By day, John C. Layfield is an investment banker and professional pontificator for Fox Business Network. By night, he peddles a love potion.
John Layfield wrestling on a pay-per-view special in February.
John Layfield, a financier, pitching his sexual stamina drink.
Mr. Layfield is a regular commentator on Fox Business Network.
Mamajuana Energy, a berry-flavored liquid that Mr. Layfield developed, sells for $4.99 or less. He bills the two-ounce shots as an all-natural “sexual endurance drink” for men. A minister’s son, Mr. Layfield says he first sampled the concoction in a dive bar in the Dominican Republic while on vacation and was hooked.
“It’s more of a sex potion,” said Mr. Layfield, who enjoyed a successful run as a professional wrestler before reinventing himself as a financial whiz and beverage impresario. “Think of it as liquid Viagra.”
Mamajuana — typically made from soaking tree bark and herbs in rum — has long been part of Dominican culture. But it was new to Mr. Layfield, who saw a business opportunity. How about introducing a beverage into the booming energy drink market that was also an ostensible aphrodisiac?
Teaming with Baywood International in Arizona, a purveyor of herbal products, Mr. Layfield developed a nonalcoholic, caffeinated version of the island elixir, which he named Mamajuana Energy. (He pronounces it mama-JA-wana.) The marketing slogan is “Come to Mama.”
One of his investors is Meredith Whitney, the Wall Street analyst (now at Oppenheimer) best known for downgrading Citigroup in November and helping to prompt a $15 billion drop in the stock. She is also his wife.
Is Mr. Layfield a 21st century snake-oil salesman? If traditional mamajuana is indeed a sexual stimulant, say experts in male sexual health, it has less to do with the herbal ingredients than with psychology — and the rum.
“Marketing hocus pocus” is how Dr. Andrew McCullough, director of sexual health and male infertility at New York University, describes the product. Dr. McCullough, who also served as a clinical investigator for Viagra, said herbal remedies were unlikely to have a significant impact on the libido and they certainly would have no impact on erectile dysfunction. “It’s a bogus promise,” he said.
Still, a lot of people are curious.
“I keep hitting him up for a bottle,” said Neil Cavuto, the Fox Business Network anchor, laughing. Mr. Cavuto, who is also managing editor for business news at the Fox News Channel, added that Mr. Layfield “has an excellent sense of the marketplace, so my bet is that he’s on to something.”
The Vitamin Shoppe agrees. The health supplement retailer recently decided to stock Mamajuana Energy in its 340 stores.
“A lot of products come across my desk, but I saw a huge opportunity here,” said Michael Carrubba, the category manager of Vitamin Shoppe who took Mr. Layfield’s initial call. “It gives us a chance to play in a market that we don’t play in very much, which is immediate sexual stimulation.”
Mr. Carrubba, who recently took a job at another company, described Mamajuana Energy as “a great grab-and-go item.” He sidestepped questions about the product’s effectiveness, instead focusing on the flavor. “It’s a little medicinal,” he said, “but that’s O.K.”
Because some of the roots and herbs found in traditional mamajuana are banned in the United States, according to Mr. Layfield, he spent a year tinkering with substitute ingredients. Making it nonalcoholic was also crucial, he said, for marketing reasons.
“Show me an 18-year-old guy who doesn’t want to be a sexual tyrannosaurus,” he said.
Mr. Layfield, a 6-foot-6 Texan, actively cultivates an outlandish persona. His wrestling character is based on the television character J. R. Ewing, the ruthless oilman on “Dallas.” For a photo to accompany this article, his publicist, Pamela Johnston, suggested the following: “Layfield in a beach chair, wearing a suit and tie on the top and swim trunks on the bottom. N.Y.C. skyscape in background. Cabana girl serving him Mamajuana Energy on a silver tray.”
Mr. Layfield’s wrestling career began, he says, on a dare to wrangle an 800-pound bear at a cowboy bar in Texas. The bear won. While the animal’s teeth and claws have been removed, Mr. Layfield says the skirmish left him badly injured.
Still, the thrill of being the center of attention was intoxicating. He recently returned to the ring part-time, where he demonstrates his signature move, the “clothesline from Wall Street.” In the maneuver, Mr. Layfield catapults himself off the ropes of the ring, runs toward his opponent with his arm extended parallel to the ground and rams into his neck or chest.
Hawking the beverage by himself involves traveling the country and pushing samples at bars and late-night parties, many of them wrestling-related. He also has been coaxing regional convenience store chains to stock the product, and is working on landing more national accounts.
Keeping the hyperbole in check is difficult. “We have to be careful that we don’t position this as a pharmaceutical like Viagra,” he said. “We’re going after guys who want to take it, not need to take it.”
