WCW Saturday Night WCW Saturday Night was the weekly Saturday night TV show on TBS produced by World Championship Wrestling . History . " WCW Saturday Night " premiered on April 4 , 1992 as the showcase for the company ' s top talent . It grew out of two previous wrestling programs on TBS - Georgia Championship Wrestling , which began on the station ( then known as WTCG - TV ) in January 1972 and ran under that name until August 1982 , when it became " World Championship Wrestling " . In addition , there was also a Sunday edition of " World Championship Wrestling " ; however , in later years , Sunday editions became infrequent . In spring of 1988 , TBS replaced the Sunday edition with a new Sunday wrestling show called " NWA Main Event " . In all of its iterations , " WCW Saturday Night " would normally air for two hours . During baseball season , however , it would typically air for one hour , to be immediately followed by an Atlanta Braves game . " Georgia Championship Wrestling " . On Christmas Day of 1971 , " Georgia Championship Wrestling " aired its first show , which was considered a Christmas special , since the rest of the programming didn ' t air until late January 1972 . Beginning in 1972 , the promotion switched its television outlet from its longtime home , WQXI - TV ( now WXIA ) to an upstart UHF station then called WTCG but later renamed WTBS ( not yet a superstation , but still owned by Ted Turner ; the station in Atlanta is now WPCH - TV after being spun off from the national TBS cable channel ) . When WTBS went on satellite in 1976 , making the station available to cable systems all across the USA , the renamed Georgia Championship Wrestling became the first NWA promotion to be broadcast nationally . Many of the NWA ' s regional promoters were unhappy , but promoter Jim Barnett claimed since he was only using Georgia - based wrestlers , that there was no harm . Whether or not Barnett was in fact taking the promotion national is a matter of dispute , some wrestlers , such as Roddy Piper , say that he was in fact doing so , but prevented by fears of crossing organized crime figures involved with the sport . Throughout the 1970s , " Georgia Championship Wrestling " was one of the main shows that kept the Superstation alive . The " Georgia Championship Wrestling " TV series , hosted by Gordon Solie , was taped before a small ( yet enthusiastic ) , live in - studio audience , as were most pro wrestling TV shows of that era . The show featured wrestling matches , plus melodramatic monologues and inter - character confrontations — similar to the programming offered by other territories , including the Northeast - based World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) . " World Championship Wrestling " TV series . In 1982 , Georgia Championship Wrestling changed its main programming name to " World Championship Wrestling " . Ted Turner had requested the name change in hopes of giving the wrestling programming on the Superstation a less regional scope . Also , by this point , GCW had been running shows in " neutral " territories like Ohio and Michigan . Much like " Georgia Championship Wrestling " , " World Championship Wrestling " was taped in Atlanta , Georgia , at WTBS ' studios at 1050 Techwood Drive until 1989 , when the taping location was moved to the Center Stage Theater , in Atlanta . " Black Saturday " . On July 14 , 1984 ( a . k . a . Black Saturday ) , Vince McMahon , hoping to expand his national reach for his World Wrestling Federation ( renamed World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002 ) promotion , bought the Georgia promotion for $ 750 , 000 , retaining the " World Championship Wrestling " moniker . Freddie Miller , an announcer , was the only member of the original " Georgia Championship Wrestling " on - air cast who did not quit in protest or just get replaced by the new owner . McMahon had underestimated two major factors , however . The first was the difference in tastes between fanbases of different geographical regions . The WWF ' s soap operaish , " Sports Entertainment " style of wrestling sharply differed from that of GCW ' s more athletic , " Rasslin ' " style . Whereas the Georgia promotion featured an emphasis on in - ring action with talented workers , the WWF show featured a bunch of one - sided " squash " matches . " WWF World Championship Wrestling " was mainly used as a recap show , featuring matches which had previously aired on the WWF ' s main programming venues such as " WWF Championship Wrestling " and " WWF All - Star Wrestling " , along with house show bouts from major venues like Madison Square Garden in New York City , the Boston Garden and the Philadelphia Spectrum . This was despite the fact that McMahon had originally promised WTBS owner Ted Turner to produce original programming for the TBS timeslot in Atlanta , Georgia . In hopes of appeasing the over 1 , 000 fans who complained to the Superstation over " Black Saturday " , Turner gave Ole Anderson a 7 : 00 a . m . timeslot so that he could open up " Championship Wrestling from Georgia , Inc . " The following year , Turner gave Bill Watts ' Mid - South Wrestling a one hour timeslot on Sundays . This