10 Times Backstage Politics Ruined WCW
3. Turns Out Irking Ric Flair Wasn’t Smart!
One of the other whopping misconceptions about WCW is that it only got truly silly once Russo told Vince McMahon to shove SmackDown up his butt and jumped over from the WWF in late-1999. Nothing could be further from the truth. Being real, World Championship Wrestling always had this 'are they actually trying to sabotage their own business?!' vibe to it.
Ex-Pizza Hut manager Jim Herd was Executive Vice President between 1988-1992, and he had some truly shocking ideas. Amongst them, Herd wanted top star Ric Flair to cut his hair and become a character called Spartacus. Positively flummoxed, Flair bolted to the WWF and went on to win more World Titles instead.
Herd's outrageous pitch also came when Ric was WCW World Champion, and he left for Titan with the physical belt. Some legal storms followed, but WCW still had to figure out what they were going to do next. A coming Great American Bash title match between Lex Luger and Barry Windham was a disaster that fans booed.
They wanted Flair, and they let management know all about it.
A Luger heel turn didn't do much to ease concerns that WCW was all over the place. The going in 'Legend vs. Legacy' branding on GAB posters meant nothing when Windham replaced the 'Nature Boy'. This, without going too over the top, was pretty much all Herd's doing. He'd pushed Flair out of WCW when it clearly needed him.
Ric didn't return until 1993. By that point, Jimbo was gone. Bloody Spartacus.