The Story Behind Shawn Michaels' Playgirl Photoshoot

The notion that all publicity is good publicity was challenged by Shawn Michaels, who looked back in bemusement at a photoshoot from his "Heartbreak Kid" era that appeared in a magazine whose readership was not what he expected. Michaels recalled this unlikely endeavor in his 2005 autobiography "Heartbreak & Triumph: The Shawn Michaels Story."

"Some genius in the company thought that having me pose for Playgirl would be good publicity for the company and help me get over," he wrote. "Since I wasn't going to pose naked, I agreed to do it. I thought, 'Well, it's a magazine that women read, so why not?' I figured that if Playboy was for men, Playgirl was for women."

Playgirl gave Michaels cover status with the teasing subhead, "Shawn Michaels: This Heartbreak Kid is Single, Sexy & Ready to Get Wet with You." The cover showed a wet Michaels flexing a bicep with his right arm while holding a towel loosely draped around his waist with his left hand.

The magazine provided a benign interview with Michaels, who spoke about his career and some of his more aggressive female fans, including one who lifted her shirt and exposed herself before the wrestler and a room full of people. For the photographs, Michaels avoided being completely exposed, although he posed clothing-free while lying horizontal on a crimson sheet. He covered his genitals with his WWF belt for a frontal pose and also covered his backside for a separate rear view.

The magazine edition also included an interview with Mario Van Peebles and photographs of the rock star Sting. But it seemed that Michaels was the main reason that readers were excited by this edition -– although he discovered something about Playgirl that no one bothered to tell him before.

"When the magazine came out, I went to do an autograph session," Michaels recalled in his autobiography. "At the session, it was about a 60-40 mix of guys and girls, which was normal for one of my autograph sessions. The only thing was, the men there were not your usual wrestling fans. There were a lot of bald guys wearing leather," Michaels added, admitting he was unaware that gay men would have an interest in the magazine as well.

Last year, ProWrestlingReality.com cited an unnamed source within WWE who claimed Playgirl.com, the successor to the now-defunct print magazine, "were really running with this aged lion concept and they are wanting to reach out to Shawn due to the massive sales of that original print." The offer for Michaels to shed clothing again for the camera was around $500,000.