Media visionary and philanthropist Ted Turner passed away on Wednesday, May 6, at age 87. Among his many notable innovations, Turner founded brands such as CNN and TNT — the latter of which played a pivotal role in professional wrestling history.
TNT was the home of WCW from 1999 to 2001, when it famously went head-to-head with the WWF during the “Monday Night Wars.” At the head of the charge for WCW was Eric Bischoff, who was one of the most affected by Turner’s influence, specifically within the wrestling world.
Speaking on Wednesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Bischoff reflected on his relationship with Turner.
“He changed my life, he changed the lives of my children. None of us would be where we are today,” Bishcoff told Uncrowned. “I would not be involved with Real American Freestyle were it not for the opportunities Ted Turner provided to me. And I’m just one guy. Think about all of the people that worked at Turner Broadcasting — the thousands of people who, just like me, got opportunities, got to grow, and got to pursue their careers because of the entrepreneurial, groundbreaking vision that Ted Turner had when it came to the media landscape.
“He was the media version of Elon Musk in his time.”
For many fans who lived through the “Monday Night Wars,” that period is still viewed as pro-wrestling’s peak. The two biggest companies put their best foot forward each week, each hoping to top the other.
Bischoff believes that without Turner’s willingness to tackle a giant like the WWF head-on, the business wouldn’t be where it is today.
“What we really changed with ‘Nitro’ was the format,” Bischoff said. “People look at the bells and the whistles, oh, we gave away finishes and this and that. All of that is true. But when Ted said to me, ‘Eric, go compete,’ I had no idea how to do it. I literally sat down and made a list of all the things that [WWF] do, and I’m going to do them as differently as I can. It started out at the very top: Live TV, weekly. Not occasionally, weekly. That was the first format change I made.
“Vince [McMahon’s] formula prior to ‘Nitro’ was teen and pre-teen. That’s his business model, then. If you go back and look at all of his key revenue sources, licensing, merchandising, all of it was geared towards teens and pre-teens.
“I went after a different, underserved audience, the 18 to 49-year-old men. … That was what changed the industry. Had ‘Nitro’ not come along, had I not gone weekly, had I not shifted the focus and changed the creative to address the 18-49 year old demo, Vince would have been stuck in the mud doing what he’d always done, and he wouldn’t be in business today.”
WCW ultimately failed to outlast the now-WWE, but its efforts set the tone for what could be achieved in the wrestling landscape. In the following years, TNA eventually attempted to replicate WCW’s success by challenging WWE, however they were far less well-equipped than WCW at its height. More recently, AEW saw its flagship program, “Dynamite,” go head-to-head with WWE’s developmental brand NXT on Wednesday nights before WWE eventually moved NXT to Tuesdays.
A challenger to WWE surely would have appeared at some point if Turner had never come along, yet in hindsight Bischoff knows that Turner was simply the kind of person to do something so ambitious.
“Ted was a fighter, just like Vince McMahon is a fighter. He was tired of being No. 2,” Bischoff said. “That’s one of the things. I’ll never forget my favorite conversation — I went in for my very first formal meeting with Ted Turner one-on-one. It was me pitching Ted an idea to do business with Rupert Murdoch’s Star Network in China. I had an international television deal offer on the table that would have put WCW into a profit position for the first time since Ted created the organization in 1988.
“I’m excited. I get to do what no one else has been able to do: Find a way to make WCW profitable. I spend a week or two getting ready for this pitch. I go in, I’m so excited, I’m pretty confident in my sales ability, and I’m pitching Ted Turner. I get about two minutes in. I didn’t even wind up, I was barely loose. And Ted goes, ‘Eric, what’s it going to take to be competitive with WWF?’ I was not prepared for that. … My wheels are spinning, and I said, ‘Well, Ted. ‘Monday Night Raw’ is Monday primetime. Our A-show is Saturday evening, 6:05 Eastern. Kind of hard to compete.’
“Ted looks over to Scott Sasso — his heir apparent at Turner — and said, ‘Scott, give Eric two hours every night, head-to-head with ‘Monday Night Raw.’’ I went, ‘Wow, what? ‘That’s when I went to my office, locked myself in, and said, ‘How the hell am I going to do this?’ Ah, we’re going to go live, 18 to 49. We’re going to do reality-based storylines, quit doing as much of the kiddie stuff. Two years later, hey, it’s the ‘Attitude Era.'”
With “WWE Raw” now airing live on streaming behemoth Netflix every Monday, it seems like a fantasy to think a competitor could exceed its viewership. But back in the day, it was commonplace at WCW’s height — Turner and Bischoff’s efforts beat “Raw’s” TV ratings for a legendary 83 consecutive weeks.
Those were the days when Bischoff heard from Turner regularly, basking in the glory of what they accomplished together.
“Tuesday afternoons, generally about 4:30 or 5:00 Eastern, Nielsen ratings would come out,” Bischoff said. ” They’d come out, and we’d all get them at the same time on our corporate computers. Boom, everyone gets them at the same time, including Ted.
“I’m guessing not 15 minutes went by on Tuesday afternoons once that email hit, that I did not get a phone call from Ted Turner personally. And he was giddy. He wasn’t like an executive, like the CEO of Turner Broadcasting. He was like, ‘Yo, Eric! We did it again! This is crazy!’ It was like talking to one of my college buddies. That’s who Ted was.
“It went on for I think the first year, or year and a half. … And sometimes [Turner was] really animated if it was a really lopsided rating. He was a really competitive guy.”
Ultimately, Turner was responsible for more than just his role in the pro-wrestling world. And more importantly, that’s what his old friend Bischoff wants him to be remembered for above all else.
“I hope he’s remembered as one of the great media moguls and entrepreneurs of our lifetimes,” Bischoff said.
