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.

John Louis of Los Angeles asks

Is there anything, wrestler or angle, you know of that you had written or a big plan for that never evolved? (i.e. a certain wrestler ready for a world title run, creation of stable, edgy storyline?) Thank you and thanks for making wrestling interesting, because it sure isnt now.

Ed Ferrara answers

I'm not "dodging the question" here, as some other emails have accused me of. For me to properly answer this would require about a pound of gingko biloba and a week to write everything down. There were so MANY angles and storylines that fell by the wayside, got kiboshed, or simply ended up going different directions. You've gotta remember that I haven't even THOUGHT about much of this stuff for years, and my memory just isn't what it used to be. A mind is a terrible thing to waste... but , if you do it right, you can have a pretty good time in the process.

Of course, the one thing that I could hold up as an example is the plans Vince Russo and I had for WCW that went beyond our initial three-month stint. The new NWO was going to once again run roughshod over the rest of the competition... until a resistance force formed behind the vanguard of Goldberg, Sting... and Hogan (not to mention Savage and - were we able to come to an agreement with him, and Warrior).

Sounds weak now, especially after all the water that's gone under the bridge since then, but at the time I believe it would have been huge and once again given focus and direction to a horribly fragmented product. Picture this element: Sting finally returning (after a lengthy absence) to help unify and lead the opposition as a figurative angel of vengeance... clad entirely in white instead of black.

There was more, too... especially a lengthy storyline involving Goldberg learning about the true nature of his responsibility in his role as a "hero" by finding himself caught between the conflicting advice of his two "predecessors" - the Machiavellian "End Justifies the Means" views of Warrior and the "with great power comes great responsibility" views of Hogan. Sounds corny, but I'm painting with broad strokes and bright colors in the interest of getting these ideas across in a matter of a coupla paragraphs, as opposed to many pages, so I've had to chuck any subtlety out the window here. Unfortunately, due to egos, politics and general bullsh--, we'll never know if it would have worked. But it would have been a helluva ride if we'd be able to give it a shot.

The Masked Debater asks:

I know everybody's asking about Oklahoma already, but I have a question about it, too. Before WCW, where Oklahoma got his name, I remember when Tiger Ali Singh was doing his Million Dollar Man gimmick, he pulled a "fan" out of the audience to mock everybody's favorite announcer, J.R. Since then, we had gotten to see you on WCW and in retrospect realized it was you doing the part. I think the reason the bit is something I still remember all this time later is because the bump you took looked absolutely sick.  It looked like you had died. It wasn't until getting the Ultimate Insiders DVD that I knew you had wrestling training beforehand, and I had thought until then that maybe it was just a case of a writer getting in a bit over his head. So with this said, I have a couple questions on this incident... First, did you get hurt by the bump? It really did look bad.

Ed Ferrara answers

As a matter of fact, I did get hurt by that bump, and it was my fault. It hurt like a sumbitch, too.

Before we did that segment, I got together with Doc backstage, and we went over the spot. He got behind me and practiced lifting me. You probably are familiar with the concept of wrestlers "getting light" for each other - when one wrestler has to lift/throw another, the "victim" will give a little jump to help with the momentum of getting off the ground and make the offensive wrestler look like he's effortlessly lifting him up. Well, Doc told me, "When you feel grab you, don't do anything. I'll get you up and over, no problem." I trusted Doc implicitly and - if I was ever in the same situation - I'd trust him again.

When the spot went down in the ring, I felt Doc grab me from behind, and I was ready to go for the ride. After he grabbed my around the waist however, probably out of force of habit, Doc bent at the knees and pushed down ever so slightly. That's the signal for the guy taking the move to go along, bend at the knees as well, and "get light." So, out of my OWN force of habit, that's what I did. I pushed off the mat as he lifted me... and the combination of his strength, my getting light, and the momentum of my fat ass going over my own head saw me land on the back of my head and my knees at the same time. If you're picturing a portly accordion, you're right on the money.

Right after it happened, I knew it must have looked ugly, but I felt okay. The ref (Earl, I believe) checked on my immediately, and I told him I was fine. And I did feel okay. VKM was pissed with me because he thought I went out and got myself damn near kilt, but he was visibly relieved when he saw I was okay backstage.

I found out the next day at the Raw taping, after an excruciatingly painful night of almost no sleep (anytime I would cough or try to sit up in bed, I'd see stars), that I had popped my sternum. Francois Petit, who was our resident "witch doctor" backstage (he'd work on the boys - shiatsu, bone/muscle manipulation, etc.) checked on me, and I told him I was in a ton of pain. He felt around my chest and ribcage and matter-of-factly told me "You're sternum, she ees popped. You want me to feex? Stand against ze wall." I did what he said - he lined me up with my back against the wall, moved my arms around into some weird position. He told me to take a deep breath... and then, without warning, he NAILED me with an open-palm strike to the center of my ribcage. I immediately felt my sternum pop again... and I started feeling better. The pain had instantaneously diminished to about half of the intensity it had been, and it felt progressively better from that point on until I felt 100 percent about two days later. Needless to say, about half of the boys in the locker room SWORE by Francois. The other half wouldn't let him come within 100 feet of them. But he sure made a believer out of me.

The Masked Debater also asks:

Second, what did J.R. think of your impression of him at the time? He was very outspoken as a critic of the Oklahoma character, but I never forgot that it debuted, more or less, on WWE TV, where I would think he would have had a bit of say in it. That's not to say that you weren't wrong in further establishing the character in WCW - just that JR seemed to have lost a bit of perspective on it.

I believe I already answered this one in a previous post - find my answer here. [Editor's Note: If you're thinking of sending in question to Ed, please read the previous "Ask Ed" segments. Just click on the "Ask the Torch" link on the left menu bar; they're all there. In this case, the questions may have been sent in within a couple days of each other, before Ed answered the first on here. VIP members can also listen to the hour-long VIP Audio Talk interview I conducted with Ed available in the VIP Audio Updates section. And of course, there's the Ultimate Insiders DVD with Ed Ferrara and Vince Russo that comes highly recommended.]

Kevin Schafer of Mount Pleasant, Pa. asks

On Raw, we never got to see the finish of the "G-TV" gimmick. How was that storyline supposed to have played out ?

Ed Ferrara answers

Originally, GTV was to have been the harbinger of the return of Goldust (with him working unseen to stir up trouble with the rest of the roster prior to his return). We then had some problems with USA Network over bringing the character back, as they felt he was a bit too controversial for them (gimme a break)... so we then opened up our thinking to figure out who else it could have been. One possibility we kicked around: At the time, Tom Green was very hot on MTV, and we were trying to see if we could bring him in to stir up a bit of more mainstream publicity, but that never worked out. On the bright side, the angle was abandoned before we were able to go through the list of talents with a "G" in their name before we got to The Gobbledygooker.

Final Notes 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 couple of 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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