Vince McMahon's national expansion of the then-World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1984 included buying away a primo Saturday night berth on SuperStation TBS that for years had belonged to Jim Crockett Promotions for Georgia Championship Wrestling. I have to tell you, I was stunned one night that summer, flipping on TBS, expecting to see GCW (the forerunner to WCW), but finding reruns of McMahon's programming instead.
Before the year was over, veteran wrestler Ole Anderson took it upon himself to counter McMahon by mounting a new version of GCW, under the name, Championship Wrestling From Georgia, which aired around 8:05 am (ET), as memory serves. Hall of Fame announcer Gordon Solie was at the microphone, often accompanied early on by Anderson. Less than a year in, McMahon gave up the Saturday night berth on TBS, and the morning show faded away, leaving the rebooted World Championship Wrestling in its place, and it would remain a Saturday night institution on TBS until 2001, when WCW folded, absorbed by McMahon.
Here's a sample clip, featuring some well known faces, including Jerry "The King" Lawler.
Once Ted Turner, then the owner of TBS, bought WCW, he expanded its television programming for a while, including a new Saturday morning show.
Rating: A-.
2 comments:
Probably the one good thing Ole Anderson ever did besides take part in the Four Horsemen was to start up Championship Wrestling From Georgia just to keep the original product intact. Then after the fans continued to tune into CWfG and tune out McMahon's reruns, Vince sold out and Ole had won.
I think that, in a nutshell, this explains why Ole was not considered for the Hall of Fame while the other founding Horsemen went in. Not only that, but knowing Vince, he doesn't like admitting defeat or weakness under any circumstances, and there is heat between him & Anderson, perhaps stemming from this.
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