Vince McMahon Recalls Wanting To Fight Bob Costas During Infamous HBO Interview In 2001

Vince McMahon has claimed he would have fought broadcast journalist Bob Costas during their infamous interview on HBO in 2001, if Costas had been taller and heavier.

WWE Chairman McMahon sat down with Costas for an in-depth discussion 20 years ago, at a time when McMahon's XFL project was severely declining in viewership and the content of his WWE product was under question. 

In a new book by Jim Miller, entitled 'Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers', McMahon has reflected on the interview, saying he Costas deserved 'to get the sh*t beat out of him' for the way he treated him during the interview. 

McMahon, per an exert obtained by the New York Post, said: "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 p*ssed 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 sh*t beat out of him. I could have really given them some great television."

Costas also recalled the interviewed, remembering that McMahon had stormed off set after it before calling him the next day to propose a rematch. 

Costas said: "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.

"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."