Sunny was one of WWE’s biggest stars in the 1990s, but Vince Russo says her growing fame eventually created some wild moments behind the scenes.
While speaking on the WrestleBinge podcast, Russo looked back on working with Sunny and recalled the exact moment he realized her ego was starting to become a problem. It happened when WWE created two separate RAW Magazine covers, putting Sable on one version and Sunny on the other.
The strategy was simple. WWE wanted fans to buy both magazines, and Russo selected what he believed was a strong photograph of Sunny for her cover. Sunny was allowed to approve the photos before publication, which is where things went sideways.
Russo said the image showed Sunny posing on a rock with water falling over her, and he thought it was perfect for the cover.
“Do you remember when we did the split RAW Magazine covers? We had Sable on one and Sunny on the other, because the whole idea was to get you to buy both of them.”
According to Russo, Sunny entered the office to review the pictures and immediately lost it when she saw the photograph he had selected.
“She comes in the office because she has to approve the photos. I’ve got no problem with that. But there was this one photo where she was on a rock, on her knees, and she had her head tilted back, and the water was coming down on her. I had picked that for the cover because it was a beautiful shot.”
Russo said Sunny then started screaming that the woman in the picture was not her and threatened legal action against WWE over the cover.
“She comes in, she sees that cover shot and starts screaming, ‘I’m going to sue! I’m going to sue! That’s not me! That’s not me!’ Those were her exact words, and I popped. I laughed.”
Russo could not understand the reaction because there was no question that Sunny was the person in the photograph.
“I just said, ‘Sunny, who is it? Who? No, that is you. That’s you in the face.’”
Despite the bizarre confrontation, Russo said he never had major issues working with Sunny. He blamed the incident on the ego that came with becoming one of WWE’s most recognizable personalities.
“I never had a difficult time working with Sunny. It’s ego. It happens to all of them. Very few remain the same. She got bit by the bug, like a lot of other people before, and it went to her head. Honestly, that was her demise.”
Sunny’s WWE run turned her into one of the company’s first major internet-era sex symbols, but Russo believes the attention changed her. The RAW Magazine confrontation gave him an up-close look at how far things had gone when she threatened to sue the company over a photograph that was clearly her.
What do you make of Vince Russo’s story about Sunny threatening to sue WWE over her RAW Magazine cover? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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