At least Ed Ferrera admits ECW rocked. I respect both of these guys. They also give a lot of insight of what happens on the business side of pro wrestling and how certain people work.
They literally did the Oklahoma character in WWE on Sunday Night Heat with JR even involved in the angle along with Dr. Death long before WCW. It was only a problem when Vince McMahon wasn't the one backing it. McMahon himself even mocked JR's condition a bunch of times on air.
After this interview it seems like Ed Ferrara has a better grasp on how to make wrestling thrive again than Russo. Hard to believe this interview is over 10 years old.
Ed is too much of a yes man, so he would never have the guts to say what he thinks is best. That was Russos job, that's why they worked great together.
The difference between Billionaire Ted and Oklahoma is that, in the Billionaire Ted skits, they were making fun of the fact that WCW was "behind the times", because it's top guys were former WWF guys. With Oklahoma, they were making fun of a serious physical illness that JR has. Big difference.
That was a part of it, a deplorable one at that, no doubt. But to imply it was the main part of the character is incorrect. That wasn't the main crux of the character. JR was a Company Man who had an overwhelming persona. Apparently always plugging Dr. Death (particularly during the Brawl for All period) and using a multitude of tiring catchphrases... Not to forget his massive sphere of influence - the Ross Report and being Head of Talent. Also Ferrara developed that character into a misogynistic bully which clearly wasn't a representation of JR or his persona
@@nWg2000 Nah, that's crap. Know why? He didn't have to pretend he had bells palsey. He could have been that character without making fun of a serious illness that almost ended the career of an absolute legend. But he didn't. He just HAD to pretend to have Bells Palsey. Ferrara is a garbage human.
I propose a drinking game where you take a shot each time Russo starts a sentence with, "It's funny," "What people don't know," or "I'm gonna be honest with you." Haha, I love it!
Around the 50 minute mark, when Russo's talking about realistic in-ring product and new ways of working matches - it strikes me that Daniel Bryan is presently revolutionising matches in this way.
Yes! The Authority angle was great! Russo is also right about the in ring product looking like the same choreographed match over and over. One of the most interesting matches I have seen in recent years was HHH and Stephanie vs Kurt Angle and Rhonda Rousey! The entire match was telling a story. And that was with minimal promotions to set it up. Generic promos are another problem. That is all AEW does. Things like Team Hell No Anger Management, The Wyatt Family, Broken Matt Hardy, and the Bloodline is what all promos should strive for in my opinion! Not the same old 'I'm the best and you suck' over and over and over again.
These two guys would own the 20 writers working nowadays in wwe. Problem is Vince worked these guys so hard that they moved to wcw and screwed up so bad that they wpuld never be allowed back in WWE. But these are the only 2 writers a huge attitude era mark ever heard of like me and my friends. They get too much blame for the death of WCW.
About Crash TV, it seems to me Ed Fererra would have been a good alternative to replace Russo. In that you make the shows interesting without overdoing it.
1:23:54 - Funny how Ferrera points out that he does not NEED to draw attention to his website, yet he spells out and repeats the website sooooooo many times lol!!
It's understandable how JR took offense to what Ferrera did in WCW but somehow didn't make a big thing over the vince mcmahon skit where he's a doctor taking things out of JRs arse when JR was having surgery.
Regarding Crash TV: These days I can easily tell when Raw or Smackdown! are cutting to a commercial. It's usually when they ring the bell, the two fighters lock up or strike, do a few moves, then someone is knocked out of the ring. Then Josh Matthews or Michael Cole asks questions: "Will [name] be able to fight back? We'll find out when we come back." AM I RIGHT?
To say he single handedly ruined the "industry" is probably the stupidest thing a person can say on the subject, but saying he was a "primary factor" in revolutionizing the WWF is a not too distant second. You're stripping the credit away from a lot of other talents who had far more to do with it than he or Ferrara ever did. These guys are going to put themselves over in this interview and revise history to suit them. As writers they can be very convincing, so be very skeptical.
