A pioneer with a brilliant mind for television, Ted Turner was all about taking high risks in turn for high rewards. And he did just that when he purchased Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 and turned it into World Championship Wrestling. A cornerstone on how many watch wrestling today, Tony Schiavone took a moment on his "What Happened When" podcast to pay tribute to Turner, who gave him a career he never dreamed would have ever been possible without him."Ted was the man that without Ted Turner...I probably wouldn't have had a career that I had because of [his] love of pro wrestling and his determination to put pro wrestling and the Atlanta Braves...Fans became Braves fans because of TBS, because you could see TBS everywhere. And they became fans of World Championship Wrestling because you could see WCW, before that, Georgia Championship Wrestling, everywhere," the now prominent play-by-play AEW commentator said. "He loved it. He loved what he did. And he was a big, big supporter of ours."Later in the podcast, Schiavone recalled a time when he encountered Turner post-the AOL buyout of Time Warner in 2000. At a home baseball game at Turner Field, Schiavone and Turner happened to run into one another in the bathroom, and discussed the defunct promotion. Still enraged with how AOL dropped the ball on the empire he had once created, the former owner of WCW said, "Those motherf**kers. If I was still running this place, wrestling would still be on TBS. It would still be on TNT. They are out of their minds taking off wrestling."Even though Turner enjoyed the 83-consecutive-week victories WCW had over WWE years ago, Schiavone believes that Turner should be honored for his contributions with a Hall of Fame induction in the WWE."Yeah, of course... If you think that WWE Hall of Fame means anything," Schiavone responded.If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "What Happened When" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
