyguard. Her physique opened up possibilities to grapple with her male counterparts and believably go over. Fans responded to her positively in a milieu where kink and general debauchery were the order of the day. This led to the 9th Wonder of the World becoming the unlikely top pinup dream of the Attitude Era.
(Eddie and Chyna were WWF's "it" couple at the beginning of the 21st century. Source: Wrestling Observer)
The storyline was simple. Basically, Eddie Guerrero was enamored with his "mamacita" Chyna and they accompanied each other down to the ring when they weren't being all loveydovey backstage. A match with Val Venis went sour for Eddie and Chyna decided to stick up for her man by powerbombing Venis from the ring apron onto the floor. In the bedlam, Trish got her Stratusfaction my smashing the Ninth Wonder in the back of the head with a bottle, knocking her out cold. The match for Summerslam would be a tag match. Eddie Guerrero and Chyna vs. Intercontinental Champion Val Venis, with a stipulation that whoevever could pin Val would become the Intercontintental champion.
(Trish avoided contact at all costs, but in the end she paid for knocking out the 9th Wonder of the World. Source: WWE.com)
The match itself was solid, if unspectacular. After the story unfolds, I found myself wishing for a riveting 25 minutes of Eddie and Val telling their in-ring story amidst the tag-ins with Chyna. However, Latino Heat's mamacita showed she was good enough beyond her muscularity to hold her own in a match with many of the company's men, Venis included. The crowd popped as Chyna tagged in, closelined Venis and then, after Latino Heat kissed her on the hand in a rare show of gentlemanly decorum, they dropped their opponent with a double-team flapjack off the ropes.
(Guerrero's over-the-top adoration of his storyline "mamacita" underscored the fact he was among the best wrestlers in the world, as Val Venis could attest. Source: WWE.com)
The match would end with Trish tagged in after Venis took Guerrero down with a powerbomb, then after a last rally he closelined Guerrero off the ropes. Out of breath, Venis was unable to capitalize. Trish convinced him to tag her in, wanting to insult Chyna a little extra by not only saving the Porn Star's title reign but pinning her man in the middle of the ring, her plan imploded quickly as Eddie kicked out and got the hot tag before she could find the safety of her own corner. After that, the crowd gave Chyna another huge pop and continued chanting her name as Venis tried in vain to intervene and Guerrero stopped him from finishing a double clothesline on Chyna. After that Trish took a military press slam to loserville and Chyna became the only woman ever to win a man's title by pinning another woman.
(No one else will win the IC title the way Chyna did at Summerslam 2000. Source: WWE Network.)
Today in WWE the company has made a concentrated effort to give women a more opportunities to showcase their talents and drawing power. The Mae Young Classic, highlighting independent wrestlers from all over the world is coming at the end of this month. The women even have their own line of Barbie dolls.
(Chyna never had her own Barbie doll, but then again, no woman currently has won the Intercontinental title either, never will. Source: @BayleyWWE Instagram.)
When you look back at the opportunities Chyna was given, the fact that her eventual women's championship reign was actually not the apex of her career, and then see the rut women's wrestling in WWE fell into by 2010, it's hard to understand why the great things we're seeing now didn't happen ten years ago. In light of this, we still must acknowledge that in an era WWE would like you to regard as the worst for women, it wasn't, for many reasons but mainly because of Chyna. No other woman in pro wrestling history was able to be a man's bodyguard, wrestle and go over numerous men, win a man's title, a women's title and pose nude in Playboy all in the same career. In the end, that is the legacy of this match that made this quirky affair something to remember as we look forward to Summerslam in 2017.
(Beat up dudes, pose nude, repeat. Source: Inquisitr.com)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Unlike some wrestling journalists (i.e. anyone who writes for Bleacher Report) I'm not too proud to admit when someone else's commentary serves as a springboard for one of my columns. In this case I give props to Simon and the gang the WhatCulture Wrestling channel on Youtube. He touched briefly on Chyna's IC title win during a factoid montage about Summerslam 2000 and I knew this had to be talked about a bit more in depth as we approach WWE's second biggest spectacle of the year. So thank them yourself when you go over and check out their humorous and insightful commentary on pro wrestling.
In the next Glitter and Slam we'll look at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, the 2017 Summerslam and where WWE's women are going as summer winds down.
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