Ted Turner Dead, Former WCW Owner & Monday Night Wars Vet Dies At 87

On May 6, 2026, professional wrestling said goodbye to one of the most important names in the history of the business. CNN reports that its founder, media mogul, philanthropist, and former owner of World Championship Wrestling Ted Turner has died, surrounded by his family. He was 87 years old.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 19, 1938, most of the world will remember Turner as the cable television pioneer who created TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, and CNN, as well as a film producer, creator of the United Nations Foundation, the former owner of Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves, and ex-husband of actress Jane Fonda. But Turner was just as important to the world of pro wrestling, developing an affinity for it back in the early 1970s, when Georgia Championship Wrestling became one of the first big hits on Turner's TBS Superstation.

After the infamous Black Saturday incident in 1984 that saw WWE take over GCW's timeslot, Turner would take a more active role in wrestling, putting Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling on the Superstation, and later orchestrating WWE selling its timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions, beginning a long-term rivalry between Turner and WWE's Vince McMahon. Four years later, amidst JCP's financial troubles, Turner stepped in and purchased the promotion from Jim Crockett Jr., rebranding the promotion as World Championship Wrestling.

Though largely a hands-off owner, Turner saw WCW become the #2 promotion in the US during the late 1980s and early 1990s, was instrumental in keeping WCW on the air despite skepticism from other Turner executives, and greenlit Eric Bischoff's pitch for "WCW Monday Nitro" in 1995, kicking off the Monday Night Wars. WCW would briefly overtake WWE as the #1 promotion in the US from 1996 to 1998, and the Monday Night Wars deepened the rivalry between Turner and McMahon, who would even openly mock Turner on air with the "Billionaire Ted" skits.

Despite the merger between Turner Broadcasting System and Time Warner in October 1996, Turner maintained significant influence over programs airing on TBS and TNT, allowing him to advocate for WCW even as the promotion began to decline in popularity in 1999 and 2000. By 2001, however, Turner's power and influence was largely eradicated by Time Warner's merger with America Online. With WCW losing popularity and money, AOL/Time Warner canceled the promotion's TV deals soon after, allowing McMahon to buy WCW in March 2001, removing Turner from the wrestling business.

WCW's sale ended Turner's time in the wrestling business. Though former Turner executive Harvey Schiller would later claim in the WWE produced "Rise and Fall of WCW" documentary that Turner would still love to be involved in wrestling, no evidence has emerged that the mogul seriously pursued re-entering wrestling. During his latter years, Turner largely retreated from the public eye, particularly as he suffered from health issues, though he was spotted celebrating his 85th birthday with family and friends just two years ago.