It has been nearly a month since Ted Turner passed away at the age of 86, and his former employee Eric Bischoff has remained active in keeping Turner’s legacy alive, at least when it comes to Turner’s contributions to wrestling via his ownership of WCW. In an interview with “Complex,” Bischoff again talked about how valuable Turner was in keeping WCW going in the 90s, even when other executives at Turner Broadcasting wanted WCW gone due to the financial losses it was enduring.
“Despite those devastating losses, Ted still believed in the product when most executives would’ve burned it down,” Bischoff said. “They would’ve pulled the plug. They wouldn’t want to have…they wouldn’t want it on their resume. They’d distance themselves from it. Not Ted. Ted protected it. And when the opportunity came along to make a move, that’s when ‘Nitro’ happened. That level of commitment by an executive at Ted’s level I’ve not heard of it before and I’ve not heard of it since.”
Even though Turner’s involvement with “WCW Monday Nitro” didn’t extend beyond him greenlighting the concept, Bischoff credited Turner’s decision for allowing Bischoff to introduce pro wrestling to a new audience, the 18-49 male demographic, and by extension forced Vince McMahon to do the same with the Attitude Era a few years later. As a result of that decision, Bischoff believes that Turner not only changed the face of pro wrestling, but he forced the industry leader to change alongside it.
“WWE as we know it today would absolutely not exist where it not for Ted Turner,” Bischoff declared.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Complex” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
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