Former WCW boss Ted Turner passes away at 87
Ted Turner, the business icon who helped shape American media as we know it, has passed away at 87 years old.
His death was announced on Wednesday via a news release from Turner Enterprises. CNN, which Turner founded, credited him for being a media maverick and philanthropist who revolutionized television news by introducing the 24-hour cable channel.
Turner is also one of the most important figures in professional wrestling history. He first aired wrestling on TV in Atlanta in the early 1970s, with Turner later purchasing Jim Crockett Promotions and bringing it under the Turner Broadcasting umbrella. Turner was always credited for seeing the value in wrestling programming while other media executives were prone to writing it off. While largely hands-off on the actual product, he allowed WCW to grow on TBS/TNT to a point where it overtook WWE for a period of time during the Monday Night Wars. WCW remained on those stations until 2001, when the promotion closed its doors amid the ill-fated AOL/Time Warner merger. Turner was no longer the head of Turner Broadcasting at that time.
During the 1990s, Turner was frequently mentioned on WWE television with Vince McMahon choosing to portray himself as the underdog going against one of the most well-known businessmen in the world in Turner. WWE aired “Billionaire Ted” skits where a parody of Turner did not know anything about “rasslin” and just wanted to rip off WWE and push aging former stars like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.
Pro wrestling on TBS/TNT is a tradition that was revived in 2019 with AEW launching its weekly programming.
Turner’s death comes nearly eight years after he disclosed that he was battling Lewy body dementia, which causes a progressive decline in mental abilities. It is the most common form of dementia aside from Alzheimer’s disease.
Ted Turner, the billionaire media entrepreneur and philanthropist who launched the 24-hour cable TV news revolution when he founded CNN in 1980, has died. He was 87. https://t.co/CboJPpPBiC pic.twitter.com/DOKk9QM120
— CNN (@CNN) May 6, 2026
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.