WWE
boss Vince McMahon is opening up about a contentious
20-year-old HBO interview he did with Bob Costas ...
saying if Costas were bigger, the two would have come
to blows.
The
revelation was made in Jim Miller's new book Tinderbox:
HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers ... where
both McMahon and Costas recalled the combative convo
that apparently left a bitter taste in Vince's mouth
even to this day.
During
the 2001 interview, Costas drilled Vince with a wide
range of questions on everything from the XFL's ratings
to certain aspects of WWE that he found distasteful
... and, well, McMahon wasn't too thrilled about it.
"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.
“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
interview got so heated at one point, that McMahon
actually sat up in his chair, told Costas to shut
his mouth ... and accused the legendary sportscaster
of not knowing what he was talking about.
“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,"
Vince said.
"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.”
Speaking
of great TV ... Costas admits he knew the two were
having a memorable moment, but contends his questions
were coming from a legitimate place and not a malicious
one.
McMahon
was so furious over it all that he stormed off after
the interview ... slamming doors in the process, according
to Costas.
The
two would go on to have another interview a year later
... however, that encounter was far less memorable
than the first one.
