text: Both WCW and the NWA recognized Ric Flair (who was by now no longer the head booker) as their World Heavyweight Champion throughout most of the first half of 1991, but WCW, particularly recently installed company president Jim Herd, who was once the regional manager of Pizza Hut, turned against Flair for various reasons and fired him before The Great American Bash in July 1991 after failed contract negotiations.