5 non-wrestling business ventures WWE has given a try

In 1986, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon appeared on Larry King Tonight on CNN, and was asked pointedly by the legendary interviewer, "Are you the [legendary boxing promoter] Don King of wrestling?" After clarifying what King had just asked, Vince responded with "No. I am the Walt Disney of wrestling."

Which is a pretty admirable goal, really.

McMahon's vision of the then-WWF wasn't just that of a wrestling promotion, but an entertainment business, much like the House of Mouse he referenced in that interview, that could take its characters and present them in all sorts of forms of media. After all, if Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck could be in books, comics, and video games, why not Hulk Hogan and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper?

Over the decades, some of these ventures worked and others... well, they didn't. We thought we'd take a look at a handful of these different ideas and see how they ended up in the long run. We're not including video games, despite the fact we just mentioned it, and other than one particular entry, are trying to go with areas of entertainment you wouldn't normally expect a wrestling company to get into.

In fact, let's start with that particular entry now.

#5. WWE Studios - movies

In the 1999 documentary, Beyond the Mat, Vince McMahon was quoted as saying he hoped that, throughout everything that led people to take an interest in his company that they would "find out what [they're] really about."

"We make movies"

Now, anyone who understands Vince's entertainment-first philosophy when it comes to the WWE product can see he's being metaphorical. However, there's a division of the company that takes that phrase quite literally.

WWE Studios (originally called WWE Films) came to fruition in 2002 (although the company's first foray into the movie business came as part of the Hulk Hogan vehicle No Holds Barred) The studio's first actual project was "The Condemned," starring Stone Cold Steve Austin. Following that, they released a number of films, both theatrically and direct-to-video starring such WWE wrestlers as Triple H, John Cena, and Edge.

Eventually, WWE Studios began producing films without WWE stars attached. The first of these successes was The Call, starring Abigail Breslin and Oscar winner Halle Berry (which, OK, technically had David Otunga in a minor role but it was really minor).

Ever since, WWE Studios has released a lot of movies that both incorporate WWE talent... and don't. It's still a good example of WWE reaching out of their comfort zone and trying something new.

#4. WWE novels

This is the closest we can come to showing you the cover of this book.

Now, before you head to the comments section to type "But Kevin, WWE has been putting out books for years! Also, you are quite handsome," I must retort. Yes, while WWE has released many, many books (some of them even bestsellers) they're mostly in the non-fiction area: Superstar biographies, histories of championship titles or events, kids' books - that sort of thing. What I'm talking about here is fiction.

Also, thank you very much.

To date, WWE Books has released two, and only two, works of fiction involving their performers. The first was Journey Into Darkness: An Unauthorized Biography of Kane, written by Michael Chiapetta in 2005 (not to be confused with former WCW ring announcer Gary Michael Capetta who, coincidentally, is also an author.)

The novel attempted to streamline the character's history (this isn't to be confused with the actual biography of Glenn Jacobs), despite the fact that said history tended to go all over the place when presented on WWE television. WrestleCrap gives a pretty good description of the story here.

But that has nothing on 2006's Big Apple Take Down, by Rudy Josephs. You guys are simply not ready for this, but here we go.

Vince McMahon and his driver are stranded at a roadside dinner following an auto crash when he runs into his old school nemesis - who just now happens to be running the NSA. This former school chum has a proposition for McMahon - to use WWE Superstars as undercover operatives in secret government missions. No, no, you read that right.

Among these operatives is Tripleple H, Batista, and Torrie Wilson - the star of the cover of the book that we can't even show you directly - as they attempt to take down a meth lab in Brooklyn that's funding terrorists. Again, WrestleCrap can tell you more.

As of this writing, WWE has yet to publish another story in prose form. Now, in other forms on the other hand...

#3. WWE comics

AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar by BOOM! Comics

In a lot of ways, WWE (and pro wrestling in general) is sort of like a superhero comic come to life. They both have very distinct characters with special abilities/finishing moves, and the narratives of both are constantly changing. Plus, they both have fanbases that are just never satisfied, dang it! Can't you just enjoy something for on... sorry. Lost my train of thought there for a second.

