Tom Buchanan, a former WWE photographer, recently shared an intriguing story about how the popularity of wrestling personality Sunny, whose real name is Tammy Sytch, caught the attention of none other than Vince McMahon himself.
During the mid-1990s, Sunny worked as a valet alongside her then-boyfriend Chris Candido, known as Skip, in WWE. However, feeling dissatisfied with her limited role in the company, Sunny approached Buchanan with a request. She asked if he could take pictures of her for a photo shoot, hoping to enhance her character and expand her opportunities.
In an interview on the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast, Buchanan revealed the details of the conversation he had with Sunny prior to the shoot. They aimed to create pin-up style images that would help establish her as a captivating beauty within the wrestling world. Little did they know that these photos would soon become a sensation.
The images of Sunny went viral, gaining significant attention and popularity. In fact, America Online named her the most downloaded celebrity on the internet in 1996. This remarkable achievement did not go unnoticed by Vince McMahon, the chairman and CEO of WWE.
McMahon recognized Sunny’s widespread appeal and decided to capitalize on it. He invited her to his residence in Greenwich, Connecticut, to film a series of vignettes for WWE television. This was a significant move that demonstrated McMahon’s recognition of Sunny’s potential and his desire to promote her further.
“She was unhappy with that role and really wanted something more, so she talked to me, and we figured out that we could do a shoot together [to] kind of enhance her character or her role as a beauty. It was a role that didn’t exist yet. We were just looking for pin-up kinda pictures.
Huge downloads, huge connect time,” Buchanan continued. “We made money when people connected with our product, so Vince McMahon saw that. He saw the downloads, he saw the connect hours, and he decided to promote them a little bit more, so he took Sunny into his house in Greenwich, Connecticut, and did a series of shoots with her, a series of vignettes.”
Buchanan elaborated on the impact of the viral photos, explaining that the immense downloads and connect hours associated with them directly translated into profits for WWE. These numbers caught McMahon’s attention and played a pivotal role in his decision to give Sunny additional exposure and opportunities within the company.
