Best of World Championship Wrestling (a.k.a. Best of Championship Wrestling) was an hour-long Sunday evening edition of TBS' Saturday night wrestling shows, Georgia Championship Wrestling

Georgia Championship Wrestling

Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...

 and NWA World Championship Wrestling

WCW Saturday Night

WCW Saturday Night was a weekly Saturday night TV show on TBS produced by World Championship Wrestling. The program existed through various incarnations under different names before becoming WCW Saturday Night in 1992...

. The rights to Best of World Championship Wrestling now belong to World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 (WWE).

Early years

It began in the 1970s to complement GCW, which by 1984 had been renamed World Championship Wrestling. It became inactive when Vince McMahon bought GCW on July 14, 1984 (a.k.a. Black Saturday

Black Saturday (1984)

In professional wrestling, Black Saturday refers to Saturday, July 14, 1984. On that date, Vince McMahon and his World Wrestling Federation took over the Saturday night time slot on Superstation WTBS that had been home to Georgia Championship Wrestling and its flagship weekly program, World...

). When McMahon sold the Saturday Night time slot to Jim Crockett Promotions

Jim Crockett Promotions

Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...

, the Sunday edition of World Championship Wrestling was resurrected, first as Best of Championship Wrestling and later as Best of World Championship Wrestling. However, airings of Sunday editions became infrequent due to TBS' coverage of the Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....

 and the Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are part of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association .-The first years:...

.

Format

BoWCWs format was essentially a magazine format, mainly featuring re-caps of matches which had previously aired on other related programming. In addition, Bill Apter

Bill Apter

Bill Apter is a journalist specializing in professional wrestling and best known for the kayfabe or so-called "mark" magazines for which he edited and photographed matches from the 1970s to the present. The magazine he became most prominently known for was Pro Wrestling Illustrated...

, then of Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Pro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...

, had a sit-down interview segment called the PWI Scouting Report. During the show's GCW years, the show was hosted solo by Freddie Miller

Freddie Miller

Freddie G. Miller was a broadcaster and television personality in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Miller worked for Atlanta television station WXIA-TV from the 1950s to the 1970s...

. During the show's JCP years, it was hosted solo by Tony Schiavone

Tony Schiavone

Noah Anthony "Tony" Schiavone is an American sports broadcaster. He is the play-by-play broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves of the International League...

.

Notable angles

One of the most-remembered wrestling angles to air on this show was the announcement of then-NWA president Bob Geigel

Bob Geigel

Robert "Bob" Geigel is a former American professional wrestling promoter and also a former professional wrestler. Geigel ran the NWA Central States promotion between 1963 and 1986, until it was bought out by Jim Crockett Promotions...

 stripping Magnum T.A.

Magnum T.A.

Terry Wayne Allen is a retired American professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Magnum T.A..-Early years:...

 of the NWA U.S. Heavyweight Title

WWE United States Championship

The WWE United States Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE. It was originally a National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling championship, and is currently the secondary championship of the Raw brand....

 for "conduct unbecoming a champion" due to Magnum clotheslining Geigel after Geigel reprimanded him for an attack on Nikita Koloff

Nikita Koloff

Nikita Koloff is a retired American professional wrestler,. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he wrestled as "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff, which was a play on the nickname of fan favorite "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes .Nikita was brought into the National...

. This set up the famous "best-of-seven" wrestling series to fill the title vacancy. Koloff defeated Magnum 4-3 to win the vacant title.

Cancellation

In early 1988

1988 in television

The year 1988 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1988.For the American TV schedule, see: 1988-89 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:...

, Ted Turner

Ted Turner

Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...

 expressed interest in a new Sunday evening wrestling show which featured original matches. Turner got his wish when NWA Main Event

WCW Main Event

WCW Main Event is a televised wrestling program of World Championship Wrestling that aired from 1988 to 1998. For most of its run, it was the promotion's secondary show and aired on Sunday evenings on TBS. The show originally aired in 1988 as NWA Main Event...

 debuted to strong ratings

Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

. In November 1988, Jim Crockett Promotions was sold to Turner, who renamed the organization World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

.