Since the creation of television, wrestling and TV have been a big part of each other’s story. From the DuMont Network airing Wrestling from the Marigold starting in 1949, to Vince McMahon securing cable TV deals with USA to jump-start his national expansion of WWF in the early 80’s, wrestling has always used TV as a way to ensure people will want to sell out the arenas across the country. Few people have been as important to the relationship between TV and wrestling as Ted Turner.
A businessman through and through, Turner redefined television by revolutionizing just how far a local broadcasting network can go. Having already owned a collection of radio stations across the South, Turner purchased a struggling TV station on a UHF signal. For the younger readers, UHF stations are the stations above channel 13, which have low viewership compared to the main channels that the larger companies broadcast from. Buying channel 17 in Atlanta in 1969, Turner slowly created a giant in broadcasting.
Watch This Channel Grow (WTCG, Channel 17)
WTCG was a low-budget station, one which Turner used, what wrestling fans would call, gimmicks to draw audiences to watch the local news. From having news broadcasters have dogs on TV, to other things that made the station stand out, Turner tried it all. In 1971, Georgia Championship Wrestling aired for the first time on TV. For over 25 years, GCW was the main wrestling promotion in Atlanta, and their deal with WQXI-TV (ABC) felt like it would boost them into a larger audience. But almost as quickly as they started on WQXI, they left WQXI in 1972 to be shown on WTCG. WTCG, being an independent station, had the freedom that a network station like WQXI didn’t have. Also, Turner wanted to expand his audience. By the end of 1972, he had taken his small, independent station that no one watched and was now airing the Atlanta Braves, Hawks, and GCW. But he wasn’t done yet.
1976, the 200th anniversary of the United States of America. And nothing is more American than exploiting capitalism for all its worth, and Ted Turner did just that. Turner made a move that would change TV forever. Working with satellite distributors, Turner would start airing WTCG on satellite and cable, creating what he called the Superstation. (In 1978, he would change WTCG to WTBS, Turner Broadcasting System.) Now the Atlanta Braves, Hawks, and GCW would be broadcast to homes across the country. To ensure he would keep the Braves and Hawks on his network, Turner purchased both in 1976 as well. Within 7 years of entering television broadcasting, Turner would become the most powerful owner of a TV station in the nation. Well, companies were buying multiple stations in hopes of expanding their reach, Turner overnight eclipsed everyone, and put himself at the same table as ABC, NBC, and CBS.
Side Story: Rumored Romantic Involvement with Wrestling
In 1972, the head booker of GCW, Ray Gunkel, had passed away from a heart attack. His widow, Ann Gunkel, hoped to get Gunkel’s share of the promotion. Well, that’s not how it worked in those days. Ann was shut out. The powers of GCW at the time, Buddy Fuller, Eddie Graham, Lester (Fuller) Welch, and Paul Jones (owner), all worked to shut out Gunkel’s family, so instead of Ann getting 41% of the company like her husband, they took that 41% and created a new company from that, Mid-South Sports.
Turner himself told the others to work with Ann, which was unusual. TV executives rarely get involved in the wrestling business; they just air the programs. Turner then gave Ann a TV slot right after GCW, which helped fuel rumors in the industry that Turner started a romantic relationship with Ann. Of course, this would be nonsensical, as Turner would eventually not interfere later. But you all know how rumors are.
Wrestlers loyal to Ray would make up the roster of Ann’s new All-South promotion. It was here that the NWA considered Ann dangerous. The NWA began to find ways to block Ann’s access to more talent, and even the AWA and WWWF at the time couldn’t send her talent, as they were afraid to upset the NWA. It’s said Bruno Sammartino himself was ready to board a plane for her, but Vince Sr. stopped him. Eventually, Turner asked Jim Barnett to come in and help with the situation. Barnett would buy a large percentage of GCW, and Ann’s days in wrestler were over. But ever the businesswoman, she owned and was successful in the hotel business. But by 1974, she would be out of the wrestling business, and she sold All South to Barnett.
