Vince McMahon Wanted To Beat Up Bob Costas During Their 2001 Interview

Fightful reports that in a new book, Vince McMahon admitted that he wanted to beat up Bob Costas during their 2001 On the Record interview. The book, Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers by Jim Miller, has both McMahon and Costas recalling the interview. Things got heated when Costas asked McMahon tough questions and appeared to criticize the WWF and its content. Here are highlights:

McMahon on how angry he was at Costas: “Once we were doing the interview, he kept interrupting me and interrupting me, and bringing up topics that had nothing to do with what we were supposed to be talking about. He kept trying to do the ‘I gotcha’ kind of thing. It was clear he didn’t want to hear any of my answers. The other problem was that Bob is so freaking pompous. The entire time he acted like he was above me and was just using me to show how great he was. I was sitting there really pissed off and started thinking, I wish he wasn’t 5-feet high and 140 pounds. If he was 6-5 and 295, he would deserve to get the s–t beat out of him. I could have really given them some great television.”

Costas on McMahon slamming doors as he left: “He stormed off and you could hear the doors slamming behind him. It takes some strength, by the way, to slam the doors of the studio. Those doors aren’t like the door to your kitchen. I could hear them slam.”

McMahon on wanting a follow-up interview: “The following day the phone rings, and it’s McMahon. ‘Bob, let’s make it two out of three. You took last night. I want a rematch.’ I said, ‘Great.’ We did another one a year later that was less heated, was still a good exchange, but it wasn’t as memorable as the first one.”