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All Elite Wrestling (AEW) kicked off a special double episode of “Dynamite” and “Collision” on Wednesday with a 10-bell salute to Ted Turner.
Turner, who helped launch TNT and TBS and purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to help change the world of professional wrestling, died Tuesday. He was 87 years old.
AEW co-founder Tony Khan announced the tribute to Turner before the show.
TED TURNER, FOUNDER OF CNN AND PIONEER OF CABLE NEWS, DEAD AT 87
Sting and Ted Turner shake hands in Atlanta, Georgia, in December 1993. (WWE/WWE/Getty Images)
“It’s a very sad day in the world of television, and certainly in the world of professional wrestling,” Khan said in a livestream posted to his
AEW commentator Tony Schiavone had some heartfelt words to say about Turner at the start of the show.
“Ted Turner believed in professional wrestling,” Schiavone said. “He believed in you, the fans, and he believed that professional wrestling belonged on national television. And because of his passion, because of his vision, it found a home on TBS and then later in the ’90s, on TNT. And as a result, generations of fans around the world knew we were a viewing destination.
“And I knew that first hand. I started in the studio at TBS in 1985. Decades later, thanks to the foundation laid by Ted Turner, we still survive today thanks to Tony Khan’s leadership of AEW, thanks to the leadership of Warner Discovery, wrestling still survives.”
CNN founder Ted Turner attends the screening of “Cold War: The Complete Series” at the Paley Center for Media in New York on April 29, 2012. (Matthew Eisman/WireImage)
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Schiavone said one man has become the face of “what wrestling means to TBS.” He revealed that this man was professional wrestling icon Sting.
A silver-haired Sting walked down the entrance ramp to chants of “holy shit.” Sting, who became a legend in WCW before later signing with AEW for the latter part of his career, also remembers Turner.
“Can you imagine having a billionaire who loves professional wrestling?” » Sting asked the crowd. “I can’t believe what he (Turner) did for us. He was completely committed to us, dedicated to us in every way imaginable. So much so that when some of the higher-ups in the CNN towers were having their meetings with Ted, they would say, ‘Ted, we don’t know about this whole pro wrestling thing. I think it’s time to cut them off because we’re still in the red.’ Ted was telling us this story and said I would look at them all and say, “You wrestlers keep doing what you’re doing because my pockets are deep.”
“There would be no TNT title, there would be no Sting. There would be no Darby Allin, there would be no Tony Schiavone here tonight. You wouldn’t be here tonight. So, thank you again, Ted.”
Schiavone worked for WCW until the end. He was at the forefront of the “Monday Night Wars” between WCW and WWE. He returned to the airwaves for AEW once the company was established in 2019.
Sting was also in the middle of the “Monday Night Wars”, battling the New World Order faction and helping put WCW over WWE for 83 straight weeks in the 1990s.
Wrestler Sting appears at the Cow Palace for World Championship Wrestling, a major wrestling organization competing with the WWF. (Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle)
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AEW was the first professional wrestling program to return to TNT and TBS after WCW was purchased by WWE. AEW hosts two shows per week on the station – “Dynamite” and “Collision”.