Keller doesnt ask about Hogan? I know why too, these guys may have actually said something complimentary about the hulkster, and we cant have that now can we Wade? im sure russo would have been complimentary
A) I don't care what "everyone else" says. B) I never said Russo was better without a filter. I said that the talent being unfiltered was a bigger problem. In WWF, Russo didn't have to worry about egos because people did what McMahon told them to (for the mostpart). Proof- In WCW, the following men were champs in '99- Savage, Hogan, Flair and Sting. Even if Russo got off to a rough start, you CAN'T compare what he did to the damage already done...Jan 4 1999. Enough said.
So it's up to TNA to get a boost to learn how to market their product to scare WWE. I root for some success from TNA just to get WWE to feel like they need to strap in for a rough ride again.
I've got to disagree, there were several things that contributed to the boom wrestling received in the late 90's. A couple of them include WCW starting Nitro and the popularity of ECW. Both of those things forced the WWF to push the boundaries of decency and create the attitude era in order to compete, which led to the boom in business. Ed Ferrara and Vince Russo are just stroking their egos in this interview, their ideas aren't solely responsible for wrestling's resurgence in the late 90's
I'd rehire these 2. Wrestling is dying slowly and needs a change. Russo predicted this back in 2005!!!! I think McMahon is still sorrounded by the "guys" trying to protect their jobs or as CM Punk put it "glad handed yes men". Russo gets a lot of heat but he knows what the fans want
Hmmm, never cared much for him or understood why everyone thought he was some great announcer. I always thought that the Oklahoma character was some sort of revenge for the way JR treated the two but it obviously was not. JR conducted himself like a gentleman when confronting Vinnie Ru about it. Well done JR
@@TheFishingNomad Nah, wrestling isn't going anywhere. WWE on its own has enough cash to do business the exact way they are as of today for YEARS. (The question of the financial soundness of that choice is another story). Every few years, someone always says, "oh, wrestling is dead!!" It was supposedly dead in 2001 when WCW and ECW collapsed. Then it died in 2005 when Eddie Guerrero died. Then when Benoit died. Before that, wrestling was dead when Owen and Pillman died. The NWA can "bring studio wrestling back" as much as they want, but wrestling has long evolved past 1973 "50 people in the studio, and we'll pack 'em in at the arena!". The NWA is what's actually dead. Billy...I mean, WILLIAM...should let that bitch die in peace. Ring of Honor, Tits-N-Ass Rasslin' independents around the globe...including Billy...err, WILLIAM's little "I need to find a way to burn through a LOT of Pumpkins cash" NWA project...if anyone was on the nose about wrestling, it was Heyman when he told Shane Douglas to do that promo in, what, 1994? about the NWA. But, no...wrestling isn't going anywhere. For years, WWE tried so hard to pretend being #2 in "the ratings" meant you were bankrupt, finished, dead and done, etc., and now they wish they had half of "The Attitude Era" "ratings". Is wrestling now and forever more a TV product, as opposed to an arena product, like it was in the 1970s and earlier? YES. Does it matter if you are #1 in "the ratings"? No. There are exactly 2 people who care. Vince himself, and Fox TV executives. Fans don't give a fuck. WWE shareholders sure as hell don't give a flying fuck about "the ratings". They care about "the shares". As in theirs. As in the stock. But wrestling isn't dead, nor is it in a coma. It'll be around for another 100 years after we're both dead.
For the people, who are watching the PG era of wrestling need to shut their mouth? The people they, are speaking to on UA-cam are from the attitude era. The attitude era wasn’t an era based on cursing, violence and bad mouthing other people. The attitude era talked about real things, things which were happening behind the scenes. “Wrestlers were trained hard but politicians were taking away their dreams of being successful”. However the top five wrestlers who made it to the show Austin, Rock, Foley, the Undertaker and Triple H had help. Yes most of it was scripted but most of their lines were real anyone who currently watches the PG era don’t know about “the Monday Night Wars” nor have they studied to learn about McMahon or Turner. I advise to anyone who is willing to insult us and our intelligence to research the Monday Night War once they finished it then they can talk.
