Few people have had as memorable a career as Ric Flair as he’s collected nearly accolade possible. But this day in wrestling history is slightly different as June 1, 1991 marked the end of an era in more ways than one.
Jim Herd experience
Jim Herd is one of those names that’s grumbled about or cursed more than many others in the professional wrestling ranks, and for good reason. Jim Cornette has blasted him on numerous occasions just as Ric Flair and others have done.
He’s credited with chasing away some of the top talent the NWA turned WCW had, and as such, the company would only have roughly two profitable years out of its final ten, according to reports. One such person was Ric Flair, who was fired on this day in wrestling history.
Ric Flair touched on this in his book, To Be The Man:
(Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the excerpt)
“I refused to accept the contract renewal terms WCW had offered so now I was working without any kind of binding agreement. Jim Herd initially wanted me to lose the championship to Lex Luger at The Great American Bash on July 4, 1991. But he must have gotten frightened that I would refuse because he asked me to lose to Barry Windham three days earlier at a TV taping in Macon, Georgia. Then the company reasoned, Luger could beat Barry at the Bash and become WCW’s Hulk Hogan who, coincidentally, had recently won back the World Wrestling Federation Championship at WrestleMania VII.
“I was ready to leave for Macon and drop the title when a termination notice was faxed to my attorney. As I was walking out the door, Herd called me and said, ‘Fuck it. You’re fired. You’ll have your release. You’re fired now.’ Herd offered to have WCW’s head of security, Doug Dellinger, come over to my house and pick up the championship belt. I said, ‘Well, tell Doug to bring my check and he’ll have it.’
“Herd knew damn well that the NWA champion always put down a $25,000 deposit when he won the title then received his money back when the reign ended. Because I kept winning the title again and again, I had never bothered collecting. But if my relationship with the company was over, I wanted the deposit plus interest. And that interest was pretty significant; when I finally did receive a check later on, the amount was $38,000.
“’You guys owe me my money and I don’t trust you.’ We were at that level of communication. ‘Call Barnett. He knows all about it.’ ‘Fuck Barnett. And fuck you,’ he said. ‘You are an incompetent, overbearing, fucking asshole. And I promise you that after I leave, you’ll be fired within three months. I’ll come back and you’ll be gone,’ I replied. I sent the championship belt to Vince McMahon the next day.”
WCW Championship on WWE television
Because of the WCW championship belt in his possession, Flair appeared on WWE (then WWF) television with the belt, which confused and upset plenty of fans that felt he was a traitor for doing so.
In an interesting twist of fate, Alundra Blayze caused all sorts of heat when she took the WWF Women’s Championship to WCW Nitro and dropped in a trash can on live TV — On Eric Bischoff’s urging and after Vince McMahon chose to fire her while she was champion. Kind of fitting how things tend to come back like that.
While WCW would last another ten years before being bought by Vince McMahon, Ric Flair continued his storied career before finally retiring seventeen years later after losing to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania, creating another this day in wrestling history.
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