Tweet
This past weekend the story broke that billionaire and media tytoon Ted Turner has his sights set on the professional wrestling industry once again. Turner, a huge wrestling fan, was the man with the deep pockets behind Eric Bischoff's WWF-talent raid back in the mid-late 90's which allowd what was then World Championship Wrestling to become the #1 company in the world. A lot of things have drastically changed since then but one thing that has remained the same is Turner's love for wrestling and his drive to own the most successful promotion out there.
Turner has in fact put the wheels in motion on this new project. The following are several bits of information regarding his new promotion:
* Ted Turner and his representatives have had talks with NWA:TNA about purchasing a stake in the company. While there seemed to be moderate interest on both sides, the discussions were preliminary and the general sense is that Turner wants to start his own promotion from the ground up and not buy a company that's already trying to establish itself.
* At the moment, there is a tremendous pool of free agents available in the wrestling world. STone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Sting, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are just some of the many names that would be top candidates for Turner's new promotion. Signing ANY of these men would add instant credability to his venture and you can be sure would put them on the map immediately.
It has been reported that Turner's camp has in fact contacted several of these stars about potential work in the upcoming years. While star power would be one of the big forces to make the company a prominant contender to WWE, Turner is all too aware of what doomed WCW - inflated guaranteed contracts, backstage politics and talent having creative control over their characters. He obviously does not want to make the same mistake twice and is said to be very high on cruiserweights and a more technical style of wrestling.
* There is an agreement between AOL Time Warner and WWE that prevents competition with WWE between the two parties until March of 2006 - the result of a 5-year No-Compete clause from the sale of World Championship Wrestling. To make this new promotion work they will need a television deal. TNT, the former home of WCW's Monday Nitro, has changed its image and now shows Drama programming. However, TBS would be wide open for a wrestling program. To top it off, Jamie Kellner, the man who was the backbone in eliminating wrestling off of the network, is no longer in charge. This opens the door for wrestling on TBS and is a huge step for the company.
Ted Turner's return to the pro wrestling world is a blockbuster story and you can be sure there will be plenty of more news regarding his promotion in the upcoming weeks and months. Stay tuned for the latest.
Source: PWN
Turner has in fact put the wheels in motion on this new project. The following are several bits of information regarding his new promotion:
* Ted Turner and his representatives have had talks with NWA:TNA about purchasing a stake in the company. While there seemed to be moderate interest on both sides, the discussions were preliminary and the general sense is that Turner wants to start his own promotion from the ground up and not buy a company that's already trying to establish itself.
* At the moment, there is a tremendous pool of free agents available in the wrestling world. STone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Sting, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are just some of the many names that would be top candidates for Turner's new promotion. Signing ANY of these men would add instant credability to his venture and you can be sure would put them on the map immediately.
It has been reported that Turner's camp has in fact contacted several of these stars about potential work in the upcoming years. While star power would be one of the big forces to make the company a prominant contender to WWE, Turner is all too aware of what doomed WCW - inflated guaranteed contracts, backstage politics and talent having creative control over their characters. He obviously does not want to make the same mistake twice and is said to be very high on cruiserweights and a more technical style of wrestling.
* There is an agreement between AOL Time Warner and WWE that prevents competition with WWE between the two parties until March of 2006 - the result of a 5-year No-Compete clause from the sale of World Championship Wrestling. To make this new promotion work they will need a television deal. TNT, the former home of WCW's Monday Nitro, has changed its image and now shows Drama programming. However, TBS would be wide open for a wrestling program. To top it off, Jamie Kellner, the man who was the backbone in eliminating wrestling off of the network, is no longer in charge. This opens the door for wrestling on TBS and is a huge step for the company.
Ted Turner's return to the pro wrestling world is a blockbuster story and you can be sure there will be plenty of more news regarding his promotion in the upcoming weeks and months. Stay tuned for the latest.
Source: PWN