Vince McMahon Wanted To Beat Up Bob Costas During HBO Interview In 2001

Vince McMahon did an interview with Bob Costas on the HBO show, On The Record with Bob Costas, back in 2001, and it featured a contentious exchange between the two due to both the XFL’s decline in viewership and Costas’ issues with WWE programming.

The New York Post reports that in a new book by Jim Miller, “Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers,” both McMahon and Costas recalled their conversation, which included McMahon admitting Costas deserved to “get the shit beat out of him” had he been 6-5 and 295 pounds.

“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,” McMahon said via the New York Post. “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 recalled McMahon slamming the doors on the way out of the studio, and also noted how McMahon called him the next day to propose another interview.

“He stormed off and you could hear the doors slamming behind him,” Costas said. “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.”

“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.”

Miller’s book is available on Amazon, and you can watch the 2001 interview below.