Tony Schiavone recently shared a memorable backstage story involving late Ted Turner and the aftermath of World Championship Wrestling being sold to WWE in 2001.
Speaking on his podcast, Schiavone reflected on how quickly his life changed after WCW officially shut down.
“So, when WCW went down in 2001, I’ve mentioned on this podcast before that I immediately, that day, got a job part-time at WSB, which has been one of the legendary stations in the Atlanta market.”
Schiavone explained that the role eventually led to him working Atlanta Braves pregame and postgame radio coverage, which unexpectedly resulted in a surreal run-in with Turner himself at a Braves game.
According to Schiavone, he encountered Turner alone in a restroom concourse area and introduced himself after realizing who was standing beside him.
“I go across to the men’s bathroom, and I go up to the urinal, and there’s only two of us in the bathroom. And I look to my right—the other guy who’s peeing is Ted Turner.”
After introducing himself and beginning to explain his role with WCW over the years, Schiavone said Turner immediately launched into an emotional reaction regarding wrestling being removed from Turner broadcasting networks.
“And he said—I remember vividly—the first words out of his mouth were, ‘Those motherf*ckers. If I was still running this place, wrestling would still be on TBS. It would still be on TNT.’”
Turner reportedly continued expressing frustration over the decision made after the AOL Time Warner merger.
“He said, ‘They are out of their minds taking off wrestling, which has been an integral part of what we’re doing.’”
Schiavone said the unexpected exchange left a lasting impression on him and reinforced his belief that WCW’s fate may have been different had Turner remained fully in control.
“I remember walking out of that and saying, ‘Wow, what an impromptu meeting that was.’”
“So it told me that he was very upset with what AOL Time Warner was doing right then. And it also told me that had Ted still been in charge of the company, we would have still been on the air.”
Turner, who founded CNN and played a major role in transforming cable television, purchased Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 and turned it into WCW, helping fuel the famous Monday Night Wars against WWE throughout the 1990s.