TNA is a horrible mess now thanks to Hulk Hogan. Ric Flair is a mess. These guys were trying to run a company with creative people, and got mauled by the wealthy old broken down wrestlers who won't go away.
Ed and Vince THINK they revolutionized wrestling, but they are the cause of the downfall wrestling has taken. Doing the Shock Value/ Soap Opera stuff every week wasn't good because eventually you run out of material. The old format of using the weekly TV shows to build up house shows and PPV's wasn't necessarily a bad thing I'm not a spiritual person, but I credit Vince Russo for the change in his life. Being a slave to material things and despicable human beings(like Vince McMahon) isn't good
If you want to shock the wrestling world and do it based on reality, have a 747 crash into Monday Night Raw. Then have another 747 crash into Smackdown! .... then have John Cena put a stop to a 3rd plane by safely landing it in a Pennsylvania Field ... that we will find out later was destined to crash into Titan Towers. Then at WrestleMania the wrestling world will go to war against the enemies of the WWE that tried to take them out with Airplanes
Fuck the "Vince McMahon filter" BS. The REAL filter Vince had was with the TALENT...not with Russo. Not saying Russo was the end-all-be-all writer. I think Cornette is a much better booker, but the evidence is plain as day that he may know how to keep fans watching, but not how to GET them watching. The thing with WCW and TNA is that the talent get away with crap that Vince McMahon would NEVER put up with. How was Vince Russo expected to magically save WCW in those first 3 months?!?
I respect Vince Russo for becoming a Christian and a better person but his ideas about wrestling have not changed and he still fails to see that he ruined wrestling and wrestling still sucks today because of the damage he did. Ed Ferrara on the other hand has smartened up and has learned from the errors of the past. What he had to say about proper use of shock valuing and how wrestling needs to get back to basics shows that his is intelligent and has learned over the years, unlike Vince Russo.
Did I really hear Russo blame WWE's downfall on 9/11?! Vince..listen buddy - the fans are no longer shocked by the product because of YOUR booking in the late 90s. You pushed and pushed and pushed, and look maybe you had to because of the competition. But look in the mirror dude and stop blaming everything on others. I've seen several of your shoots and you are the most delusional person I've ever seen.
Like it or not wrestling fans of the late 90s and early 2000s these two guys are alot of the reason we all were watching wrestling back then!
At least Ed Ferrera admits ECW rocked. I respect both of these guys. They also give a lot of insight of what happens on the business side of pro wrestling and how certain people work.
Ferrera comes across as very smart and likable in this whole interview, I always thought he was an ass for the JR thing but maybe he isnt so bad
They literally did the Oklahoma character in WWE on Sunday Night Heat with JR even involved in the angle along with Dr. Death long before WCW. It was only a problem when Vince McMahon wasn't the one backing it. McMahon himself even mocked JR's condition a bunch of times on air.
Thank you for uploading the entire series with Vince and Ed. They are serious Big Brain Nibbas.
After this interview it seems like Ed Ferrara has a better grasp on how to make wrestling thrive again than Russo. Hard to believe this interview is over 10 years old.
Ed is too much of a yes man, so he would never have the guts to say what he thinks is best. That was Russos job, that's why they worked great together.
I wish Eric Bischoff had been successful purchasing WCW. Competitive wrestling shows would still be produced today and we the fans would be winning.
The difference between Billionaire Ted and Oklahoma is that, in the Billionaire Ted skits, they were making fun of the fact that WCW was "behind the times", because it's top guys were former WWF guys.
With Oklahoma, they were making fun of a serious physical illness that JR has.
Big difference.
That was a part of it, a deplorable one at that, no doubt. But to imply it was the main part of the character is incorrect.
That wasn't the main crux of the character. JR was a Company Man who had an overwhelming persona. Apparently always plugging Dr. Death (particularly during the Brawl for All period) and using a multitude of tiring catchphrases... Not to forget his massive sphere of influence - the Ross Report and being Head of Talent.
Also Ferrara developed that character into a misogynistic bully which clearly wasn't a representation of JR or his persona
@@nWg2000 Nah, that's crap. Know why? He didn't have to pretend he had bells palsey. He could have been that character without making fun of a serious illness that almost ended the career of an absolute legend.