upset Vince McMahon , who thought that his purchase of Georgia Championship Wrestling would give him an exclusive on WTBS . Ted Turner disagreed because he felt that McMahon reneged on the aforementioned stipulation in the contract requiring him to produce a separate weekly program from Turner ' s Atlanta studio . To put things into proper perspective , Turner figured that if McMahon wasn ' t going to follow through on the deal , then Bill Watts would . Under Jim Crockett Promotions . The decline in Nielsen Ratings for the Saturday evening show , and the fans clamoring for GCW , began to make the WWF ' s move one that lost the federation money . Also around this time , it is rumored that Ted Turner attempted to purchase the WWF , though Vince McMahon refused to sell . This chain of events and McMahon ' s refusal to sell to Turner were critical in Turner ' s later decision to purchase Jim Crockett Promotions and form WCW in its wake . Eventually , McMahon cut his losses and sold the ex - GCW timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions ( JCP ) for $ 1 million in March 1985 . Jim Crockett Promotions was a Charlotte , North Carolina - based promotion run by Jim Crockett , Jr . JCP ran National Wrestling Alliance - branded shows in the Mid - Atlantic states . The deal ( in which former Georgia Championship Wrestling promoter Jim Barnett helped broker ) , however , forced the elimination of the " Mid - South Wrestling " program from the TBS schedule . Ironically , " Mid - South Wrestling " quickly became the highest - rated program on TBS . Bill Watts had positioned himself to take over the two - hour Saturday block occupied by the WWF . But ultimately JCP became the exclusive wrestling promotion for TBS . JCP retained the " World Championship Wrestling " name . Crockett filled the timeslot with two hours of original programming filmed in Ted Turner ' s Atlanta studios . The program name would also become the promotion ' s name following the purchase of JCP by Ted Turner in 1988 . " WCW Saturday Night " . As previously mentioned , " World Championship Wrestling " would be renamed " WCW Saturday Night " on April 4 , 1992 . This reflected an overhauled look and a new home studio - arena at the CNN Center . The show featured a hi - tech , futuristic design with a unique entry way of slide - open doors and billowing smoke as the performers made their way to the ring . When the show originally premiered , it was hosted by Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura . In later years , Tony Schiavone , Bobby Heenan , Larry Zbyszko , Dusty Rhodes ( who affectionately referred to " Saturday Night " as " The Mothership " ) , Gene Okerlund , Scott Hudson , Mike Tenay , and Lee Marshall handled the show ' s announcing duties and backstage interviews . In the summer of 1996 , " WCW Saturday Night " was taped at " WCW Pro " ' s Disney - MGM Studios set in Orlando , Florida due to all of Turner ' s mobile production units being used by other broadcasters for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta . The New World Order ( nWo ) did their own version of " WCW Saturday Night " in late 1996 called nWo Saturday Night . Live episodes . Episodes of " WCW Saturday Night " were usually filmed well in advance , with the exception of three live editions . " WCW Saturday Night " aired three live shows in its history . The first one aired July 10 , 1994 . Sting wrestled Ric Flair as voted on by fans . Hulk Hogan made his first in - studio appearance , and he and Sting were attacked by Sherri Martel in drag . The second aired from downtown Charlotte , North Carolina , on May 27 , 1995 . It started raining halfway through the show , causing the ring mat to become slippery at times . The third live airing took place on August 10 , 1996 , from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis , South Dakota . The show took place right before the " Hog Wild " pay - per - view event , which was held on a Saturday night instead of the usual Sunday night slot for WCW pay - per - views . Hence , " WCW Saturday Night " was used as a lead - in to the pay - per - view show , much like " WCW Main Event " was used as a lead - in for Sunday pay - per - views until 1996 . Decline . When WCW introduced live programs " Monday Nitro " and " Thunder " , " Saturday Night " became WCW ' s " C - show " ( like " WWE ' s " " Sunday Night Heat " ) . The majority of airtime would be used to display up - and - comers and recent graduates of the WCW Power Plant ( with the occasional squash match ) as well recapping the major events of the other shows . The main event would often feature mid - card performers such as the current Cruiserweight Champion , World Television Champion , or U . S . Heavyweight Champion in a non - title match . The end . In July 2000 , the name of the show was changed to WCW Saturday Morning , which coincided with a change to an earlier timeslot and a new format : rather than feature new matches , " Saturday Morning " simply recapped the past week ' s " Monday Nitro " and " Thunder " . On June 24 , 2000 , " WCW Saturday Night " aired for the last time . On August 19 , 2000 , the last episode of " Saturday Morning " aired .