RIP Ted Turner

[El-P]

Thanks for WCW, Billionaire Ted.

[Boss Rock]

 

[DMJ]

I'd disagree with the word "influential." Successful? Powerful? Important? I think those are better descriptors and, even then, I don't know if he's the definitive number 2. 

I mean - yes, Ted Turner changed television so, by default, that includes wrestling and baseball and basketball and news and syndication. It's a bit like saying 
Les Paul is the most influential guitarist in the history of rock n' roll, punk, heavy metal, funk, jazz...yes, obviously the guy who designed/innovated the electric guitar is incredibly important in the history of music in general, but parsing it out like that is a weird way to look at it.

Also, if we're going by that definition, what about the computer/internet pioneers who changed the way professional wrestling was produced, consumed, sold, etc. over the past 20 years? Or the people who invented/innovated digital video? Would these folks take the rest of the top 10? In the grand scheme of things, they're much more meaningful/influential in the production and consumption of pro-wrestling (and all media) than the guy who invented the Royal Rumble. I just don't think that's the right way to look at it.

Ted Turner was never WCW's booker. He was the money man that hired Hogan. He was the guy who took on Vince by giving WCW 2-hours of prime-time on Monday Nights. Those decisions can't be downplayed, but the further we get from the Monday Night Wars, the more its clear that, in the grand scheme of things, we are talking about 83 weeks out of 40+ years of WWE dominance and the influential aspects of Nitro - exposing US audiences to lucha wrestlers like Rey Mysterio, for example - have never been credited to Ted Turner anyway. 

Now, I don't have a clear "second behind Vince" person in mind. Maybe Paul Heyman? He's fairly influential in that ECW, even if it was being funded by Vince, was viewed as "independent" and "anti-mainstream." It's not hard to draw a line from ECW to Ring of Honor to AEW, for example. I'm sure the more knowledgeable folk around here could argue that there are figures in Japanese or Mexican wrestling history that are incredibly important. My point is, I'm thankful and grateful that Ted Turner created WCW, but let's not go overboard with crediting him for much of what we, the fans, actually saw on TV week-to-week. 

[Blehschmidt]

I hope his funeral doesn't get pre-empted by an Atlanta Braves game.

[sek69]

Ted gave Mid Atlantic and JCP national TV in a era where that wasn't even a thing yet. He was ride-or-die for pro wrestling and used it as one of the pillars to build his empire and cable TV as we knew it. Yes, he wasn't the booker but he was the guy who kept the suits and the bean counters at bay when everyone wanted him to drop it. I have no doubt the story Sting told on the open to Dynamite was 100% true that he told the boys to keep doing what they do because he had deep pockets. A million books and YouTube videos about the Death of WCW and they all seem to miss that the real dagger to its heart was Ted getting maneuvered out of the corporate office at Time Warner. 

If you're going to rank the most important people in US pro wrestling for the last 50 years there's no doubt it's Vince #1 and Ted #2. 

[sek69]

4 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

I hope his funeral doesn't get pre-empted by an Atlanta Braves game.

if there's any justice his funeral should start at 6:05 pm after an episode of Andy Griffith. 

[JRH]

6 minutes ago, sek69 said:

if there's any justice his funeral should start at 6:05 pm after an episode of Andy Griffith. 

And after the funeral they can show The Beastmaster.

[El-P]

If there's no Ted Turner, Vince McMahon basically gets the monopoly on US wrestling in 1989. Everything is changed. For the worse. A LOT worse. On so many levels.

[flyonthewall2983]

On the other hand if there’s no Ted Turner there’s no Vince. 

[sek69]

So many what ifs surround Ted Turner's wrestling impact. What if he goes with Mid South instead of JCP for the Saturday night show? Bill Watts was in his prime as a booker but would the exposure from TBS offset the economic downturn that hit in his home market? Does JCP become another territory that gets quickly eaten up by the WWF expansion, never more than a footnote in history?

[WingedEagle]

On 5/7/2026 at 6:31 AM, El-P said:

If there's no Ted Turner, Vince McMahon basically gets the monopoly on US wrestling in 1989. Everything is changed. For the worse. A LOT worse. On so many levels.

I think this is entirely indisputable. What happens if that's the case? One can speculate and while it may not be a Vince monopoly through and through, with a host of bankrupted challengers along the way, the odds are its not great for the US business from a fan's perspective. For better or worse, and likely for the better, Turner is probably the one owner of a wrestling promotion that actually stayed out of creative. Pretty remarkable.

[David Mantell]

On 5/7/2026 at 11:31 AM, El-P said:

If there's no Ted Turner, Vince McMahon basically gets the monopoly on US wrestling in 1989. Everything is changed. For the worse. A LOT worse. On so many levels.

I wonder how the Aptermags would have explained it.  

Actually, no Ted Turner, no large chunks of 70s/80s wrestling history as that means no GCW Techwood Drive studio TV show. Vince doesn't even bother with Jim Barnett in 1983 if Jim Barnett even bothers to buy up both Andrew "Paul Jones mk1" Lutski  and Ann Gunkel in 1974.  Georgia is just A.N Other territory, Roddy Piper is an obscure figure known mostly in South California and PNW. With no GCW TV show, the NWA members are totally lost when Vince gets  national cable in 1983/1984.   Jim Crockett probably does still buy Georgia after Vince doesn't bother with it but it's about as big a deal as when JCP bought Central States.

[El-P]

That Ted Turner tribute in Dynamite last week was classy as hell. Sting dropping the "I have deep pockets, keep doing what you do" anecdote certainly had several layers to it too... It's sad pro-wrestling (or anything else) needs a "good billionaire", but this is the world we live in.