"He made everybody's lives miserable" - Ric Flair opens up about difficult time in his career
Ric Flair recently hit out at Jim Herd for alienating the locker room during his tenure as WCW Executive Vice President.
Herd has received a lot of criticism for the ideas he pitched during his time in the role, which he held between 1989 and 1992. The former executive once famously suggested that Flair should cut his blond hair and change his name to Spartacus.
Speaking on his Wooooo Nation Uncensored podcast, Flair said Herd “messed up” contract negotiations with Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. The 16-time world champion also recalled how he could not tolerate being in his former boss’ presence.
“You would not believe how Herd alienated people," said Flair. "He made everybody’s lives miserable... Jim Ross got along with him because Jim Ross went and drank with him. I couldn’t listen to him bulls*** so I never drank with him to socialize. It was just separated. This booking committee thing was such a bunch of cr*p.” [6:45-7:25]
Former WCW commentator Mark Madden is the co-host of Ric Flair’s podcast. He added that Herd was “wholly unqualified” to run a wrestling company and should have focused on financial matters instead of storylines.
How Vince McMahon recruited Ric Flair to WWE from WCW
🏻30 years ago today, Ric Flair won the 1992 Royal Rumble and the vacant WWF Championship 🙌🏻 https://t.co/wS4HYmN2Yr
Ric Flair joined WWE in August 1991 after Jim Herd controversially fired him just two weeks before WCW’s Great American Bash pay-per-view.
Reflecting on his decision to join WWE, Flair said Vince McMahon did not make any promises before hiring him:
“He said I would make more money than I made in WCW, we shook hands, and I was there," Flair continued. "No contract, just happy to be there. I had friends in both companies, always, but I was just happy to be there.” [6:15-6:30]
Five months after joining WWE, Flair won the WWE Championship for the first time in the 1992 Royal Rumble match. The 72-year-old added that he had no concerns about McMahon’s booking and knew the WWE Chairman would respect his work.
Please credit Wooooo Nation UNCENSORED and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.