The Ultimate Grudge Match
- SEE CORRECTION APPENDED
In its bid to capture what World Wrestling Federation folks call "the future of America's eyeballs"--young males 12 to 34--here's what Vince McMahon is up against this particular Monday night: "Monday Night Football," a baseball playoff game, Ally McBeal's miniskirts and, of course, that other wrestling show, the one on the TNT network of "Billionaire Ted" Turner.
So McMahon has a flunky buy him a Corvette convertible and then he personally drives the thing into Long Island's Nassau Coliseum, cameras rolling, to start off his live telecast on the USA Network. He picks a Corvette to make his entrance because, "if you're going to destroy a car, make it worth destroying."
Wrestling czar--A Nov. 15 Calendar article incorrectly reported the disposition of a New York case in which Vince McMahon, the head of the World Wrestling Federation, faced federal steroid conspiracy and possession charges. McMahon was acquitted on all counts in 1994.
If viewers don't immediately grasp what will happen to the Corvette, they get a strong hint when the WWF's star, the defiant Stone Cold Steve Austin, makes his entrance in a . . . cement mixer. And by the time the surly, scheming "Mr. McMahon" starts fuming to his wrestler, "I will fire your ass!" even the most limp brain muscle in front of the tube understands the righteousness of Stone Cold turning such a lovely car into a concrete patio.
If it seems like a waste of a Corvette, don't worry. The overnight ratings will show that the stunt did exactly what it was supposed to for McMahon's "Monday Night Raw" show. The 'Vette is hardly done, either--McMahon has the wreckage towed to WWF headquarters in tamford, Conn., so it can someday become decoration for the new WWF hotel-casino in Vegas, or for a WWF-themed restaurant opening next year, or for . . . did we mention that the man wants to take on "60 Minutes"?
Now fast-forward two weeks to another Monday--same time, different place--and stand beside Eric Bischoff, Turner's wrestling chief, as he ponders how to make chicken salad out of a crisis that beset his World Championship Wrestling's pay-per-view the night before. Here you had all these kids and young males (those same "future of America's eyeballs") pooling their cash for the PPV only to have the satellite feed shut down--on some outlets--right before the Match, the one that had been teased and promoted and built up for a month, the bout featuring the WCW's star of stars, the Terminator-like Goldberg.
