Ted Turner, The Money Behind WCW’s Rise To Become WWE’s Biggest Threat, Dies at 87
Ted Turner, who helped fund what would become one of the world’s most powerful wrestling promotions, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), has passed away at 87. In the 1980s, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) founder Vince McMahon had the bold idea to take his brand national. In the process, he snuffed out the concept of regional wrestling promotions and dominated the industry for the decade and into the 1990s.
One of the regional brands that had financial troubles because of the WWF’s — now WWE — dominance was North Carolina company Jim Crockett Promotions. Which owned part of the NWA. With his company in dire straits, Crockett ended up selling his wrestling assets to fast-growing media mogul Ted Turner.
The man who turned TBS, TNT, and CNN into powerhouse national television networks was a fan of wrestling and wanted to continue airing in-ring content on TBS. Turner already had a weekly show dubbed “World Championship Wrestling,” so he took Crockett’s roster, which included wrestling icon Ric Flair , and turned WCW into an actual wrestling promotion. Yet success like the WWF did not come right away, despite airing content on national TV each week.
Ted Turner helped fund WCW’s rise to the top of wrestling So the television magnate chose to put his money where his mouth was, and when new WCW boss Eric Bischoff asked him to invest big bucks in WWF legends like Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage, he did. Although they did not turn them into real competition for WWF just yet, it gave the brand far more credibility in the industry. WCW then took that recognition and added better storytelling and talent.
With the help of the massively successful nWo storyline and the high-flying cruiserweights, the company grew into the strongest in the industry and nearly put WWF/WWE out of business. That growth was backed by the wealth of Turner and the mega-companies he formed. It is why WWF did parody segments about Turner, Hogan, and Savage during the mid 90s and called him “Billionaire Ted.