Why He Never Gave Up On Wrestling
Those early years for Turner were pretty intense. Along with classic movies and reruns, Turner credits live sports and wrestling with his channel’s growth. The picture above was from 1983, as he was involved greatly with GCW. It was his idea in 1982 to change GCW to WCW, World Championship Wrestling. This would reflect the reach WTBS now had across the country. As WTBS, or TBS, started to come with many satellite and cable packages, Turner’s wealth grew. By the end of 1976, he was estimated to be worth $100 million. This wealth allowed him to grow his cable presence the same way he grew his broadcast presence. And of course, wrestling was close behind.
In the early-80’s, as Vince McMahon was trying to maneuver himself out of New York, Ted Turner had given the now WCW a head start. In 1983, WCW was starting to expand into “open territories”, Ohio and Michigan. Since it was already on cable, WCW was able to come in with an audience hungry for wrestling. And just as quickly as WCW was making money, a power struggle was happening behind the scenes. Jim Barnett, who had owned the old Michigan territory, headlined by the Sheik, was forced to sell his share of WCW to Jack and Gerald Brisco, original owner Paul Jones (not the 80’s manager), and Ole Anderson. The money was too good, so the politics were just as dirty.
The Famous Black Saturday
GCW basically ended in 1984, as the Brisco Brothers sold their portion to Vince McMahon Jr., thereby giving Vince and the WWF control of the TBS timeslot. Already on cable on the USA Network, Vince was trying to be everywhere wrestling was. But there was a huge problem. People who were fans of WCW were not fans of the WWF. So people from all over the country called in to protest seeing the WWF on their TV’s. To appease their viewers, Turner gave Bill Watts and Mid-South Wrestling on Sunday nights as an alternative to the WWF. Eventually, WWF got so unprofitable that Turner had to discontinue it, and Vince sold his time slot to Jim Crockett Promotions. In 1985, Jim Crockett Promotions started to air on TBS in place of the old GCW, complete with the old WCW set, and airing TV from Turner studios.
By 1987, wrestling was the hottest thing on TV. From WWF and Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant, to JPC on TBS, everybody was watching. Pretty quickly, many NWA territories consolidated under JCP to form a larger nationwide NWA company. Jim Crockett Jr. was elected head of the NWA, and it appeared the NWA/JCP was ready to compete with the WWF… except that they might have expanded too quickly. Cost and debt skyrocketed, and the NWA/JCP was now on the verge of bankruptcy.
I’m in the Rastlin’ Business
The famous phone goes, Ted Turner called Vince McMahon and tells him, “Guess what, Vince, I’m in the rastlin’ business.” And in the rastlin’ business he was. Ted did not want to see wrestling fail on TBS. He had a soft spot for wrestling, as it was one of the core programs that he aired that kept a broke TV station in the early 70’s in business. So Ted, now getting close to being worth $1 billion, purchased Jim CrockettPromotions and rebranded them World Championship Wrestling (again), or WCW. (JCP had largely been labeled as WCW in wrestling magazines for 3 years by 1988 when the sale happened.) Turner would also buy Watt’s promotion and merge the two, though JCP would come out as superior in bookings between the two.
Using his platforms, Turner had WCW wrestlers throughout his programming, including a TV show starring former Los Angeles Raider Lyle Alzado called Learning the Ropes. This helped get WCW performers exposure to help try to rival Vince McMahon. The only catch, no one really watched the show, and WCW was still seen as the inferior product. But still, Ted was not about to let wrestling die on his channel. Wrestling was good to Ted; Ted was going to be good for wrestling.
A Rival to Vince McMahon himself
“Mr McMahon wasn’t entitled to a Monopoly position in this Wrestling game,” “You can’t beat anyone unless u get in the ring with them.”
Exact quotes from Ted Turner. Ever the capitalist, Turner was ready to compete with Vince McMahon. Over the years, Vince had painted himself as the underdog, and Ted Turner, now a billionaire, was coming in to put him out of business. But the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Reality is, Turner knew his audience didn’t like the WWF style of wrestling, and Turner himself preferred the southern style, high action, fast pace action over the slower, strength-based ground wrestling of the north. And he was willing to invest his own money into his pet project.
