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| Ed Ferrara | |
|---|---|
 Ferrara in 1999 | |
| Birth name | Edward Ferrara |
| Born | (1966-11-22)November 22, 1966 (age 58)[1] Bowie, Arizona, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ed Ferrara[1] Oklahoma[1] Bruce Beaudine[1] The Powers That Be[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
| Billed weight | 209 lb (91 kg) |
| Debut | 1994 |
Edward Ferrara (born November 22, 1966)[1] is an American retiredprofessional wrestler, writer and agent for theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) andWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW), often co-working alongsideVince Russo. He is most known for, in WCW, portraying the character "Oklahoma", a mockery of WWF's commentator Jim Ross, and was the heaviestWCW Cruiserweight Champion, although he was forced to vacate the title for exceeding the 220 lb weight limit.[1] Ed Ferrara began his work in television production and writing, contributing to shows such asHoney, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show andWeird Science on theUSA Network. Ferrara was also awrestler in Slammers Wrestling Federation known as Bruce Beaudine. He was most recently working on the creative team forTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Ferrara graduated fromDrew University in 1989 with aBachelor of Arts in theater arts and English.[2]
Between 1994 and 1996, Ferrara was trained and wrestled in the California-based independent promotion - Slammers Wrestling Federation. Ferrara worked under the ring name of Bruce Beaudine and on April 11, 1996 he won the SWF heavyweight championship.[3]
In 1998, Ferrara was writing for television shows on the USA Network. Executives at USA learned that he was working as an independent wrestler on the weekends, and set up a meeting with him and theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE). He matched the credentials required for the job including previous experience in wrestling and working in television production. He secured an interview withVince McMahon and began working with the WWF at theKing of the Ring in 1998 during theAttitude Era. He immediately clicked with his writing partnerVince Russo.[4]
Ferrara appeared on an episode ofSunday Night Heat on March 14, 1999 whenTiger Ali Singh called out a fan. The fan was Ferrara which Singh wanted to impersonateJim Ross. While Ferrara did the impersonation, fans began booing. Ross and"Dr. Death" Steve Williams came out to confront Ferrara. Williams German suplexed Ferrara and then attacked Singh.[5]
Eventually, Ferrara and Russo were offered a better deal to work for WCW, and left the WWF to go work there.
Ferrara and Russo began working for WCW in October 1999, and they placed themselves within the onscreen product of WCW. They migrated their "Crash TV" formula from the WWF. Matches were shorter in length, speaking segments both inside and outside the ring were more prominent, and a far greater emphasis was made on pushing midcard wrestlers to the point that everyone on the card had a gimmick and/or storyline. Successful products of their initial tenure at WCW included Screamin'Norman Smiley,3 Count, the re-invention ofThe Outsiders,The Mamalukes, 'Psycho'David Flair,The Revolution,The Filthy Animals, andChris Benoit's main eventpush, among others. There were some storylines which did not necessarily go over with fans the way they wished includingBuzzkill,The Maestro,Buff Bagwell, andMadusa winning the Cruiserweight title.
Another storyline that didn't go over well with fans was Ferrara's controversial parody of WWF commentatorJim Ross, in which he took theonscreen name ofOklahoma and began parodying Ross on WCW programming, even going as far as to mimick Ross'Bell's Palsy affliction. He had previously done an impersonation of Ross in the WWF during an angle withTiger Ali Singh where he was called from the audience as a fan and did his Ross impression.[1] Ross would state that his impersonation was "personal" and "very hurtful".[5]Jim Cornette would later spit in his face and challenge him to a fight for making fun of his long-time friend, Jim Ross. He defeated Madusa for theCruiserweight Title.
Their initial stint was epitomized by the reintroduction of thenWo after months of storylines which ultimately sawBret Hart win the world title at the expense of his nemesisGoldberg. However, both Hart and Goldberg got injured a few days prior to a major WCW pay-per-view. WCW later formed a booking committee which consisted of former bookers includingKevin Sullivan,Kevin Nash,J. J. Dillon andBob Mould. This would also mark the beginning of the end for the friendship between Russo and Ferrara who both took opposing positions. Russo refused to work in the booking committee as he felt he was "jobbed out" by the backstage politics of the company whilst Ferrara decided he would stay on as he had just relocated his entire family to Atlanta and so felt compelled to continue his work as a writer. This would be the last time Russo and Ferrara would willingly work with one another in a wrestling environment, until being reunited in TNA years later (see below).
The success of the booking committee was limited at best. Ratings had plummeted and WCW was in a state of disrepair. Russo's and Ferrara's "Crash TV" writing style, which enjoyed immense popularity among the WWF's predominatelyNorthern andWestern audiences from urban areas, was openly resented by rural, traditionalSouthern wrestling fans who made up the majority of WCW's fanbase.[6] The new committee also led to the mass exodus of the most promising mid-card wrestlers in the company. Now known asThe Radicalz, Chris Benoit,Dean Malenko,Eddie Guerrero andPerry Saturn all walked out of WCW as Sullivan stated he had no plans to use them on subsequent programming. It was rumored that 17 wrestlers had asked for their release that night but only five of them got their successful release (this includedShane Douglas but he would return in April of that year). Within two months the booking committee was disbanded and in a desperate attempt to salvage their ailing product, WCW hired back Russo andEric Bischoff to help out. This led to Ed Ferrara getting demoted to a road agent position.
He did voiceovers that played over the intercom when non-English speakingLa Parka was doinginterviews, often getting La Parka in trouble with his opponents with the comments he created over the intercom.
From June to August 2002, Ferrara did color commentary on theTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling weekly pay-per-views alongsideMike Tenay andDon West when the company started.[1] At the time when the company was cutting costs due to lack of financial backing, Ferrara chose to leave[1] after being told that he would not be receiving a paycheck on a regular basis and that he would only be paid when the company was able to make that money back.
Ferrara returned to the TNA creative team as of the September 20, 2009, TNA pay-per-view eventNo Surrender, being paired withVince Russo once again.[7] On June 30, 2010, it was reported that Ferrara was no longer working for TNA.[8]
After WCW folded, Ferrara debuted inNWA Wildside and criticized the concept of women participating in wrestling.[1] This began a feud withhomosexual wrestler Lazz.[1] A Five MinuteSurvival Match was booked for the Wildside Anniversary Show that year between the two.[1] If Ferrera survived five minutes with Lazz, he got five minutes with the Wildside creative mind, NWA VP Bill Behrens.[1] Lazz accidentally knocked out referee Jimmy Rivers, allowing Behrens to come out and hit Ferrara with atennis racket.[1] Lazz then hit his finisher, theBritneySpear, and Behrens entered the ring and physically slammed the unconscious hand of Rivers.[1]
In July 2004, he wrote a book titledDark Consequences consisting of five horror short stories. In late 2005, a three-disc DVD boxset was released entitledPro Wrestling's Ultimate Insiders which consists of interviews with him along with co-writerVince Russo about their time in theWorld Wrestling Federation andWorld Championship Wrestling. Ferrara spent most of the subsequent years teaching at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois.
In 2005, his former writing partnerKevin Murphy named a character after him on the TV seriesDesperate Housewives.
In July 2013, Ferrara obtained hisMasters of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from theUniversity of Southern Maine's Stonecoast program.[2][9] Ferrara currently resides in Florida where he teaches "Creative Writing for Entertainment" atFull Sail University.[2]
In 2014, Ferrara was a regular host on Major League Wrestling Radio.