Summary

WWE opened the May 9 edition of SmackDown with an on-screen "In Memory Of Ted Turner" graphic following Turner's death at 87 earlier this week.

Turner was one of the most influential media figures ever connected to pro wrestling. Along with launching CNN, he also built the Turner networks that carried wrestling into millions of homes for decades.

AEW also honored Turner on the May 6 episode of Dynamite earlier in the week.

Ted Turner's place in wrestling history

Turner's name still carries weight in wrestling because his television empire helped make nationally distributed wrestling a bigger part of the American sports and entertainment landscape. A tribute from WWE, years after the Monday Night War era, underscored how broad that impact was across the industry.

The graphic also stood out because Turner is so closely tied to WCW history. WWE choosing to acknowledge him on SmackDown reflected the scale of his influence beyond any one company.

Sources

As reported by Fightful