Within the wake of Ted Turner’s passing on the age of 87 on Wednesday, many have begun to grapple with the impressive legacy that Turner left behind. And while much has been made about Turner’s ownership of the Atlanta Braves, his pioneering of cable television and cables news, and his other ventures, his contributions to wrestling have also been focused on, as Turner not only owned WCW for its peak years, but was instrumental in getting wrestling on TV throughout the launch of his Superstation within the early 70s.
Tributes from the wrestling world poured in after Turner’s death, with AEW specifically honoring Turner during their broadcast of “AEW Dynamite.” Hours beforehand, Eric Bischoff, who worked under Turner because the chief executive of WCW within the Nineties, made the media rounds, including appearing on “Busted Open Radio” to debate Turner’s wrestling legacy.
Bischoff shared many stories with hosts Tommy Dreamer and Dave LaGreca, including his pitch to Turner for “WCW Monday Nitro” in 1995, and Turner’s insistence on keeping WCW on the air for a few years, even when Turner Broadcasting’s board of directors argued against it. Most poignantly, Bischoff admitted that the life he and his family had lived was largely resulting from the chance Turner gave him, leading Bischoff label Turner because the Nineties version of a famous modern-day entrepreneur.
“None of this could’ve ever happened without Ted,” Bischoff said. “But that is just me. Take into consideration what number of hundreds of other people’s lives were impacted in much the identical way at Turner Broadcasting generally. I mean, the person did a lot for town of Atlanta He was just an incredible…he was the entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. He was amazing, especially within the media. There’s never going to be one other one like him. He was the Elon Musk of media in his time. And just, I’m so grateful that I had a likelihood to work with him, simply to say that I did.”
In the event you use any of the quotes in this text, please credit “Busted Open Radio” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription