It appears that TNT wanted out of their deal with WCW much earlier than previously thought, and Lex Luger reveals when he realized it.
Former WCW World Champion Lex Luger recently appeared on Stories with Briscoe and Bradshaw and revealed that in 1997, he believed it was just a matter of time before TNT got out of their deal with WCW.
“I went to this big event at the opening of the old [Atlanta] Braves stadium at the time. It was opening like ‘97. They had all the big executives come in for TBS, TNT, all the big advertisers. They had this ice sculpture, shrimp, and lobster. They had it overlooking the Braves stadium. It was quite the setting. I was in there with all these suit and tie guys. I was kind of just like something for them to look at. They laid out the vision for TBS and TNT because AOL Time Warner had come in on the business merger there. We were like their black sheep. Pro Wrestling got really good ratings.
“The top guys at the top of CNN Tower with the big windows and the big desks were all there laying it out. They talked about where they were going with TNT and where they wanted to go with TBS. They were talking to the big advertisers, Coca-Cola and all of them. They laid out Hill Street Blues and all these programs they were going to be putting on and what they were going to do with the vision of the networks. They didn’t mention one word about wrestling. I went home to my wife that night and said, ‘Peg, I don’t think Turner’ – and Ted was always the guy, but now it’s AOL Time Warner – and I said, ‘Peg, if our ratings ever drop, we’re gone. They have no desire to carry wrestling on their program. That is not in their plan. I was a conversation piece at that event. They are not going to keep wrestling.”
(h/t to Cultaholic for the transcriptions)
