WCW Founder Ted Turner Has Passed Away

Turner Enterprises confirmed Turner's passing today (via CNN). Although his cause of death is unknown, the billionaire has been battling various health issues for years. Turner was hospitalized with pneumonia last year, and had been dealing with a brain disorder called Lewy body dementia since 2018.

Most people will remember Turner for founding CNN and launching the first-ever 24-hour cable news channel, something that's taken for granted now, but had never been done before Turner made it so. However, wrestling fans will forever remember Turner as the man who rescued a struggling Jimmy Crocket Promotions in 1988 and rebranded it as WCW, still arguably the second-best-known pro wrestling company in the world despite being bought out by WWE 25 years ago.

Ted Turner's WCW Timeline

When JCP became WCW, it slowly transformed into a nationwide promotion, like WWE, and then a global brand. One of the biggest steps Turner made towards making that happen was when he signed Hulk Hogan. An unbelievable feat at the time, as The Hulkster was believed to be WWE through and through.

Hogan's arrival in WCW didn't have a significant impact until Turner put Eric Bischoff in charge. That's when WCW reached new heights, and it's why Turner may go down in history as McMahon's biggest foe. He will certainly be remembered as the man who came closest to beating WWE, as there were points, including an 83-week run, where more fans were tuning into Turner's WCW than McMahon's WWE.

Bischoff gets a lot of the credit for how well WCW performed during the latter half of the 1990s, as he should. He was the brains behind most of what we saw each week on Nitro. However, it was Turner who gave Bischoff the chance when he was still basically a nobody in the company.

Despite his contributions to wrestling, it's unlikely someone like Turner will ever be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. I can't imagine we're even going to see a tribute to him flash up ahead of SmackDown this week. Nothing can take away from what he contributed to the industry via WCW, though, nor how much he caused problems for McMahon and WWE. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this time.