Capital One Bank and Turner Sports’ World Championship Wrestling descended upon Wall Street yesterday to unveil the ‘WCW/Capital One MasterCard’ credit cards to 32 million professional wrestling fans across the country. The two companies held a news conference yesterday morning and sent eight of the most popular figures in professional wrestling to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for a publicity stunt. The new MasterCard offers 12 different card designs featuring images, ranging from pictures of the organization’s most famous faces to the WCW or “New World Order” logos. Cardholders receive benefits ranging from discounts on all WCW catalogue merchandise ordered by telephone, a quarterly newsletter and automatic entry into a sweepstakes for a trip to a WCW pay-per-view event.

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Capital One Bank and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a subsidiary of Turner Sports (a Time Warner Company), descended upon Wall Street Thursday as they proudly announced their alliance to issue WCW/Capital One MasterCard credit cards to the legion of professional wrestling fans across the country. The two companies unveiled the credit cards at a press conference Thursday morning with eight of the most popular figures in professional wrestling history before the wrestlers stormed the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and will later ring the closing bell.

Hollywood Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Bill Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, “The Total Package” Lex Luger, Bret Hart, “Big, Sexy” Kevin Nash and Sting, whose images will be emblazoned on the WCW/Capital One MasterCard, joined executives from both Capital One and WCW as they unveiled the new credit card designs on Broad Street before a crowd at the New York Stock Exchange.

The program is a marriage of the technological and marketing expertise of Capital One and WCW to develop a product that enables the more than 32 million fans of WCW Wrestling to design their own credit card from 12 different images — ranging from pictures of the organization’s most famous faces to the WCW or NWO (New World Order) logos.

“We wanted a product that every one of our 32 million fans would be proud to carry. Capital One can deliver the right card to the right customer,” said Michael Weber, Director of Marketing for WCW.

Capital One and WCW will offer a toll-free number, (800) WCW-CARD, for wrestling fans to easily apply for the card. WCW/Capital One cardholders will receive exclusive benefits including:

* Discounts on all WCW catalogue merchandise ordered by telephone

* Quarterly newsletter with the latest behind-the-scenes news and calendar updates

* Sweepstakes — two grand prize winners will receive a trip for four to a WCW pay-per-view event including airfare, hotel accommodations and backstage passes

* Each purchase is an additional entry into the grand prize drawings

“For the first time ever, we’re giving wrestling fans the power to choose the look of their own credit card,” said Paul Cusenza, Capital One’s Vice President of Value-Added Alliances. “It’s an exciting opportunity for wrestling fans to show their loyalty to the WCW and their favorite wrestlers in a new and different way.”

World Championship Wrestling, “Where The Big Boys Play,” is a subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company. WCW produces and markets television programs and live events featuring wrestling superstars. Check out WCW’s Web site at http://www.wcw.com.

Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation (http://www.capitalone.com) is a holding company whose principle subsidiaries, Capital One Bank and Capital One, F.S.B., offer consumer lending products. Capital One’s subsidiaries collectively had 13.6 million customers and $15.0 billion in managed loans outstanding as of June 30, 1998, and are among the largest providers of MasterCard and Visa credit cards in the world. Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “COF” and is included in the S&P 500 Index.