10 Wrestlers WWE Protected In The WORST Way Possible

8. Chyna Plays By Different Rules

The last year and change of Chyna's otherwise-historic WWF run was miserable. She blatantly didn't want to be part of the women's division at all, and had failed to renegotiate the same kind of money as top names like Steve Austin when sitting down to thrash out terms with Jim Ross and other bosses.

On top of that, and this is important for context, Chyna's personal life was falling apart. Her relationship with Triple H ended, he began dating Stephanie McMahon, and the 'Ninth Wonder Of The World' spiralled before leaving the company in late-2001. Realistically, despite the clear agony of her love life, Chyna had started to show signs of cracking before that.

In 1999, Chris Jericho got scorched by Vince because he caught Chyna with a stray punch during one of their matches. She was mixing it with the guys, but the WWF didn’t want her taking potatoes. Jericho pointed out that everyone else was, which didn't go down well. McMahon bellowed: "She's a woman, damn it!".

Management fostered a pretty precious outlook from Chyna towards other workers, and made her think she was much better than she was inside the ring. That was only ever going to end in trouble. She was shielded from the truth; that she was solid but unspectacular between the ropes, and wasn't going to become a sustainable headliner opposite Austin, Hunter, The Rock, Undertaker and more.

Giving her different rules to play by was risky, and it backfired. She was either willing to wrestle the rugged style expected from the guys or she wasn't. There was no middle ground.