Chyna May Have Left WWE Because She Wanted $1 Million Downside
Bleacher Report writer Jason King appeared on the latest episode of X-Pac 1,2,360, which you can watch here or listen to at this link. King, who wrote 'The Great Fall of Chyna' piece, talked about Chyna's WWE departure and noted that it was over a contract dispute.
"Getting ahold of Kathy [Hamilton, Chyna's sister] to me was the key to the whole story," King said. "She and Chyna's mom had never really spoken much to the media and there was just a lot of questions about what was Chyna really like before she became a wrestler. And not only that Kathy and her were still very close during the time she was in the WWE and that was obviously when she was dating Triple H, and that was when she had the contract issues. And you know Chyna had kind of pushed a narrative once she was no longer in the WWE that she was let go or fired or however you want to call it, or didn't get her contract renewed, and that wasn't entirely true. According to her sister she was offered $400,000 a year to renew the contract and she turned it down. She wanted a base salary, downside of a million."
As noted, I had spoken to Chyna on several occasions, and she stated that she left WWE after she found out about Stephanie McMahon's relationship with Chyna's then-boyfriend, Triple H, which you can hear in the video above. In my interview with Chyna in 2011, she talked about approaching Stephanie after finding a love letter from Stephanie to Triple H.
"After I found the letter I called Vince," Chyna said. "He said, 'Okay, I'll see you on Monday,' and when I walked into the building it was like the parting of the Red Sea. It was like everybody was against Paulie. Bob Holly was standing around me, Billy was standing around me – it was just crazy. Then I actually was going into the bathroom stall of the ladies room because I couldn't stop crying and Vince was going to talk to me. He said, 'Are you ready to talk Chyna?'
"Then Stephanie stepped up. She took me into the room, we talked, and she goes, 'Well, I love him. He's my man. I'm sorry if you feel that way?' and I shut her up. I said, 'Shut up. Call your dad in here because I'm going to choke you out.' 'If you really feel that way, take control of yourself,' then Vince came in and said, 'Let's do a new contract. I know this is tough for you but it's going to be okay.' Then I went home and I got a fax saying they didn't need me anymore."