Ted, though, was not a wrestling person, and he tried to find the right wrestling people to run WCW. First, he kept the Crockett family to run WCW, but Crockett ran into a lot of trouble with the WWF’s tactics, like airing the Royal Rumble opposite a WCW pay-per-view. Then he promoted Ric Flair to head booker in 1989, which resulted in one of the best years for WCW in terms of match quality. But Flair got burnt out very quickly and had to be replaced by 1990. Ole Anderson was then called to run WCW, but that resulted in WCW starting to copy the WWF with mixed results, like when WCW brought in RoboCop for a pay-per-view match. Turner could not just find the right leader for WCW.
Jim Crockett Jr. was still the head of the NWA at the time, which generally meant that WCW and NWA continued their relationship. With WCW as the NWA’s main territory, the fans still didn’t see a lot of change. But backstage, power plays were being made, and people were looking out for themselves. Ted decided it was time to change leadership again, this time trying to build a profit by hiring an actual businessman and TV executive, Jim Herd.
WCW’s Lowest Point
Hiring Jim Herd would prove to be the worst decision Ted Turner would make in wrestling. Almost immediately, Herd fired Ric Flair while Ric Flair was the NWA champion. This caused chaos in WCW. Flair would leave WCW and head to the WWF, holding the NWA title on WWF television. Herd wouldn’t last a full calendar year as he brought in more gimmicks and fed a whole website called WrestleCrap with enough content to last decades. Herd was replaced by Bill Watts, who tried to turn WCW into Mid-South Wrestling, going so far as to ban top rope moves. And then it happened…
Every year, WCW had a new person in charge, and 1993 would be no different. Forget trying to put Vince out of business; Turner was just hoping someone could make WCW a dollar in profit. But that person wouldn’t be Bill Watts. Watts was highly unpopular with Turner’s upper management. In 1992, he was interviewed for the Wrestling Observer, where he said he felt like business owners had the right to refuse serving minority customers. Now, one of Ted Turner’s proudest hires was Hank Aaron. Aaron had a job for Turner as long as either of them was involved with Turner. And so when a person put Watts’ interview on Aaron’s desk, that started a ball which Watts could never stop. Aaron was reported to be furious, and Watts was gone within a year of starting. WCW was at its lowest point at this time. Then…
Turner Finds His Man
Forget the story for a second that Turner hired Eric Bischoff, gave him Hulk Hogan, and then everything was great. I want to remind people that the first year of Eric Bischoff was not easy. Bischoff was only in charge of the TV show, which meant he indirectly controlled booking, but wasn’t fully in charge. 1993 was a huge rebuilding year for WCW. He’d get back Ric Flair from the WWF, and he’d focus on the new stars that had already been pushed, like Stunning Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, but Bischoff created the Hollywood Blonds, he pushed Big Van Vader, he facilitated the end of the WCW/NWA relationship, as it was confusing for the audience to have 2 belts, and WCW TV was starting to stablize, Bischoff was promoted to VP of WCW Operations.
Finally, WCW will have a leader that lasted longer than a year. But this goes to show the impatience, yet standard for Ted Turner. He could have easily kept many of the people he hired for the position. But instead, he wanted to see results quickly, and no one delivered that. But Bischoff was sort of the right guy for the job. He cut his teeth in the AWA in Minnesota, which was a wrestling territory. He also worked with TV syndication, so Bischoff was uniquely qualified for this position. And once Turner saw that, he poured into Bischoff. And he was rewarded for pouring into the right cup.
