"Vince McMahon was interested in buying Playboy"- reveals former RAW General Manager
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is a 'one of a kind' personality and a highly successful businessman. Former RAW General Manager and Executive Director of SmackDown, Eric Bischoff revealed on his 83 Weeks podcast that Vince McMahon was once interested in purchasing Playboy, an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine.
Eric Bischoff revealed that he connected Vince McMahon, his wife Linda McMahon, and the founder of Girls Gone Wild, Joe Francis in the early 2000s as both of them were interested in purchasing Playboy.
"I hooked up Joe Francis and WWE to do a show / pay-per-view. I set up a meeting with Joe Francis and Linda McMahon because Vince [McMahon] was interested in buying Playboy and Joe Francis was also interested in buying Playboy for different reasons so they both had different goals. They were both interested in the same property so I got those two together and Linda had a meeting with Joe in Los Angeles because of me." (h/t WrestlingInc)
While the deal never happened, several WWE Superstars or Divas posed for the Playboy magazine. Vince McMahon is known to try his hands out in different things as witnessed by his involvement in the football league, XFL.
Vince McMahon's scrapped WWE Championship plans due to Playboy
During a recent interview with WrestlingInc, Anthony Anzaldo, former manager of WWE Hall of Famer and 'The Ninth Wonder of the World' Chyna, revealed that Vince McMahon wanted to put the WWE Championship on Chyna on the condition that she can't model for Playboy. However, Chyna rejected the offer and chose to be a part of the Playboy magazine.
"They offered her the WWE Championship belt, but Vince said, 'But you can't do Playboy' because she got offered to do Playboy. She chose Playboy over the belt."
"Vince says, 'If you do Playboy, you don't get the belt.' She said f--k the belt. I'm doing Playboy. Highest selling out of the box Playboy, first week Playboy, in the history of Playboy, more than Kim Kardashian. It's top three of all time behind Kardashian and Marilyn Monroe."
It is safe to say that there has been a massive connection between Playboy and Vince McMahon and one can only wonder how would things have turned out, had the WWE Chairman purchased that business.