Flair in WCW ’91
By Scott Keith on September 2, 2018
At what point in 1991 did Flair start to be unhappy and looking for the exit door? Was it just in the couple of weeks that led to him being let go prior to GAB in July? When he was headlining Wargames and the feud with
Fujinami which lead to Superbrawl, and then the Clash 2/3 Falls match with Eaton, was he happy with his position?
Fujinami which lead to Superbrawl, and then the Clash 2/3 Falls match with Eaton, was he happy with his position?
If Herd didn't like Flair why make him WCW Champion and headline all the events that led up to him being fired? Were there any plans for him after he was supposed to drop the belt to Luger?
Flair was mostly fine with his positioning but it was a contract dispute leading up to the Luger match that really killed the relationship. His place was going to be "tag team wrestler working in the midcard" although we all know that if he had stuck around, he would have ended up champion again. Herd famously wanted to rebrand the company to be more like the WWF, and wanted Flair to play a "Gladiator" character (like Faarooq's original look) and that didn't help the relationship either. And since he was going to be a midcarder, Herd was going to drastically slash Flair's pay to save money.
As to why Flair was champion at that point, Herd wasn't in charge of the booking, and at the point when Flair beat Sting in January they were desperate and needed someone on top who wouldn't tank house shows. And then once he got the title, Flair had provisions in his contract that allowed him the same kind of "reasonable creative control" that Bret Hart had years later, which meant they couldn't just force him to drop the title.
Ultimately, Herd wasn't 100% wrong, but the company took such a hit without Flair that he should have just re-signed him at the same terms and asked him REALLY nicely to put over Luger in exchange for a bonus.
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