But he didn't. He just HAD to pretend to have Bells Palsey. Ferrara is a garbage human.
I propose a drinking game where you take a shot each time Russo starts a sentence with, "It's funny," "What people don't know," or "I'm gonna be honest with you." Haha, I love it!
I second the motion to upload the Corny ring roast!
Around the 50 minute mark, when Russo's talking about realistic in-ring product and new ways of working matches - it strikes me that Daniel Bryan is presently revolutionising matches in this way.
Yes! The Authority angle was great! Russo is also right about the in ring product looking like the same choreographed match over and over. One of the most interesting matches I have seen in recent years was HHH and Stephanie vs Kurt Angle and Rhonda Rousey! The entire match was telling a story. And that was with minimal promotions to set it up. Generic promos are another problem. That is all AEW does. Things like Team Hell No Anger Management, The Wyatt Family, Broken Matt Hardy, and the Bloodline is what all promos should strive for in my opinion! Not the same old 'I'm the best and you suck' over and over and over again.
Ferrara did it on Sunday Night Heat
Was it really that hard to edit out where Ferrara started his story over?
Both Ferra and russo are highly intelligent haters will hate but that's a fact
These two guys would own the 20 writers working nowadays in wwe. Problem is Vince worked these guys so hard that they moved to wcw and screwed up so bad that they wpuld never be allowed back in WWE. But these are the only 2 writers a huge attitude era mark ever heard of like me and my friends. They get too much blame for the death of WCW.
+Nate Emond They already offered Russo a position back in 02. He refused and went to TNA instead.
+jewggerz Vince mc. is senial now so they might get hired now
"I'll never forget it"
About Crash TV, it seems to me Ed Fererra would have been a good alternative to replace Russo. In that you make the shows interesting without overdoing it.
I hate when it doesn't have a description of what they are going to talk about. I hate scanning through videos
1:23:54 - Funny how Ferrera points out that he does not NEED to draw attention to his website, yet he spells out and repeats the website sooooooo many times lol!!
It's understandable how JR took offense to what Ferrera did in WCW but somehow didn't make a big thing over the vince mcmahon skit where he's a doctor taking things out of JRs arse when JR was having surgery.
take a shot of jack every time vince russo says "again" lmao
Regarding Crash TV: These days I can easily tell when Raw or Smackdown! are cutting to a commercial. It's usually when they ring the bell, the two fighters lock up or strike, do a few moves, then someone is knocked out of the ring. Then Josh Matthews or Michael Cole asks questions: "Will [name] be able to fight back? We'll find out when we come back."
AM I RIGHT?
I wonder if Ed Ferrera has a website?
Hey man, any chance we could get the Jim Cornette Ring Roast? Thanks for this btw
If you watched wrestling around 94-95 like I was, it was a putrid mess. They saved the WWF.
And yet Wcw was doing great in its own.
Wow this was in 2005?
To say he single handedly ruined the "industry" is probably the stupidest thing a person can say on the subject, but saying he was a "primary factor" in revolutionizing the WWF is a not too distant second. You're stripping the credit away from a lot of other talents who had far more to do with it than he or Ferrara ever did. These guys are going to put themselves over in this interview and revise history to suit them. As writers they can be very convincing, so be very skeptical.
It is clear that Vince and his team were a lot smarter than Ed & Russo thought.
Keller doesnt ask about Hogan? I know why too, these guys may have actually said something complimentary about the hulkster, and we cant have that now can we Wade? im sure russo would have been complimentary
LOL...add "I'll never forget" to the list.
Or in the previous videos "I'll never forget the time"...
he should have asked them babout the movie beyond the mat
"What you need to realise"
"At the time time" (at the toyme)
Or "I'll never forget when..."
Interesting stuff these guys have good ideas but integrate them in the wrong way in my opinion.
and "Ill never forget" :-)
I only have volume 1
But that doesn't mean Russo didn't have or doesn't have good ideas. It means he needs a filter. He's still responsible for some good stuff.
