9 Lessons Vince McMahon Should Have Learned From Ted Turner

9. Always Have A Business Endgame In Mind

When Turner created CNN, purchased the Atlanta Braves, founded the Goodwill Games as an off-season Olympics, or bought JCP and renamed it WCW, these seemingly extravagant deals weren't just vanity projects. These were specific purchases designed to deliver original football, athletics and wrestling programming to his TV super-station. All became important investments for the business that Turner was actually in: cable television. When McMahon attempted to diversify his business with the WBF and the XFL, those were purely entrepreneurial ventures. They actively took time and cash away from the WWF, the entity that made McMahon all his money, while not providing anything to the WWF in return. Vince McMahon is in the professional wrestling business - neither the WBF or the XFL had anything to do with that business. Even if the WBF and the XFL had succeeded as business ventures, they would not have promoted or crossed over with anything WWF-related, beyond having characters from one end up on another to have eyes move to that product. Now we're a long time removed from those fiascos and the WWE Network is a Turner style move. McMahon has created, initially at a loss, the online streaming service that will carry his wrestling content, old and new. It's not going to replace the USA Network's shows any time soon, but theoretically there's nothing WWE-related that can't be broadcast on the Network. It remains to be seen whether McMahon has learned from his previous failures, however.