Last Wednesday, media mogul and philanthropist, Ted Turner died at 87. In addition to founding CNN and the Cartoon Network and owning the Atlanta Braves, he was the owner of WCW for many years. During his time as owner, he put WCW on national television and they were a direct competitor of WWE.On "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy,"Hardy reflected on Turner and WCW. When asked by Jon Alba why he thinksWWE's Vince McMahon hated Turner so much, Hardy paused before finally answering, "Ted Turner was just doing business."Hardy pointed to how McMahon would say he was 'just doing business' when he was buying up territories. He thinks Turner saw what he was doing as investing in pro wrestling and trying to help it grow and get better."Vince took that as 'this motherf***er is trying to put me out of business,'" Hardy said. "I think Vince justified that in his mind."Hardy believes that the competition between WWE and WCW made both companies want to put on the best shows. He called it a "game changing time for pro wrestling" because it forced them to be creative and think outside the box. Hardy thanked Turner for investing in wrestling and for pushing McMahon."Thank you for making WWF become something different and cool," he said. "Thank you Ted Turner for pushing that forward because pro wrestling is not the same right now if not for you, so thank you for your contributions, Ted."If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
