On a recent edition of the ARN show, Arn Anderson discussed Ric Flair’s infamous departure from WCW where he jumped ship with the World Title to WWE after having issues with Jim Herd. Here are the highlights:
Jim Herd:
“He was just looking at big guys, that’s all he looked at. He wouldn’t’ve known who drew money in the territories that they had been working in, and how they did it, and why. He had no clue about that. It was just appearance only, big guys. Small guys had ‘no value.’ We just took a look inside the mind that made all those decisions on the front end of WCW.”
Dan reaction to rumors of Ric leaving WCW:
“I’m sure this got leaked out to the fans, and the fans did not want to see Ric go to WWF. Ric was an NWA guy. I’m sure there was an outcry. There was no social media, but I’m sure whatever vehicles were available, there was an outcry. Do not let Ric Flair leave. Fix it! Which they didn’t listen to.”
Whether Ric was justified in taking the WCW belt to WWF:
“If I understand it correctly, back in the day, when you were the champion, you had the belt, you put up a deposit so that you didn’t leave with the belt. That was guaranteeing that you would not take off to a rival company with the belt. When you changed the belt to a new champion, you got your deposit back. That was the way they did business. That being the case, if they would’ve offered to give him the 25 grand, or tried to give it to him, and then he left with the title anyway? Then you have something different. But I think them refusing to pay him? I don’t know what the right call is there.”
Flair not dropping the title:
“The guys are working their ass off out there, but the title was about Flair. The only answer that I can come up with and the only truth I can tell you: there is no second place. It wouldn’t have mattered [what they did]. It was not Flair defending the title and dropping the title. Anything else was a distant second place.”
Quotes via 411 Mania
