WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff recently appeared on Busted Open Radio to discuss various topics.
One significant point he made was that WWE, TKO, and former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon owe a debt of gratitude to the late Ted Turner, the former owner of WCW.
Bischoff said, “I think in many respects, Vince McMahon, WWE, TKO, owes a serious debt of gratitude to Ted Turner. I firmly believe if we take our emotions out of it and just analytically look at where the business was pre-‘[WCW] Nitro’ for WWE, look at WWE’s trajectory. Look at their growth, or lack thereof. Look at everything that was going on in the broader entertainment industry at that time.”
On how putting WCW Nitro head-to-head with WWE Monday Night RAW was a Ted Turner decision:
“No one’s ever going to be able to convince me that had Nitro not gone head-to-head with [WWE] RAW and that was a Ted Turner decision, that wasn’t an Eric Bischoff decision. I wish I could take credit for that because it was freakin brilliant. And it changed the entire industry. It, in many respects, saved the industry.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
