Bodybuilding on video

We all know the Arnold Schwarzenegger Success Story: 90-pound Austrian weenie becomes King of Hollywood via bodybuilding. Now Vince McMahon, the brains behind Wrestlemania‘s brawn, hopes to clone that career pattern for the 13 hulking stars of his new World Bodybuilding Federation.

His initial two-hour video, The WBF Championship: The Premiere Event, showcases bodybuilders with names like ”The Blond Myth” and ”The Flexing Dutchman” popping their pecs as women wearing bath towels bop to an aerobic beat. Personality profiles showing the ”stars” at home are intercut with a choreographed stage show.

”In the past,” says Jonathan Flora, McMahon’s manager of corporate marketing, ”a bodybuilding competition was just these guys with numbers on their briefs. Now they have individual personalities; we have dancers, lights, and costumes. It’s like a rock concert.” Perhaps. But we’d hate to see what Arnie would do to any of these great big pretenders.