Jim Herd, former WCW boss who famously fired Ric Flair, dies at 87
His success was not lost on his old friend Jack Petrik, who was now in charge of overseeing Ted Turner’s latest acquisition, Jim Crockett Promotions, which was to be renamed WCW.
Key points
- On Jim Herd’s watch, Big Van Vader, the Great Muta, Scott Steiner and Terry Funk all came into WCW.
- (No, really.) Nobody loved the idea of renaming Ric Flair “Spartacus” or presenting Kevin Nash as “Oz,” as a way to promote Turner’s new investment into old films, either.
- But why do we judge Jim Herd purely on his stupidest ideas, including those which never saw the light of day, like Spartacus or the hunchbacks?
He is best remembered as the guy who fired Ric Flair after contract talks broke down in July 1991.
Imo’s Pizza had dominated the market for years and the corporate juggernaut Pizza Hut couldn’t crack the market, so they hired Herd, who at the time was a Station Manager for KPLR-TV in St.
Additional details
- That led to “The Nature Boy” jumping to the WWF and the earth-shattering visual of Flair appearing on WWF TV with the WCW/NWA Big Gold Belt.
- WWE via Getty Images Herd did it in his first calendar year with WCW, alongside wrestling’s first-ever “shoe deal,” (even if it was Roos).
- (Mercifully, he was talked out of it, like Herd was with the hunchbacks.) We don’t dismiss all the great storylines Vince produced purely because, as Bruce Prichard recalled, the WWF considered bringing in literal murderer O.J.
- Flair from 1989, was also on Jim Herd’s watch.
- Everyone in wrestling has had fun with Herd’s idea about introducing a tag-team of “hunchbacks,” with the asinine idea that their imagined disfigurement would make them impossible to pin.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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