Who Really Killed WCW?

SUSPECT 1: TED TURNER

Georgia Championship Wrestling was one of the most popular wrestling promotions at the time, known for its high-quality matches and strong fanbase, especially in the southeastern United States.

It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and featured many prominent wrestlers like Jack and Gerry Brisco.

One of the key assets of GCW, though, was its timeslot on Ted Turner’s SuperStation WTBS, which provided the promotion with a national audience for their show World Championship Wrestling.

By acquiring Georgia Championship Wrestling, McMahon gained something far more valuable that a hot regional promotion: he got that timeslot on TBS. And the deal was simple, all he had to do was provide Ted Turner with new, original programming that would be filmed at his TBS Studio.

Instead, on July 14th 1984, McMahon aired highlights from his USA Network syndicated show, and house show clips from Madison Square Garden and Boston Garden.

It would become known as “Black Saturday”, and was met with significant backlash from GCW’s dedicated fanbase who weren’t accustomed to – and largely unappreciative of – WWF’s style and presentation of wrestling.

And those fans tuned out in their droves. Despite renaming the show to WWF Georgia Championship Wrestling to try and win fans back, the ratings for WWF on TBS tanked.

Turner was not pleased. He responded by offering TBS TV slots to Bill Watts’ Mid South Wrestling and Ole Anderson’s Championship Wrestling, with both promotions going on to outdo the WWF in ratings.

This would begin the feud between McMahon and Turner that would last until the start of the new millennium – and would change wrestling forever.

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