WWE owner Vince McMahon was in talks to buy Playboy from Hugh Hefner in 2001, reveals Eric Bischoff
WWE owner Vince McMahon was once in talks to buy Playboy magazine, Eric Bischoff has claimed.
Many of the company's biggest stars from Sable to Torrie Wilson used to appear annually in the top-shelf title.
Yet WWE were awarded a PG rating in 2008 and as a result, ended their relationship with Playboy.
However, Former Executive Director of SmackDown Bischoff has revealed McMahon was once interested in buying Hugh Hefner's creation.
The ex-RAW General Manager admitted that he connected McMahon, his wife Linda, and the founder of Girls Gone Wild, Joe Francis in 2001.
He told his podcast: "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."
While the deal never happened, McMahon is known to try different ventures as witnessed by his own football league, the XFL.
The WWE chief owned relaunched the league this year but then went into financial chaos amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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It was first set up in 2001 but folded after just one year and then McMahon reportedly injected £153m to get it going again in 2020.
However, after just five weeks of the new season, the XFL was in ruin because of Covid-19 and McMahon filed for bankruptcy in April.
But with the league set to go for auction, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson purchased the franchise in an £11.5million deal.