101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened
39. Ric Flair? Nah, Spartacus!
Ric Flair was already part of the furniture by the early-1990s. He was one of WCW's most recognisable legacy stars, and he'd built a reputation as being the most reliable World Champion in the biz not-named Hulk Hogan. So, picture the horror written all over Flair's face when boss Jim Herd told him he wanted to change everything.
Herd told Ric he should cut off his trademark blonde locks, trade his bedazzled robes for some armour and become a gladiator called Spartacus. Alarmingly, and acting as another slap across the chops for one of the greatest in-ring workers ever, Jim also wanted Flair to take a 50% pay cut along the way.
The 'Nature Boy' said no and went off to the WWF for a year or so. WCW was his natural home as a performer, but he'd been forced out by Herd's frankly crazy scheming. To put it into perspective, it'd be like Triple H deciding that Roman Reigns should cut all of his hair off, cover up his tribal tattoos, ditch the 'OTC' gimmick and become a marine called Commando, or something like that.
People would rubbish it instantly, and the person pitching it would be shot a dirty look before possibly having their desk emptied at WWE HQ. Such madness summed up early-90s WCW in a nutshell. At times, it was as though the promotion tried to eat itself alive rather than playing to its strengths.
Ric was definitely one of those strengths. In fact, he was one of the best things about WCW around that time.