From The Observer
"(Dusty) Rhodes and (Ric) Flair had problems by this point, and Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson had already quit and gone to WWF. Rhodes, not knowing how important Flair was in the sale, wanted Flair out. He booked Starrcade 88 for Rick Steiner to beat Flair in 6:00 in a cage match.
The idea was that Steiner, a very good college wrestler at the University of Michigan would be in a cage with Flair. Either Flair would have to do the job or he'd quit. Herd figured that he'd quit, and that was exactly what Turner didn't want.
Panicked, Herd called Larry Matysik, who he knew from the St. Louis office. Matysik said that the money program was Flair vs. Luger, which had passed its peak, but Flair had yet to win a climactic match. It was still easily the biggest main event the company could put on its biggest show of the year. Matysik also told Herd that Flair, after being abused for so long as champion, had to win. Rhodes wasn't used to being overruled. The next thing he did was shoot an angle where the Road Warriors, who he turned heel, put a spike in his eye, which completely violated the standards when it came to graphic violence and foreign objects that Turner had. Rhodes was fired."