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NY Post Article:
Turner Pinned To The Mat
Ted Turner is getting body-slammed in the world of professional wrestling. Seeking to keep his floundering World Championship Wrestling in the ring with Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federations ,Turner Yesterday booted WCW President Eric Bischoff.
A company spokesman refused to comment why Bischoff was let go, but said his ”role in the organazation will be shared in the coming weeks.” The sudden departure of WCW’ s head honcho did not surprise industry analysts, who say Turner’s WCW is desperately trying to get out of its recent ratings slump.
There’s no question WWF has moved to the forefront in recent years,” said Bill Carroll, vice president of programming for media buyer Katz Television group.
A large conglomerate like Time Warner has to look at where they are, where they want to be and take appropriate action to get there,”Carroll added.
Carroll said it was unlikely that WCW, which is generally known in business for staying within Time Warner’s “all-family” entertainment guidelines, would drastically alter its programming in an effort to steal some of WWF’s expanding audience.
WWF does whatever the audience tells them to do. They’re more sensational with more sexual overtones and more scantily clad female character .WCW is more about the competition. I would imagine WCW will try and exploit what they do well rather than try and imitate WWF.”
Bischoff is credited with bringing in one-time WWF pillars Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man”Randy Savage, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall a move that immediately boosted ratings.
However, success didn’t last too long as “Nitro” WCW’ s top-rated program now pulls in about half the amount of viewers as its rival on Monday nights.
Last week, WWF sports entertainment on USA Network pulled in 6.63 million viewers,according to Nielsen Media Research, while “WCW Monday Nitro Live”on TNT grabbed a mere 4.05.
Insiders say it was Bischoff penchant for over spending that got him the ax, as he often blocked booked mega rock groups like kiss and Megadeath
To perform on the show but didn’t get the viewers.
WCW insider Bill Busch 35 a finance specialist has been tapped as an executive vice president and will immediately assume control of the day-to-day business and creative operations a company spokesman said.
We are excited about the leadership and ability of Bill Busch to further develop the growth of World Championship Wrestling,” said Turner Sport President Harvey Schiller.
The Unwrapped Undertaker
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