Although Maria finished fifth - Christy Hemme won that year - it was apparent to everyone in WWE that Maria had that magic intangible "IT" factor. I checked out the Maria Kanellis edition of Playboy Magazine - and my decision to look past the front cover had absolutely nothing to do with a desire to read the articles. Interview: Chad Kroeger by Rob Tannenbaum 20 Questions: Jenna Fischer by David Rensin Features: "The Man Who Would Be Chief" (James E. She took great pride in selecting her wardrobe for the photo shoot and even designed and created a black hooded jacket she wore in one of the photos. Kanellis talked about the struggle of trying to do more in WWE her first go around in WWE, including input on her 2008 Playboy spread and more time for the women onscreen.

Marella demanded that Kanellis keep herself covered, but Kanellis — to the delight of male fans everywhere — stood up to her boyfriend and decided to go along with the nude photo shoot. I had the privilege of working with her on a regular basis when I was assigned to develop talent in OVW in 2005, and she was an absolute pleasure to do business with.

She watched the shows intently, offered suggestions for everyone's character, and wanted to learn about production, finishes and storyline arcs.

In 2008, the doe-eyed Maria Kanellis became the seventh and last WWE Diva to shed her clothes for Playboy, much to the chagrin of her beau, Santino Marella. Kanellis became the final WWE superstar to pose for Playboy in 2008, following the like of Sable, Torrie Wilson, Christy Hemme and Chyna in appearing for the magazine. Between 1999 and 2008 a total of seven female WWE Superstars posed for Playboy Magazine, with Torrie Wilson and Chyna appearing twice, (Chyna’s second appearance came after leaving WWE) and Sable appearing three times. Because of the Briscoe Brothers, if you're able to get into a feud with them, it really solidified that women could be strong.Having Gail Kim there and being able to run ideas past her and having Billy Corgan there, they just let me run with it. But I do remember, after I had done Celebrity Apprentice, and I pushed hard, even before I came out, I was like 'no. To enable personalised advertising (like interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies.