Post by Dan Poutsma on Jul 9, 2006 20:56:06 GMT -5
Flair did't pay for the belt, Jim Crockett did and he supposedly gave it to Ric as a gift. This is the story according to both George South and Nelson Royal, as Nelson actually turned Crockett onto the person or people who would go onto make the belt as it was the same outfit that made his rodeo belt buckles. Another story floating around is that Crockett gave Flair ownership of the belt as part of a contract settlement when Crockett's debts started to overwhelm him.
Regardless, WCW was apparently under the impression that the belt was theirs as it was allegedly one of the assets purchased when Turner bought Crockett Promotions. That's why Herd told Flair he would send Doug Dellinger to get the belt afer he fired him. Flair was willing to give it up, so long as WCW gave him back the NWA deposit that was never returned to him plus interest. Herd told him to F off and that's when Flair sent the belt to Vince.
Even though it's entirely possible the belt may have been Flair's, it was still technically WCW and/or NWA intellecutal property since it had been used as the visual representation of that title for the past 5 years and that's why they were successful in getting an injunction to stop the WWF from using the actual belt or any copies similar to it.
As for Jim Herd, he was hired by Jack Petrik, who was the initial president of Universal Wrestling Corp./WCW when Turner bought Crockett Promotions. As I understand it, Petrik already had enough food on his plate (he was VP of Syndication for TBS and oversaw various other divisions and assets of the company) and wasn't ready for the responsibility of also running their new wrestling subsidiary. So he brought in Herd to handle the day-to-day operations. Herd used to be station manager at KPLR TV in St. Louis, which aired Wrestling At the Chase, and also at one time supposedly had a hand in the production of Vince McMahon, Sr's show out of DC. According to Flair in his book, he apperently used to talk wrestling and sports with Sam Muchnick, the St. Louis promoter, so I guess Petrik felt that was qualification enough for him to run WCW. Turned out he was dead wrong. Oh yeah, he was working in an executive position at Pizza Hut at the time he joined WCW. Don't ask me how running a pizza company and running a wrestling company are similar because I have no idea.
He ended up resigning in January 1992. The company reportedly lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $19 million under his watch and in the on-going power struggle between he and Dusty, Petrik chose Dusty. He also never lived down the termination of Flair and that was ultimately what did him in.
Regardless, WCW was apparently under the impression that the belt was theirs as it was allegedly one of the assets purchased when Turner bought Crockett Promotions. That's why Herd told Flair he would send Doug Dellinger to get the belt afer he fired him. Flair was willing to give it up, so long as WCW gave him back the NWA deposit that was never returned to him plus interest. Herd told him to F off and that's when Flair sent the belt to Vince.
Even though it's entirely possible the belt may have been Flair's, it was still technically WCW and/or NWA intellecutal property since it had been used as the visual representation of that title for the past 5 years and that's why they were successful in getting an injunction to stop the WWF from using the actual belt or any copies similar to it.
As for Jim Herd, he was hired by Jack Petrik, who was the initial president of Universal Wrestling Corp./WCW when Turner bought Crockett Promotions. As I understand it, Petrik already had enough food on his plate (he was VP of Syndication for TBS and oversaw various other divisions and assets of the company) and wasn't ready for the responsibility of also running their new wrestling subsidiary. So he brought in Herd to handle the day-to-day operations. Herd used to be station manager at KPLR TV in St. Louis, which aired Wrestling At the Chase, and also at one time supposedly had a hand in the production of Vince McMahon, Sr's show out of DC. According to Flair in his book, he apperently used to talk wrestling and sports with Sam Muchnick, the St. Louis promoter, so I guess Petrik felt that was qualification enough for him to run WCW. Turned out he was dead wrong. Oh yeah, he was working in an executive position at Pizza Hut at the time he joined WCW. Don't ask me how running a pizza company and running a wrestling company are similar because I have no idea.
He ended up resigning in January 1992. The company reportedly lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $19 million under his watch and in the on-going power struggle between he and Dusty, Petrik chose Dusty. He also never lived down the termination of Flair and that was ultimately what did him in.
