Uncle Ted to the rescue?

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

http://www.411wrestling.com/news/newsboard...hp?news_id=5464

 

It appears that Ted Turner, who lost control of his TV networks (TNT, TBS, CNN, etc.) due to the AOL/Time Warner merger in 1996 may soon get the opportunity to regain control of those networks.

 

Turner has been upset about losing his power within his company for sometime now, and most believe that he will jump at the chance to regain control of his networks, which AOL Time Warner could unleash soon.

 

In the early days, Turner built up his networks largely off the success of pro-wrestling and later made WCW a worldwide powerhouse that, through some of the mid-90s, actually beat WWE in ratings, buyrates, and house show attendance. Turner was outraged when AOL Time Warner dumped WCW, allowing rival WWE to buy the promotion.

 

Over the past few years, rumors have circulated that Turner has had interest in either creating a new promotion, or working with a current one. If he regains his networks, it could open the door for wrestling to get a primetime TV slot on one of his networks. Right now, networks really have no interest in airing any wrestling (other than WWE) on high profile timeslots which has made it almost impossible for anybody to compete with WWE. Turner, through his attraction to wrestling, could change that.

 

Credit: 1wrestling.com, Showbizdata.com

 

This article seems to be letting on like it knows a lot more of AOL/TW's future plans than I'm betting anyone really does, but let's go to MakeBelieve Land for a minute and pretend this is true.

 

Anyone think Ted has a chance of reinvigorating a stagnant industry? Assuming he doesn't do something stupid like hire Vince Russo (sorry, sorry!) he could compete with TNA in a Wednesday night spot and then go serious when he launches his first after a number of months. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to go in a timeslot-against-timeslot war with Vince again right away, since not only would Turner's product have to be better than WWE's (unlikely for any startup), but it would have to be better than whatever a vast majority of the casual viewers have decided to watch instead of WWE for the past year or so.

 

Still, thoughts?

[Guest Midnight Express83]

If true, he gives TNA a TV deal they need and this way can save PPV for the BIG shows. Which would be the easiest way into the business and the best idea going.

[Guest TheGame2705]

Definitely should help out NWA-TNA.

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Definitely should help out NWA-TNA.

I donno. I wonder if TNA would be too small for Ted's plans. They pretty much feed on Smarks, and a lot of reorginization would be required in angles and whatnot to return it to a storyline that people who don't know who Dave Meltzer is would watch.

[Guest Justwitty]

I donno. I wonder if TNA would be too small for Ted's plans. They pretty much feed on Smarks, and a lot of reorginization would be required in angles and whatnot to return it to a storyline that people who don't know who Dave Meltzer is would watch.

But with Dusty, Road Warriors, Nikita, Zybysko all floating around and Raven, BG James, Jeff Jarrett and The Truth there too, they have some built-in name recognition. AJ Styles, Triple X, the rest of the X-Division and America's Most Wanted all have moves they use on a regular basis not seen often in WWE which I would assume blew away people who haven't seen it yet. (judging on my dad's reaction when I showed him TNA.) They may be too small but at the same time, they have enough pieces of the puzzle I think to provide Turner with what he wants. (this is assuming he wants an alternative to WWE, not a ripoff of...just my opinion on TNA's product btw.)

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Good point.