Former WCW executive Jim Herd has died aged 87, with his passing last month only becoming public this week after Conrad Thompson reported it
Former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) executive Jim Herd has died at the age of 87. While Herd passed away last month, news of his death only became public this week after wrestling podcaster Conrad Thompson reported it in his column for Yahoo Sports.
No specific cause of death has been disclosed. “He is best remembered as the guy who fired Ric Flair after contract talks broke down in July 1991,” Thompson wrote.
“That led to ‘The Nature Boy’ jumping to the WWF and the earth-shattering visual of Flair appearing on WWF TV with the WCW/NWA Big Gold Belt.” He continued: “History, it is said, is written by the winners.
“It’s also decided by those with the loudest voices.”
Thompson wrote that for more than three decades Herd’s WCW run has been widely mocked by figures like Ric Flair, Dave Meltzer, Jim Cornette and many WCW wrestlers in shoot interviews.
Thompson wrote that Herd was dismissed as “the pizza guy” because he’d been an executive for a company that owned 68 Pizza Hut restaurants, despite real business success in St. Louis.
With Imo’s Pizza dominating the market, Pizza Hut hired Herd from KPLR-TV, and he used his advertising and TV expertise to turn the stores around financially.
This success caught the attention of Herd’s friend Jack Petrik, who later oversaw Ted Turner’s acquisition of Jim Crockett Promotions, soon to be renamed WCW.
According to the podcaster, Jack Petrick didn’t hire Herd to fix wrestling storylines, but to act as a business executive and turn Jim Crockett Promotions’ losses into profits.
Under Herd, WCW landed a Coors beer sponsorship – something Vince McMahon long viewed as a “holy grail” category – and noted WWE didn’t secure an official beer sponsor until 2020.
As per Thompson, these deals boosted Turner’s bottom line. “And I’ll also defend Mr. Herd on the creative side,“ he penned.
He continued: “Seeing as I am sort of writing the first draft of Jim’s obituary, I want to also address the biggest knock against his WCW run: He fired Ric Flair. Most people know Ric was a dear friend before he became my father-in-law.
“Like most wrestling fans my age, I was a huge Ric Flair fan, but a promoter not seeing eye to eye with their top star is hardly a situation unique to Herd and Flair.
“McMahon’s rocky relationship with Hulk Hogan comes to mind. Jim Herd was hired to stop WCW losing money. As much as we don’t love the way it reads, it’s the truth that WCW never turned a profit with Ric Flair as their top star.”
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