Chyna's brain could shed light on detrimental effects of pro wrestling

Professional wrestling is fake, scripted entertainment — but the physical toll it takes on its athletic performers is all too real. 

Joan Laurer, a wrestling superstar known as Chyna in the 1990s, is the latest former wrestler to die at a startlingly young age. She passed away last week at age 47; her cause of death has not yet been determined. 

Laurer is one of many luminaries from pro wrestling's heyday to die young recently. The question is why. No one has found an answer yet. But Laurer may yield clues posthumously — her manager wants to donate the dead wrestler's brain to the same doctor whose cutting-edge research unlocked a universe of knowledge about brain damage among NFL players. 

Dr. Bennet Omalu, played by Will Smith in the movie Concussion, is the forensic pathologist whose work has led the way on revealing the profound negative effects professional football careers have on the human brain. He's also the man to whom Laurer's manager reportedly wants to give her brain. 

"We want to donate her brain. We want to know what made Chyna tick," manager Anthony Anzaldo told the New York Daily News.

"My hope is that we can do it. I'm in the process of getting the permission to speak on behalf of family to tell the coroner it's okay to release it," Anzaldo told the Daily News. 

Anzaldo did not answer the phone when contacted by Mashable for further comment Tuesday, and his voice mailbox was full. But if he does follow through with his stated plan to donate Laurer's brain, it could yield valuable insights into the physical toll that pro wrestling takes on its performers. 

Anzaldo also told the Daily News that he was the one who found Laurer dead in her Redondo Beach apartment last week — with prescription medication bottles nearby. 

"There was nothing illegal. No alcohol. It was just those two prescriptions she was legally taking," he said. "I saw no indication of foul play, no vomit, no blood. She was just lying there peacefully. Of course she's had issues and posted things (online), but I just don't think it was intentional."