Jim Herd

James "Jim" Herd (born August 13, 1932) is a former professional wrestling executive. Herd was the Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling from 1988 to 1992, following Turner Broadcasting's acquisition of the NWA-affiliated Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988. His tenure, however, received much criticism from wrestlers and fans alike.

Before beginning his role in WCW, Herd had been a station manager for the St. Louis TV station KPLR-TV, which broadcast the then-popular wrestling show Wrestling at the Chase. Later on, he served as a regional manager for Pizza Hut.

Jim Herd was hired as Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling in 1988, through his connections and friendship with Turner Executive Jack Petrik. His tenure officially began on January 3, 1989.

Many wrestling personalities, fans, and workers have openly criticized Herd for his lack of knowledge of the wrestling business. Ric Flair in particular stated that Herd "knew nothing about wrestling, other than the fact that the station he ran had a hot show". During his run in WCW, Herd tried to compete with Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation by introducing the same kind of "gimmicks" that were a part of McMahon's WWF at the time, alienating the diehard NWA audience. For example, he once tried to come up with a tag team called The Hunchbacks (with the gimmick in which they could not be pinned because their humps would prevent their shoulders from touching the mats), and after that idea was rejected by the booking committee, he came up with the bell-wearing team, The Ding Dongs. After that, he came up with Big Josh, a lumberjack who was accompanied by dancing bears. Stan Hansen left the organization to return to All Japan Pro Wrestling after the idea was pitched to him to become a part of the comedic cowboy stable called The Desperados. Jim Cornette and Stan Lane also left the organization in October 1990, breaking up the Midnight Express, leaving Bobby Eaton on his own, after Herd would blame his many failures on Cornette and others. Even The Road Warriors, as Animal has stated on WWE Home Video's Road Warriors DVD, had a fallout with Herd as well, and resigned from WCW in June 1990.

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