Ex-WCW President Reveals Ric Flair Nearly Became "The Zodiac Man"

"Spartacus" was a lie, but WCW had something else in mind for Flair...

Ric Flair
WWE.com

Former WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd recently sat down for an interview with Conrad Thompson for 'Ad Free Shows'.

During the chat, Herd claimed that he never wanted to change Ric Flair's name to "Spartacus" before the legend left WCW for the WWF in 1991. That, so says Jim, is absolutely false and just a rumour that has gathered steam for almost 30 years now.

The truth is that Herd did want to switch up Ric's presentation, but not by shaving his head.

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Instead, he and other members of the booking committee toyed with the idea of turning Flair into 'The Zodiac Man'. That name was actually a temporary moniker too, because Ric would've changed monthly to reflect new promotions WCW were running; Herd stumbled his way through some fast food chat here, and almost made it sound like Flair's new gimmick would've been to hurl food tokens into the crowd after matches.

Surely, that wasn't the case, but who knows? WCW was a notorious breeding ground for some of the worst ideas in pro wrestling history.

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Herd also said that Ric "didn't like" the Zodiac concept either.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.