Summary

AEW opened the May 6 episode of Dynamite with a tribute to Ted Turner, bringing Tony Schiavone to the ring before Sting joined him for the segment.

Schiavone spoke about Turner's death and his long relationship with professional wrestling, then introduced Sting. From there, Sting remembered Turner as a wealthy supporter who genuinely loved the wrestling business and stood behind the people working for him.

The tribute ended with Sting and Schiavone leading a ten-bell salute in the ring.

How the Dynamite tribute unfolded

The on-air memorial followed AEW's earlier dedication of the show to Ted Turner, but this segment gave the moment a more personal wrestling voice. Schiavone had a direct connection to Turner's WCW era, and Sting was one of the defining stars of that period, so AEW used two familiar figures from that history to frame the opening.

Sting also shared a story about Turner telling wrestlers to keep doing what they were doing even when the company was losing money, pointing to the kind of financial commitment that helped WCW grow into a major national force.

What Ted Turner's legacy means for AEW

Opening Dynamite this way tied AEW's present directly to Turner's place in wrestling history. Turner helped make national cable wrestling a much bigger part of the business, and AEW still airs on the same Turner family of networks that once carried WCW.

Using Sting and Schiavone for the tribute also gave the segment extra weight for longtime fans, because both men are strongly linked to the era when Turner-backed wrestling changed the industry.

Sources

As reported by Fightful