Ted Turner gave up his attempt to take Southern-fried wrestling nationwide Thursday, selling World Championship Wrestling, whose aging stars couldn't compete with the lurid storylines and catchphrase-spouting youngsters of the World Wrestling Federation.
WCW, once a Southern-only circuit with stopovers in places like Augusta, Ga., and Greenville, S.C., became the No. 1 pro wrestling brand after Turner spent millions to lure away established WWF wrestlers like Hulk Hogan.
But the WWF, which airs on UPN and TNN, wrenched the top spot back by promoting young stars like The Rock and salacious plots involving everything from a wrestler marrying the owner's daughter to a wrestler impregnating an elderly woman.
Turner cable stations likely will continue airing WCW matches but leave programming and marketing to New York-based Fusient Media Ventures, which bought WCW for an undisclosed amount. Fusient is run by Brian Bedol and Stephen Greenberg, founders of Classic Sports Network. The pair sold the network to the ESPN division of the Walt Disney Co. in October 1997. It's now ESPN Classic.
Age was widely perceived as the toughest challenge facing the WCW -- dubbed "wheelchair wrestling" by many. Two of its biggest stars -- balding Hulk Hogan and the "Nature Boy," Ric Flair -- are about 50 in an industry whose average fan is under 30.
Ratings dove for WCW pay-per-view programs and weekly shows "Monday Nitro" on TNT and "Thunder" on TBS. The company lost an estimated $80 million last year.
The losses have been too much for parent company Time Warner, which is getting in shape for its planned merger with America Online. An effort in March to revive the WCW by bringing back its former head Eric Bischoff failed.
Bischoff promised a total revamping, signing on former WWF writer Vince Russo, who helped make the Connecticut-based WWF a ratings winner with bikini-clad sidekicks and profanity.
The changes didn't help. The publisher of Wrestling Observer newsletter, Dave Meltzer, said the damage was done. WCW should have injected a slew of younger, better-looking wrestlers while the ratings were high and fans still cared, he said.
"What killed them was they had a star-studded crew, and they didn't change that star-studded crew," Meltzer said. "It's like the music business. If you were a music company, you couldn't have your Mick Jaggers selling all your albums year after year, even if he's more talented and has more experience than the newer bands. You have to constantly create new talent."
Speaking of the sale Thursday, Turner and Fusient executives said big changes are ahead for WCW programs and that fans could notice new plots and wrestlers as soon as this spring.
"Wrestling fans can rest assured that we will give the WCW the adrenaline shot it needs to once again become the most exciting brand of wrestling in the world," said Bischoff, who will remain president of WCW.
Bedol promised that efforts to inject excitement into the WCW won't mean the franchise will attempt to be even bawdier than the WWF.
"We don't believe that you have to cater to the lowest common denominator to succeed here," Bedol said. "But there's no doubt audiences get sick of seeing the same things, and it's up to us to keep them engaged."<
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