Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
The ‘If Factor’ are a series of articles that takes a look at real scenarios in pro wrestling that at one point or another were suggested, planned, considered…but did not get the green light to continue. What would the landscape of professional wrestling look like if these ideas came to fruition?
The If: Vince McMahon Buys Playboy
Vince McMahon and WWE had a long, successful partnership with Hugh Hefner and his Playboy magazine empire. WWE stars such as Chyna, Sable, Torrie Wilson and others graced the pages of Playboy. It only made sense that McMahon would want a bigger chunk of the profits for having his female stars pose nude in the magazine. It was revealed by both Eric Bischoff and Bruce Prichard, that Vince was interested in purchasing Playboy from Hugh Hefner back in 2001.
In fact, both Vince and Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis were trying to buy the publication at the exact same time. Vince got Eric Bischoff to set up a meeting with Francis to discuss the matter. Linda McMahon flew out to Los Angeles to meet with Joe Francis. Bruce Prichard said that McMahon wanted to own Playboy to feature more women of the WWE and also have some of his top male wrestlers grace the cover to showcase his talent as being “Big Celebrities.”
For whatever reason, the talks with Playboy died down and eventually WWE went into their “PG Era.” What would Playboy be like if owned by Vince McMahon? Would the magazine still exist to this day? What other female wrestlers could have posed nude?