Black Saturday (professional wrestling)

McMahon's purchase led to a longstanding rivalry between himself and WTBS owner Ted Turner, who later bought GCW's successor on the network Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) and formed his own company under the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) name.

From that date, GCW's program aired for two hours (from 6:00-8:00pm, and later from 6:05-8:05pm following the introduction of the "Turner Time" scheduling format in 1981) every Saturday night.

The only other cable deal available at the moment was the one GCW had with WTBS; if McMahon was able to acquire this time slot, he would hold a monopoly on all nationally televised professional wrestling in the United States.

McMahon approached the Brisco brothers and Jim Barnett, the fourth owner of GCW, and discussed a potential sale.

The July 14 program opened with show co-host Freddie Miller (Solie was absent for reasons never made clear; he either resigned in protest or was terminated following the purchase, as were many other people involved with the former GCW regime) introducing McMahon and welcoming the WWF to WTBS.

First, Turner made an offer to Bill Watts, a promoter who ran Mid-South Wrestling out of Oklahoma, to take a Sunday afternoon timeslot on WTBS.

[6] McMahon was not happy with either of Turner's decisions, thinking his control of GCW would make the WWF the exclusive wrestling company on WTBS.

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.

Turner's decision to give timeslots to Watts and Anderson indirectly led to other wrestling promotions gaining national cable television contracts.

Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) debuted on ESPN in 1985 and aired on the network until the company folded in 1991.