I gotta disagree him and Ed had the big ideas Vince just tweaked some things
Somebody should tell Vince that there is more kayfabe in Christianity then there ever was in Wrestling.
Is it just me, or does Ferrara seem 10 times as intelligent as Russo?
Or, "I'll never forget..."
A) I don't care what "everyone else" says. B) I never said Russo was better without a filter. I said that the talent being unfiltered was a bigger problem. In WWF, Russo didn't have to worry about egos because people did what McMahon told them to (for the mostpart).
Proof- In WCW, the following men were champs in '99- Savage, Hogan, Flair and Sting. Even if Russo got off to a rough start, you CAN'T compare what he did to the damage already done...Jan 4 1999. Enough said.
Idk how soooo many ppl seen when Ed Ferrara did Oklahoma on Wcw but nobody seen him do it in Wwf about a year or two before .. Really?.
"Bro, I gotta be honest with ya"
He thinks they ever did any thing good? To much of a good thing.
So it's up to TNA to get a boost to learn how to market their product to scare WWE. I root for some success from TNA just to get WWE to feel like they need to strap in for a rough ride again.
Yea, nothing screams more "Reality" Then a dude fake kicking you while screaming "YESYESYES like an idiot.
I've got to disagree, there were several things that contributed to the boom wrestling received in the late 90's. A couple of them include WCW starting Nitro and the popularity of ECW. Both of those things forced the WWF to push the boundaries of decency and create the attitude era in order to compete, which led to the boom in business.
Ed Ferrara and Vince Russo are just stroking their egos in this interview, their ideas aren't solely responsible for wrestling's resurgence in the late 90's
...and of course, everything begins (or at least ends) with McMahon.
O and I saw Oklahoma live as a kid and I thought it was in really bad taste and fucked up. But it was pretty fuckn funny as high schooler
Sounds like he's been watching The 700 Club too much...
1:23:30 Good one
Ferrera seems like he learned things and Russo seems like he learned nothing
I'd rehire these 2. Wrestling is dying slowly and needs a change.
Russo predicted this back in 2005!!!!
I think McMahon is still sorrounded by the "guys" trying to protect their jobs or as CM Punk put it "glad handed yes men".
Russo gets a lot of heat but he knows what the fans want
Hmmm, never cared much for him or understood why everyone thought he was some great announcer. I always thought that the Oklahoma character was some sort of revenge for the way JR treated the two but it obviously was not. JR conducted himself like a gentleman when confronting Vinnie Ru about it. Well done JR
Still waiting for the wrestling business to die! Here it's been another 13 years!! When will it die, Vince??
It's been in a coma for the last several years. It's basically dead.
@@TheFishingNomad
Nah, wrestling isn't going anywhere. WWE on its own has enough cash to do business the exact way they are as of today for YEARS. (The question of the financial soundness of that choice is another story).
Every few years, someone always says, "oh, wrestling is dead!!" It was supposedly dead in 2001 when WCW and ECW collapsed. Then it died in 2005 when Eddie Guerrero died. Then when Benoit died. Before that, wrestling was dead when Owen and Pillman died.
The NWA can "bring studio wrestling back" as much as they want, but wrestling has long evolved past 1973 "50 people in the studio, and we'll pack 'em in at the arena!". The NWA is what's actually dead. Billy...I mean, WILLIAM...should let that bitch die in peace.
Ring of Honor, Tits-N-Ass Rasslin' independents around the globe...including Billy...err, WILLIAM's little "I need to find a way to burn through a LOT of Pumpkins cash" NWA project...if anyone was on the nose about wrestling, it was Heyman when he told Shane Douglas to do that promo in, what, 1994? about the NWA.
But, no...wrestling isn't going anywhere. For years, WWE tried so hard to pretend being #2 in "the ratings" meant you were bankrupt, finished, dead and done, etc., and now they wish they had half of "The Attitude Era" "ratings". Is wrestling now and forever more a TV product, as opposed to an arena product, like it was in the 1970s and earlier? YES. Does it matter if you are #1 in "the ratings"? No. There are exactly 2 people who care. Vince himself, and Fox TV executives. Fans don't give a fuck. WWE shareholders sure as hell don't give a flying fuck about "the ratings". They care about "the shares". As in theirs. As in the stock. But wrestling isn't dead, nor is it in a coma. It'll be around for another 100 years after we're both dead.
