Working Stiff: Wrestling's History With Playboy Magazine
For the longest time, gratuitous displays of naked flesh within wrestling's circus were limited to the wobbly physiques of its bruisers. Though Rip Rogers and Buddy Rose bared the sobriquets 'Hustler' and 'Playboy' respectively, these coincidental allusions were as close as the television product ever got to the top-shelf.
That isn't to say women weren't frequently paraded as nothing more than eye-pleasing gewgaws, shoved into valet roles and discreetly sexualised through a hint of cleavage here or the occasional, accidental, lingering shot there. Emboldened by society's ongoing sexual revolution, the industry's women of the '70s used their implied sex status for lucrative sidelines. One of the most popular moonlighting gigs involved publishing private chat numbers in wrestling mags, allowing besotted fans to talk dirty to their idol of choice - at a premium rate.
For some, there were even greater earning opportunities afoot - provided they shirk their modesty. Better known as 'Miss Wrestling', Miki Garcia, a former Miss Sacramento, caught Hugh Hefner's eye whilst plying her trade on Roy Shire's Big-Time Wrestling. She was invited to pose for the January 1973 magazine in exchange for a huge wad of cash - such an offer had previously been turned down by Garcia's predecessor in the 'Miss Wrestling' role, Adrienne Barbour.
An indelible historical connection between wrestling and the Bunny House was established there and then; not only was Garcia the first lady of wrestling to spread across Playboy's spreads, but she was also the second person in the publication's history to appear fully naked.
It proved a shrewd career move for Shire's buxom announcer, as she departed the wrestling business to become Playboy's Vice President for a decade, only for things to eventually turn sour when she testified before the U.S. Attorney General's Office on behalf of the woe-begotten fate of many of the company's Playmates. Her disgust at the common afflictions suffered by regular models, such as physiques honed with the help of rampant drug use, an alarmingly high attempted suicide rate, and the expected current of venereal disease, left wrestling's first show-all showgirl completely at odds with Hefner. It was a far cry from the sentiments echoed by her future wrestling compeers following his death.
Throughout wrestling's golden period, a handful of the industry's pre-eminent women followed Garcia's velvet-trodden footsteps in converting their grappling to the glossies. A ring full of stars from the satirical, subtly sexualised GLOW promotion joined AWA's Magnificent Mimi in a multipage feature for the December 1989 edition of the magazine, which highlighted their curves as much as their credentials. Mimi even appeared hoisting the AWA World Women's Championship belt, despite never actually earning the accolade. The particulars of the women, not the wrestling, were the primary area of soft focus.
Unlike the former Miss Wrestling, none of the 'Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling' stripped bare, instead posing in surprisingly conservative wrestling garb, albeit tight enough to accentuate their assets. Even more notable than the absence of unclad areolas was that of any representation from the nation's leading wrestling promotion.
In 1989, the WWF's Miss. Elizabeth was one of the most visible stars of the global federation's product, caught in the middle of an inevitable implosion between husband Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. Such was the prominence of her role that she was even billed as the 'First Lady of Wrestling', yet she, nor any of her mainstream colleagues, had any part to play in Playboy's pro-wrestling puff piece.
Vince McMahon's pop-culture phenomenon wanted nothing to do with the seedy under-the-cover exhibitionism of Hefner's publication; the two simply didn't go hand in hand.
[CON'T. P2/9]