Taken from their 2003 smash LP Seasons, "Enemy" by Sevendust is a diss track aimed at Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara, after his treatment of bassist Rayna Foss-Rose. The song is largely written and sung by drummer/co-vocalist Morgan Rose, who was married to Foss-Rose at the time and claimed that Fafara was "the person in the world that I hate more than Saddam Hussein." Among its lyrics are the line "clean up my shit, you look like dick," a painfully early Aughts shot across the bow if ever there was one.
Of course, the early Aughts were tabloid central, and there have been allegations that this feud was manufactured. That said, the song was originally known as "Pez," a derogatory nickname Rose gave Fafara because he "wanted to take this dude's head and pull it back and rip his tongue out of his fucking neck."
Woof.
So how in the blue hell did Joanie Laurer, known to the world as "The Ninth Wonder of the World" Chyna, end up playing the main character in the music video?
Chyna left the then-WWF in 2001, following a falling out with the company's top management. This is a tragic tale to be certain, as her ex-fiancee Triple H had walked out on the relationship and into the arms of Stephanie McMahon, daughter of the then-Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon. This, along with alleged demands of a high-dollar contract and less working dates, soured the company's feelings on Laurer, and she was let go while still holding their Women's Championship, which she had won at WrestleMania X-Seven and defended exactly one time on pay-per-view.
With only one major wrestling promotion in town and Hollywood being over a decade away from welcoming wrestlers with open arms, pursuing a career in the public eye would be a tall order for the former Intercontinental Champion. Sevendust "all loved wrestling back then," according to frontman Lajon Witherspoon, and the video's director Adam Pollina, whose previous credits included comics such as X-Force, had done a short film called ROMP with Chyna not long before the filming, with Chyna playing Lu Lu, a bully who serves as the antagonist. The kitschy tale of the double-amputee street fighter Romp and the diminutive carny Chi Chi Gigante drew the band's attention, and clips of it were used to comprise the music video, which would release in September 2003.
Gigante also carries the "Big Eagle" version of the WWE Championship, which had been retired a year prior after being unified with the WCW Championship, but who's counting?
This wouldn't be the band's first dalliance with wrestling media, as Sevendust had recorded a cover of Chris Jericho's theme "Break The Walls Down" which featured on WWF Forceable Entry, one of the highest-selling wrestling-related albums of all time. The song would end up as the theme for 2003's WWE Unforgiven pay-per-view, which coincidentally say Chyna's ex Triple H lose his World Heavyweight Championship to former WCW berserker Goldberg.
I'm not saying these things are related, I'm just asking questions.
As for Laurer, this would be the calm before the storm that would envelop the rest of her life. After this, she would begin a career in the adult film industry with 1 Night In Chyna, which would co-star her then-partner Sean "X-Pac" Waltman and was allegedly released without her permission. She would appear in smaller films and two seasons of VH1's The Surreal Life, before fully entering the adult entertainment world of her own volition in 2009.
It would later come out, as well as be apparent on her run on The Surreal Life, that Laurer dealt with substance abuse disorder and mental health issues. These would lead to her untimely passing on April 17th, 2016 at age 46. Her autopsy would reveal several substances in her system, including oxycodone and diazepam, which she mixed with alcohol.
At the very least, the nu world can claim her as a part of its history, be it through a feud that may not have actually been (depending on who you ask) or through the music video she starred in. She became a household name by changing the conversation around women in pro wrestling, and modern stars like Rhea Ripley and Jordynne Grace owe a debt of gratitude to the legend herself for laying the groundwork.
Now put her in the goddamn Hall of Fame as a solo performer, WWE. Including her as part of D-Generation X is great and all, but Chyna really does deserve better.
