TNT in 2001

By Scott Keith on October 4, 2019

Hey Scott,

With TNT airing wrestling tonight for the first time in more than 18 years, what was the reason for them not allowing Bischoff to purchase WCW along with a timeslot on the network? I know ratings were down from the peak, but it had to do better numbers than most of their shows at the time, no? Or was it more AOL Time Warner not wanting to be associated with wrestling?

Nobody in the company but Ted Turner wanted wrestling on their stations and in fact TBS had tried to divest themselves of the WCW albatross many times over the years. Once Turner was out and the merger took place, WCW was as good as dead. Plus no matter how good the ratings still were, you can always run a movie or rerun of Family Guy that will do similar numbers and draw better advertiser money. That was their philosophy at the time.

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