12. WCW Fires Ric Flair
WWE.com
Date: July 1991 This is actually multiple moments in one. A few months before Flair was fired, he began battling with then-WCW President Jim Herd over changes that Herd wanted to implement in the Ric Flair character. Herd wanted Flair to wear a diamond earring, shave his head, and change his name to Spartacus. Only God knows why, but that's what he wanted. Flair refused, they clashed, and Herd fired him. Oh, and by the way, Flair was the WCW World Champion and the company's clear top draw at the time. Flair left for the WWF with the WCW World Title belt still in his possession, saying that his $25,000 belt deposit had not been returned to him by WCW, so the belt itself was technically his. At the upcoming Great American Bash pay-per-view on July 14th, Flair was supposed to defend the title against Lex Luger, but in his absence, Luger took on Barry Windham for the vacated WCW World Title (a Championship Wrestling From Florida belt with a metal plate attached to it saying "WCW World Heavyweight Champion", since the company couldn't get a replacement title belt in time for the event. Luger would go on to win the title, his first reign, and Flair, of course, would soon go on to win the 1992 Royal Rumble to become the WWF Champion. It was a messy situation for WCW that would backfire on Jim Herd, as WCW fans all across the country were irate, and would continue chanting for Flair until he eventually returned to the company in February 1993. It was also jarring to watch Flair competing on WWF television after so many years of carrying the NWA and WCW flags.