Former WCW Executive Vice President Jim Hurd died in October at the age of 87, Conrad Thompson reported. write for Yahoo! Sports “Antag”. on Tuesday. Hurd served as WCW’s inaugural executive from 1988 until his resignation in January 1992.
Before entering the world of wrestling, Hurd worked in both broadcasting, including as a television station manager in St. Louis, as well as in the food service industry, where he worked as a regional manager for Pizza Hut. Hurd assumed the role of WCW EVP after Turner Broadcasting purchased Jim Crockett Promotions. He would later reveal in interviews that he and Ted Turner had a relationship that began long before 1988, when Turner asked him to run the wrestling division of his company.
The Herd worked to modernize the product and appeal to a younger demographic, as well as aggressively compete against the then-WWF. It was Hurd’s work that tied WCW to “RoboCop 2,” leading to the character appearing alongside Sting in 1990’s Capital Combat. Heard worked to incorporate other pop culture figures, including Elvira and The Wonder Years’ Jason Hervey, into the company’s promotional materials and shows. He also landed major sponsorship deals for the promotion, including Budweiser.
The executive is also known as the man who fired Ric Flair in 1991, a move that had a huge impact on the wrestling world. The pair have had disagreements in the past, including Heard wanting to rename Flair’s character Spartacus. Flair, still in physical possession at the time of his WCW/NWA Heavyweight Championship shot, shockingly appeared with the belt on WWF television.
In addition to the obituary written for Uncrown, Thompson published a sit-down interview with a former executive on YouTube. In an interview filmed in 2021, Heard talks about his life and career.