Black Saturday refers to Saturday, July 14, 1984, the day when Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation took over the time slot on Superstation WTBS that had been home to Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and its flagship weekly program, World Championship Wrestling, for 12 years. McMahon's purchase led to a longstanding rivalry between himself and WTBS owner Ted Turner, who later bought GCW's successor Jim Crockett Promotions and formed his own company under the World Championship Wrestling name.
Later in 1984, McMahon decided that, as part of his continued expansion, the WWF needed a second national cable outlet for its weekly programming. The only other national cable deal available at the moment was the one GCW had with TBS; should McMahon acquire this outlet, he would control all nationally-televised professional wrestling in the United States. As such, he approached Turner with an offer to buy the Saturday night GCW time slot. Turner, however, refused his offer almost immediately, and McMahon was forced to find another method to achieve his goal.
McMahon found that method shortly after his rejection by Turner. While GCW's programming had a loyal fan base and was fairly popular, things were not as great for the promotion behind the scenes. The source of the problem was Ole Anderson, who had begun to alienate his fellow owners with his booking and operation of the company. Seeing this turmoil, McMahon approached the Brisco brothers and Jim Barnett, who agreed to sell their shares in GCW to McMahon. This gave the WWF a majority stake in GCW and put it in control of the Saturday night World Championship Wrestling show.
However, unlike World Championship Wrestling, which been a weekly show from the TBS studios in Atlanta, the WWF's TBS show at first consisted solely of highlights from the WWF's USA and syndicated programming, as well as house show clips from Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden, and most of the other major arenas it did business in. This was in direct violation of a promise McMahon had made at the time of the purchase to provide original programming for TBS, including having shows taped at the TBS studios.
The WWF show on TBS was a ratings disaster from the start. GCW's core audience began writing and calling TBS in droves, furious over the fact that GCW was no longer airing on the station and demanding to know why. Thousands of complaints were received, many of which focused on the loss of Gordon Solie.Turner himself was angered by the sinking ratings and made two decisions that would fix the ratings problem.
First, Turner made an offer to Bill Watts, a promoter who ran Mid South Wrestling out of Oklahoma, to take a Sunday afternoon time slot on TBS.Turner then gave Ole Anderson's Championship Wrestling from Georgia, an NWA-affiliated promotion regarded as the successor to GCW with Gordon Solie as its announcer, a weekly time slot on Saturday mornings.McMahon was not happy with either of Turner's decisions
, thinking his control of GCW would make the WWF the exclusive wrestling company on TBS. Both Mid South Wrestling and Championship Wrestling from Georgia outdid the WWF in ratings. 
Losing money on the deal and desperately looking for help,McMahon turned to Jim Barnett.
He directed McMahon to NWA President Jim Crockett, Jr., the owner of Jim Crockett Promotions, which promoted wrestling shows in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. At the time, Crockett was trying to counter the WWF's national expansion by unifying the remaining NWA territories that McMahon had not driven out of business into one nationwide unit. Crockett, who had just bought out Ole Anderson's Georgia promotion, bought the World Championship Wrestling program from McMahon for $1 million (US) and returned NWA programming to TBS. This promotion would eventually become the modern World Championship Wrestling (WCW) when Turner bought the promotion from Crockett in 1988 and later withdrew it from the NWA.
Billionare Ted was a fukking thorn in cokeboy's side for a while.
Later in 1984, McMahon decided that, as part of his continued expansion, the WWF needed a second national cable outlet for its weekly programming. The only other national cable deal available at the moment was the one GCW had with TBS; should McMahon acquire this outlet, he would control all nationally-televised professional wrestling in the United States. As such, he approached Turner with an offer to buy the Saturday night GCW time slot. Turner, however, refused his offer almost immediately, and McMahon was forced to find another method to achieve his goal.
McMahon found that method shortly after his rejection by Turner. While GCW's programming had a loyal fan base and was fairly popular, things were not as great for the promotion behind the scenes. The source of the problem was Ole Anderson, who had begun to alienate his fellow owners with his booking and operation of the company. Seeing this turmoil, McMahon approached the Brisco brothers and Jim Barnett, who agreed to sell their shares in GCW to McMahon. This gave the WWF a majority stake in GCW and put it in control of the Saturday night World Championship Wrestling show.
However, unlike World Championship Wrestling, which been a weekly show from the TBS studios in Atlanta, the WWF's TBS show at first consisted solely of highlights from the WWF's USA and syndicated programming, as well as house show clips from Madison Square Garden, Boston Garden, and most of the other major arenas it did business in. This was in direct violation of a promise McMahon had made at the time of the purchase to provide original programming for TBS, including having shows taped at the TBS studios.
The WWF show on TBS was a ratings disaster from the start. GCW's core audience began writing and calling TBS in droves, furious over the fact that GCW was no longer airing on the station and demanding to know why. Thousands of complaints were received, many of which focused on the loss of Gordon Solie.Turner himself was angered by the sinking ratings and made two decisions that would fix the ratings problem.
First, Turner made an offer to Bill Watts, a promoter who ran Mid South Wrestling out of Oklahoma, to take a Sunday afternoon time slot on TBS.Turner then gave Ole Anderson's Championship Wrestling from Georgia, an NWA-affiliated promotion regarded as the successor to GCW with Gordon Solie as its announcer, a weekly time slot on Saturday mornings.McMahon was not happy with either of Turner's decisions
, thinking his control of GCW would make the WWF the exclusive wrestling company on TBS. Both Mid South Wrestling and Championship Wrestling from Georgia outdid the WWF in ratings. Losing money on the deal and desperately looking for help,McMahon turned to Jim Barnett.
He directed McMahon to NWA President Jim Crockett, Jr., the owner of Jim Crockett Promotions, which promoted wrestling shows in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. At the time, Crockett was trying to counter the WWF's national expansion by unifying the remaining NWA territories that McMahon had not driven out of business into one nationwide unit. Crockett, who had just bought out Ole Anderson's Georgia promotion, bought the World Championship Wrestling program from McMahon for $1 million (US) and returned NWA programming to TBS. This promotion would eventually become the modern World Championship Wrestling (WCW) when Turner bought the promotion from Crockett in 1988 and later withdrew it from the NWA.Billionare Ted was a fukking thorn in cokeboy's side for a while.
