Former World Championship Wrestling boss Jim Herd died at the age of 87.
The news of Herd’s death, which occurred in October, was first reported by Conrad Thompson in a column for Yahoo Sports.
Herd was named Executive Vice President of WCW after Ted Turner acquired Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 and held the post until he resigned in 1992.
He left a complicated legacy in the business, as his on-screen creative ideas were widely criticized, but he was instrumental in the business side of WCW through promotional deals such as a Coors Beer sponsorship, action figures and trading cards.
He is most remembered for his tense relationship with the legendary Ric Flair, WCW’s biggest star at the time. Herd reportedly wanted to repackage the “Nature Boy” as a Roman-style gladiator, “Spartacus.” Flair said it was Herd who wanted him to cut his hair at the time.
Herd, in a 2020 interview with Thompson, called him wanting to change Flair’s gimmick a lie, saying it was something that was likely thrown out in a creative meeting but never considered. It still led to a rift between the two and led to his firing of Flair during a contract dispute in July 1991.
Flair would go off and join the rival WWF at the time and became WWF champion by winning the 1992 Royal Rumble. He returned to WCW in 1993.
With the lows of Kevin Nash as Oz, the Ding Dongs and the Hunchbacks tag team, Herd did have some creative wins with the famed trilogy between Flair and Ricky Steamboat and Sting’s first world title win amid the company’s financial struggles.
Herd was a successful businessman before taking over WCW, working as the station manager of KPLR-TV in St. Louis. He produced the then-popular “Wrestling at the Chase” for the station. He was also the regional manager for a company that owned 68 Pizza Huts, helping turn those businesses around before going to work for Turner.
