The Playboy Tale
By Mike
Playboy Magazine has been a source for many great pictorials featuring famous women bearing all for the cameras as well as eye opening interviews among other items. RHD are now going to take a lot at some of the issues, which have housed wrestling women and/or personalities, as well as the special issues, which have featured the Women of Wrestling over the years.
Firstly we can reveal to you all that Madusa took part in an actual photo shoot for the magazine back in the 1980's. Sadly she was going to go on a tour of Japan but the wrestling organizations over there found out about her shoot and told her that she cannot take part in the tour if her pictures were to be published. Since wrestling was important to her back then she never did sign the release papers, which needed to be signed for the pictures to make the magazine. I wonder if the pictures are in the Playboy safe?
In the December 1989 issue the had a special Women of Wrestling Pictorial which featured many of the GLOW Girls, better known now as GLOOW. Hollywood and "Magnificent" Magnificent along with a few other girls from the federation made an appearance in the issue and this was the first high profile issue featuring wrestling women and the start of many more to come.
Kimberly Page made an appearance in the Book of Lingerie special issue in July/August of 1996 and she then made another appearance in a special Celebrity Nudes issue in March 1997 and was looking very hot in each picture. Her appearances in the magazines were even promoted on WCW PPV at one point, which was funny to see since WCW back, then was a clean-cut company with many family values.
Moving straight onto an historic moment. It was reveal that Rena Mero, known back then, as Sable was to do a nude photo shoot for an upcoming issue of Playboy. She did it, promoted it a lot on WWF TV and the April 1999 issue came out and was the biggest/fastest selling issue ever in Playboy Magazine history. I believe over 1 million copies were sold in total. This was also one of the main factor's, which lead to Rena's supposed "ego" as many believed the success of the magazine went to her head.
Moving on Lana Star, from Women of Wrestling, made a sneak appearance in the April 1999 issue. She was pictured covering her breasts up, no nudity in her appearance. The "grapevine" section must have had a nice attraction for that issue.
Since the issue was a huge success Rena Mero was invited back to another spread, sadly Rena and the WWF parted ways in the spring of 1999 so her second appearance in Playboy Magazine wasn't another success and it didn't sell as well as expected. Though she did grace the front cover of the September 1999 issue despite not being with the WWF anymore.
After Rena Mero's appearances it was time for some other Wrestling Divas to grace the covers so a special issue titled "Playboy Hardbodies" was released and it featured Kimberly Page and April Hunter. The issue went on-sale in August 1999 and was another hit amongst Playboy fans.
In the fall of 1999 Rena Mero had her own special issue of Playboy Magazine, which featured tons of pictures from the previous shoots as well as new pictures, comments from Rena and an exclusive interview. The special issue was called Rena Mero: Playboy's Wrestling Superstar.
Chyna was the next major Wrestling Diva to grace the covers of Playboy. It was revealed in June of 2000 that she had shot a pictorial for the magazine. This got everyone buzzing as it came out of the blue and wasn't expected. Anyhow she indeed graced the covers of the November issue and it was a huge success. As always the WWF did their best to promote it and it sold over 1.5 million copies and beat all previous records.
Many were expecting someone like Lita or Trish Stratus to be next to be featured in the magazine but no one could of guessed who would be next in line. It was none other than Vince McMahon himself. Thankfully he was fully clothed and it was just an interview but a shocking one at that. He appeared in the February 2001 issue and his interview headlined the front cover. Within the interview he revealed his stepfather used to beat him when he tried to defend his mother and that he would of liked to of killed him if he hadn't of died before he could. He also talked about his affair with another woman and how he had been faithful to Linda for 6 years.
Moving on Jerry Lawler and The Kat appeared in an issue in the summer but this was just an interview/article. Though it was revealed on the Internet that The Kat was the next Diva to pose nude but since she lost her job in the WWF, the WWF made it clear to Playboy not to let her pose nude.
In the August 2001 issue we saw ECW's Elektra get her kit off the viewers. Though we only got to see a few pictures she made an impact and was signed up by Playboy to do another issue.
In the fall of 2001 we were told that Chyna was shooting another pictorial for the January 2002 issue along with footage for a Home Video. She graced the cover with a Warrior Princess theme and despite what other people said the issue did sell well but not as well as her first issue. Keep a note that she wasn't with the WWF at the time of the magazines release as she parted ways with the company in June 2001.
In January 2002 Chyna's Nude Home Video/DVD was released and sales were pretty high all over the country. It lasted just under an hour and featured a look at her second Playboy shoot, an interview with Joanie about Wrestling and other topics and much more.
In January 2003 news broke out that Torrie Wilson was to appear in the Magazine, speculation on the Internet went like a wildfire and on Thursday, January 23, 2003 RHD got word from Playboy that the news was true.... Torrie will not only be doing a photo shoot for the Magazine but she will grace the cover this summer.
At the end of March the first pictures of Torrie, taken from the May Issue, began to hit the Internet and soon after the magazine was released and was the biggest seller of the year. Torrie's appearance in the magazine also sparked the return of the original WWE Diva Covergirl, Sable, who objected to Torrie's appearance and a feud began. A year later and Torrie Wilson once again graced the covers of Playboy Magazine but this time she wasn't alone, Sable joined her for a special in-magazine Catfight. The pair were given two separate covers, both featured but in different poses and made a hot seller out of that March 2004 issue.
As we entered 2005 The Rock gave an interview to Playboy, for the March issue. He'd discuss leaving the WWE, movies, playing gay roles, steriods, losing his virginity and more. Fans weren't going to have to wait long for the next superstar to grace the pages of the popular men's magazine, Christy Hemme was right around the corner. Christy Hemme, the 2004 RAW Diva Search Winner, graces the cover of the April 2005 issue of Playboy Magazine and her nude pictorial is a Hollywood theme, just right for WrestleMania's Hollywood month. Also she won't be alone in that issue as RAW Diva Search finalist, Camille Anderson, will be the April Babe of the Month.
We now fast forward to 2006 and GoDaddy.com/WWE Diva Candice Michelle is the next in a long line of stunning Divas to pose for the popular magazine. Ashley Massaro will follow in Candice's footsteps in 2007 as she once again poses for the magazine... only this time she'll be posing for the cover and as a WWE Diva.
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