Arn Anderson Recalls Ric Flair’s WCW Departure, Issues With Jim Herd

Arn Anderson has been recapping his career through his Arn podcast, and he recalled Ric Flair’s infamous departure from WCW in 1991. Arn also responded to comments made by Jim Herd that were critical of the Midnight Express. “The Enforcer” defended Eaton and Lane, and had some critical words for Herd. You can read highlights of his comments below:

Arn defending Midnight Express from Herd’s dismissive comments: “He’s talking out of his a**, everything he said. Bobby [Eaton] and Stan [Lane] are too small? The Rock N Roll Express are too small? Shawn Michaels is too small? Rey Mysterio is too small? Eddie Guerrero is too small? Small guys can’t draw money? Cause you’ve got to group them all in there, because that was a general statement: ‘Small guys have a hard time drawing money.’ That’s how much that dips*** knows about the wrestling industry.”

Herd emphasizing size over ability: “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.”

How fans reacted to rumors of Flair 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.”

Flair taking the belt with him 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.”

Fans hijacking the Luger vs. Windham match to crown a new champ: “What you ended up having on the backside was Barry and Luger struggling and wrestling for second place. They’re changing ‘Flair.’ That’s one of the vehicles we were talking about earlier. The fans used what they had at their disposal to let you know their distaste with what they were doing. If they were chanting ‘Flair’ during that match, since there was no social media, that was their way of going, ‘What are you guys doing?’

“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.”

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