So, it makes sense that there have been numerous comic book/graphic novels published that involve WWE Superstars. But first, let's take a look at one of the original wrestling comics - Marvel Comics' WCW series.

In 1992, Marvel wasn't the entertainment powerhouse they are now. In fact, they were five years away from filing for bankruptcy. So, they didn't have the resources to license the biggest wrestling company at the time, WWF. But they did have enough for the second biggest - WCW. So, they did. And it was gloriously ridiculous.

However, WWF had beaten WCW to the comics game a year earlier, as Valiant Comics - the studio behind Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Bloodshot - released WWF Battlemania. It only lasted 5 issues, but it had some seriously good talent at the time. In fact, a majority of the comics were drawn by none other than Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man.

In 1996, WWE helped produce Ultimate Warrior's comic, 'Warrior', and another absolutely bonkers title called "Kozor" that never made it to actual publication. We'll let our friends at Den of Geek (who's article on WWE comics was invaluable to this entry) explain the plot

The story is this: there’s an alternate dimension where native beings have evolved in reverse. The dimension is crumbling and the survivors are making their way to our world in what will eventually lead to WWF guys fighting them. The Undertaker gets visions of what’s to come and alerts everyone else by screaming, “THEY’RE COMING!” I promise you, what I described is a dozen times more coherent than how it’s shown in the comic.

There have been a number of other comics based on WWF/WWE over the years - check out the link to the Den of Geek article above - that we simply can't go over them all. Currently, BOOM! Comics are the studio behind the latest crop of books and, from what I've seen, they're not half bad.

#2. The World and WWE Niagra Falls

If you were into theme restaurants and also a big WWE fan in 1999, then you were more than likely a pretty happy camper. For that was the year that both WCW Nitro Grill and WWF New York opened in Las Vegas and, well, New York City, respectively. For the sake of brevity, and also because it sucked, we're going to ignore Nitro Grill for the moment.

WWF New York - later renamed simply The World in an attempt to attract non-WWE fans - opened in Times Square, inside the Paramount Theater. Much like Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood before it, The World was covered wall-to-wall with wrestling memorabilia, as visitors would listen to wrestling theme music while chowing down on wrestling-inspired menu items. It would also hold special WWE events, as well as musical performances, including an "after-party" show by Prince.

A few years later, WWE Niagra Falls opened in Canada (take a wild guess where that was located). Unlike The World, this venue was a.) simply a WWE-theme gift and merchandise shop and b.) not actually owned by WWE. Run by Canadian Niagra Hotels, it also featured a 220 ft. drop tower ride (think the old "Tower of Terror" ride at Disney World) called "The Piledriver."

The World eventually closed in 2003 after the company decided to focus on other aspects of the business. WWE Niagra Falls fared a little better, staying open for business until 2011.

#1. WWE cologne

Not only was this a thing, but it still is a thing. Yes, there is still WWE cologne.

Believe it or not, the old WWF didn't sell bottles of Rick Martel's "Arrogance" cologne "The Model" would spray with one of those pest control things the guy in Donkey Kong 3 used. I'm sure it has a name. Considering it was used to "blind" Jake "The Snake" Roberts before WrestleMania VII, that was probably for the best.

WWF finally got into the business of making you smell weird around 1998 with WWF Attitude cologne - as seen in the advert shown above. If you're wondering how it smelled, Reddit user /u/Eddiemagic shared this anecdote on a post about this very product.

"I had this. It was terrible. I sprayed it on a love note I was giving this girl I was trying to get with in High School and she was like if you smell like that I never want to be around you again." -/u/Eddiemagic

Nowadays, WWE sticks to selling body spray through their Tapout brand, with John Cena put front and center on the bottle. Which makes sense in a way. It's not like you want to put out a cologne that implies it makes you smell like The Undertaker or something. Or maybe you do, I dunno.

They did make a "Stone Cold" Steve Austin cologne, though. So there's that.