15. She Nearly Joined WCW To Become A Member Of The NWO
Having met Shawn Michaels and HHH at a WWF show in 1996, the DX duo were impressed by the stature of Joanie Laurer. After checking out some tapes of her in action, Michaels and Hunter went straight to the top, straight to Vincent Kennedy McMahon, and put the case forward for bringing Joanie is as a bodyguard for D-Generation X. The thing was, Vinny Mac wasnt particularly keen on bringing in the imposing Laurer as, despite her impressive physique, McMahon didnt think that his audience would buy a female beating up some of his male roster. Whilst Vince hesitated on the matter, Joanie was approached by World Championship Wrestling. The WCWs plan was to bring her in as a female enforcer for the New World Order. It apparently got to the stage where Laurer actually accepted the offer to join Ted Turners rasslin company. The WCW deal would fall through when Joanie ultimately turned the Atlanta-based promotion down after getting word from Shane McMahon that the then-WWF were about to make her an offer. And so they did, with her signing on and becoming the muscle for the villainous Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Another variation of this story is that Killer Kowalski, Joanies former trainer, introduced her to Shane and tipped the younger McMahon off on WCWs interest in Laurer.