The Monday Night Wars
One thing about Ted Turner, he likes to give things a year before changing plans. Ric Flair burnt out, he switched to Herd, after one year of Herd being an idiot, he switched to Ole, after a year of Ole trying to be WWF, he switched to Watts, and then after a year Watts had his racist article, he turned to Bischoff. So in 1994, it was either Bischoff would be given the hook, and someone else would take his place, or Ted would stamp Bischoff as his guy. And well, Bischoff was his guy. Ted decided this was the guy to invest in the company, and to help, Ted Turner signed Hulk Hogan to WCW. This would change wrestling history. For the first time since Vince McMahon decided to go national, someone was there to challenge the WWF. Hogan was signed to a guaranteed contract, and well, some guaranteed contracts existed before, but there was never a contract like this. High guaranteed money, along with creative control and merchandise money. Mind you, Bischoff would get the credit, but it was Turner himself who actually signed off on all of this.
After 1 year of success in WCW, and as they crept closer to profitability, it was Turner who wanted WCW to compete directly with WWF on Monday Nights. Turner felt like he had a better product, and he wanted to put that out there. Also, as time went on, Turner added more and more cable stations, so now he has multiple places, like TNT, to highlight the new WCW Monday Nitro. Turner gave Bischoff control to compete and the resources. And it should come as no surprise that 1995 was also the first year of WCW being profitable, and it wouldn’t be the last. With new concepts like the nWo, Crow Sting, and introducing luchadors to the United States, WCW was running fast, all gas, no breaks!
The Merger that Killed WCW, and Turner’s Influence
Ironically, when it was announced that Turner was going to merge with Time Warner in 1996, the first person who raised red flags was Vince McMahon himself. On the surface, this merger would be the death of WWF, as there was no way Vince could ever compete with a company that large. And well, I can go over many things, I want to point out the things Time Warner had, or would ruin in their existence. In retrospect, anything merging with Warner Bros. will always destroy itself. But here is a list of things Time Warner messed up over the year…
Atari, Hanna-Barbera, DC Comics, and media (outside their great 90’s run), Time Magazine, their relationship with Prince, selling Interscope before they released Eminem, New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM Studios), and AOL.
Vince was worried this merger would kill the WWF, but instead it was the beginning of the end of Turner’s influence and led to the death of WCW. Turner would turn over a highly profitable WCW to Time Warner in October 1996, and within 3 years WCW would be a flaming hot mess. Almost immediately, Turner was demoted as the head of the cable division and placed as a vice chairman of Time Warner. By 2001, he was replaced as head of Turner Broadcasting, which opened the door for Time Warner to get rid of WCW on Turner stations. As long as Turner had power, WCW had a TV home. But without a TV home, WCW was worth less than the ring the wrestlers performed in.
Turner, over time, saw his empire stripped for parts by Time Warner, and then in 2000, AOL. Eventually, a lot of his fortune would be lost as the AOL/Time Warner stock crashed. They would sell his beloved Atlanta Braves, and Turner himself would start to give away a lot of his wealth. With that said, don’t cry for Turner, as he left this earth, he was worth over $2 Billion. That’s after giving out $1.7 billion of his own fortune to charity.
Legacy
Ted Turner will be known as a true capitalist. Well, a Democrat in his later life, he was more of the third-way Democrat of the Bill Clinton years, someone who was unapologetically capitalist, but used their fortune to save the environment and advocate for universal health care. But what’s important is his role in wrestling.
Turner was a true friend to wrestling. Inheriting a small radio kingdom of a little less than a dozen radio stations, he sold it all to create a small local TV kingdom. The same way Vince McMahon innovated in wrestling, taking risks, and creating a wrestling empire, Turner innovated, took risks, and made that small TV empire into a large, national-scale cable network empire. He was once described as cable television’s “Alexander the Great” by Slate Magazine. Eventually, greed might have gotten the better of him, as merging with Time Warner saw the beginning of the end of what he built in wrestling, as well as his beloved Atlanta Braves. But we don’t cry for Ted, as Ted lives a full and wonderful life. As many have pointed out, he showed us exactly how much a billionaire can, and maybe should, do to advance humanity. And I know I, for one, in the wrestling world mourn the lost.
Turner’s contribution to wrestling was so important. He invested in wrestling because wrestling was good for his early local station. Wrestling couldn’t have advanced without him, and his desire to compete in business pushed Vince McMahon to be better himself.
