PWTorch.com readers are invited to send Ed Ferrara questions about his experiences co-writing TV during Raw's boom period and subsequently for WCW Nitro and TNA's weekly PPV series. When submitting questions, put "ASK ED" in the subject line of the email so we can differentiate them from regular "Ask the Torch" questions and thus quickly forward them to him. Ferrara was interviewed with Vince Russo for the "Ultimate Insiders" DVD released earlier this year and subsequently did a VIP Audio Talk with me with follow-up questions to our DVD interview. Now it's your turn to ask the questions. To send in questions for Ed Ferrara, click here.

PWTorch.com reader D.Z. asks:

Ed, I respect the hell out of you. You and Vince Russo wrote several years' worth of entertaining Raw television that I miss now in the days of horrible Stephanie McMahon-led writing. You were smart and knowledgeable in the Ultimate Insiders DVD interview. However, my question to you is this. You said you were a huge ECW fan, but why when you helped write WCW television, whether it being October through December 1999 or the year 2000, why was WCW never fun or compelling like ECW always was? WCW after Russo and Eric Bischoff left never rebounded because 5,000 things happened on every show and no real true crowd momentum occurred, then we all know what happened, WCW died.

Ed Ferrara (photo by Wade Keller, PWTorch)

Ed Ferrara Answers:

ECW was fun and compelling - hell, it was pure magic a lot of times - for a number of reasons that WCW could never even begin to approach. There was a passion on the part of the boys in ECW that I've never seen in this business before or since - a true love affair between the wrestlers and the work, as well as between the wrestlers and the fans. There was a sense in ECW, from both the boys and the fans, of "f--- you -- this is OUR show." I say that from experience as I was one of those fans before I worked for the WWF.

That feeling, however, could never in a million years have taken root in WCW, as there was very little true passion for the work. Of course, I had the privilege of working with a handful of WCW guys (or, rather, guys inWCW) who did have a true passion for what they did, but the majority had been spoiled by guaranteed contracts.

There was no incentive for them to go out and put in 110 percent because their pay would be the same if they half-assed it with 65 percent. Why risk injury when it wasn't necessary? For most of those guys, it was a gig and a paycheck... rather than a passion.

Also, because ECW was a small company, even when they went national, it never lost its heart. Meanwhile, WCW was a huge corporate monstrosity that had NO heart. In WCW, it was all about the bottom line, and corporate bullsh-- presided over putting out a quality product. WCW was a place where we'd have meetings to discuss what we were going to cover in the next meeting. ECW (and its heart, creativity, spontaneity, and drive) - started and ended with one man... and I take my hat off to Paul Heyman for being that man, and for delivering a product that made me a wrestling fan again at a time when there was very little to be a fan of (WWF/WCW of that period).

I never had the opportunity to meet Paul during my time in the business, but if I had, the first thing I would have done would have been to thank him for everything he did... and then shut up and listen to anything he had to say.

***

Joshua Grutman asks

Your J.R. parody was so funny! Are you a method actor, a character actor, or just an asshole who mocks the partially paralyzed?

Ed Ferrara Answers:

At the time, I was an asshole.

...But thank you for taking the time out of your busy day for pointing that out to everyone, even though I've already gone into the subject in depth in the Torch VIP Audio Talk I did a coupla months back. Now, while you're pushing envelopes, go write Russo and tell him he killed WCW - I'll bet no one's ever had the guts to say that to him, either.

***

PWTorch.com reader Jeff of Dallas, Ga. asks

Hi. I loved you and Russo's writing during the Monday Night Wars. I was wondering, when you guys left WWF for WCW, it was mentioned that you both left them with a Raw and Smackdown already written. Did WWE go with the scripts or was McMahon upset at the abrupt departures of you both and didn't use them?

Ed Ferrara Answers:

To be honest, I couldn't tell you. The last shows we had attended while working for the WWF (the week before we jumped ship) were the last WWF shows I watched until after the purchase of WCW. We did leave them (WWF) with two completely written shows (we had finished them right before our jaunt to Atlanta), as well as a plan for what the matches/angles were going to be at the upcoming PPV. But I didn't watch that week, so I couldn't tell you if they followed our formats or not. I seem to remember hearing things about those shows that made me think that they had at least used some of the stuff we had written. But, knowing the company, I'm also just as sure that many changes probably WERE made... simply because to NOT make any changes would have been an admission that we had indeed left a hole in the company as a result of our defection.

***

Note from Wade Keller:

Ed Ferrara will continue to answer reader questions in coming days and weeks, so keep the questions coming. Direct them here and be sure to put "Ask Ed" in the subject line.

Ed Ferrara has written a collection of short stories called "Dark Consequences." I highly recommend it, especially for fans of Twilight Zone and Tales from the Darkside or horror movies with a sci-fi twist. You can get info on ordering a copy from him by clicking here.

To order the Ultimate Insiders DVD featuring my interview with Ed Ferrara and Vince Russo, together for the time for an interview since their split in WCW, click here. Those who order this DVD will have an exclusive chance to order the Ultimate Insiders #2 featuring my interview with Matt & Jeff Hardy scheduled to be made available within a few weeks.

To VIP members can also listen right now to a 67 minute Audio Talk I conducted with Ed as a follow-up to his five-hour-plus DVD interview by clicking here.

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