Home

WWE

Vince McMahon and His Playboy Magazine Connection: How a Former WWE Tag Team Almost Got the Gimmick

Published 10/23/2021, 2:16 PM EDT

Follow Us

The WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has had his fair share of producing some of the most bizarre storylines and gimmicks in the history of pro-wrestling.

However, nothing comes closer to what happened to the former WWE tag team superstars, Epico Colon and Primo. The duo was an integral part of WWE’s tag team division before eventually getting fired in 2020.

In a recent interview, Epico Colon recalled how he and cousin Primo were nearly dressed as founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Watch this story: Roman Reigns Appears, Bianca Belair Destroys Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch: Best Moments From WWE SmackDown (Oct. 8, 2021)

Hugh Hefner was the founder of the Playboy magazines died at his home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, on September 27, 2017, at 91.

Primo details how Vince McMahon handed them the gimmick

Speaking on ‘That’s 90s Wrestling Podcast‘, Epico talked about the team when Mr. McMahon wanted to experiment on the duo while giving them the gimmick Puerto Rican Playboys.

“One of the many times we got heat, they came up with this gimmick. We were supposed to be the Puerto Rican Playboys. We’re in the office and Vince goes, ‘Yeah you guys are good-looking.

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest WWE stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

You’re Puerto Rican, I want you guys to dress like Hugh Hefner.’ It was like a mix of Hugh Hefner and Goldust. ‘You’re gonna wear black and gold.’

“Me and Primo looked, we almost threw up right there. ‘Here’s your gimmick,’ they had gear and everything. We had the black and gold robe like Hugh Hefner. And we were gonna be in Goldust’s color scheme. ‘Oh god, please.’” he said.

Eventually, it looks like someone talked sense into Mr. McMahon and he canceled the gimmick for the tag team just minutes before debuting this bizarre gimmick.

Epico detailed that just a couple of hours before their new playboy gimmicks, McMahon called them in his office and said tha it might offend some fans, as the programming is PG-13 now.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

“We were about to debut and then two hours before we were supposed to debut with that gimmick Vince goes, ‘Ah, it might be too much for TV. Playboys, what is that?’”  [h/t: InsideTheRopes]

Looks like McMahon was just trying to avoid the backlash he faced when WWE Hall of Famer, Charles Wright’s ‘The Godfather’ gimmick when WWE went PG-13.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Clearly, it would not have been such a great push for Primo and Epico, and eventually, Vince McMahon gave up on his idea.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Prithvi Mishra

985Articles

One take at a time

Prithvi Mishra is a WWE and AEW author for EssentiallySports. He graduated from Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology in Ghaziabad. Having started his career as a UFC writer, Prithvi has nearly 2 years worth of experience in covering combat sports.
Show More>