@@DIESEL0759 WWE sucks.
For the people, who are watching the PG era of wrestling need to shut their mouth? The people they, are speaking to on UA-cam are from the attitude era. The attitude era wasn’t an era based on cursing, violence and bad mouthing other people. The attitude era talked about real things, things which were happening behind the scenes. “Wrestlers were trained hard but politicians were taking away their dreams of being successful”. However the top five wrestlers who made it to the show Austin, Rock, Foley, the Undertaker and Triple H had help. Yes most of it was scripted but most of their lines were real anyone who currently watches the PG era don’t know about “the Monday Night Wars” nor have they studied to learn about McMahon or Turner. I advise to anyone who is willing to insult us and our intelligence to research the Monday Night War once they finished it then they can talk.
TNA is a horrible mess now thanks to Hulk Hogan. Ric Flair is a mess. These guys were trying to run a company with creative people, and got mauled by the wealthy old broken down wrestlers who won't go away.
... said NOBODY. Ever.
Ed should of won the WCW belt from Russo, at least he did wrestle at one point in his life
Ed and Vince THINK they revolutionized wrestling, but they are the cause of the downfall wrestling has taken. Doing the Shock Value/ Soap Opera stuff every week wasn't good because eventually you run out of material. The old format of using the weekly TV shows to build up house shows and PPV's wasn't necessarily a bad thing
I'm not a spiritual person, but I credit Vince Russo for the change in his life. Being a slave to material things and despicable human beings(like Vince McMahon) isn't good
Did he just say "what do you do to top 9/11?"
I'm sure he's going somewhere with that, but really fucking poor choice of words.
If you want to shock the wrestling world and do it based on reality, have a 747 crash into Monday Night Raw. Then have another 747 crash into Smackdown! .... then have John Cena put a stop to a 3rd plane by safely landing it in a Pennsylvania Field ... that we will find out later was destined to crash into Titan Towers.
Then at WrestleMania the wrestling world will go to war against the enemies of the WWE that tried to take them out with Airplanes
Fuck the "Vince McMahon filter" BS. The REAL filter Vince had was with the TALENT...not with Russo. Not saying Russo was the end-all-be-all writer. I think Cornette is a much better booker, but the evidence is plain as day that he may know how to keep fans watching, but not how to GET them watching.
The thing with WCW and TNA is that the talent get away with crap that Vince McMahon would NEVER put up with. How was Vince Russo expected to magically save WCW in those first 3 months?!?
TNA is wcw 2.0
Yeah
I respect Vince Russo for becoming a Christian and a better person but his ideas about wrestling have not changed and he still fails to see that he ruined wrestling and wrestling still sucks today because of the damage he did. Ed Ferrara on the other hand has smartened up and has learned from the errors of the past. What he had to say about proper use of shock valuing and how wrestling needs to get back to basics shows that his is intelligent and has learned over the years, unlike Vince Russo.
Ed looks like a lizard and so does Vince
Russo ur daddy or just ur boyfriend? LOL
And the NEW....Christian Heavyweight Champion of the created world.....SHAWN DIBIASE RUSSO GUNNER...nigga please
Ecw anything to draw an audience. Didn't feel insulted watching ecw. Have to say he is in the minority.
Ed Ferrara is the more intelligent of the two
Russo Comes across negatively to me
ok tna sucks bad wwe is ok but if hogan was not in tna. .. tna is not there only me i dont know sorry
Did I really hear Russo blame WWE's downfall on 9/11?! Vince..listen buddy - the fans are no longer shocked by the product because of YOUR booking in the late 90s. You pushed and pushed and pushed, and look maybe you had to because of the competition. But look in the mirror dude and stop blaming everything on others. I've seen several of your shoots and you are the most delusional person I've ever seen.
LOL
@capucchan8 God = kayfabe
Nobody cares about big vito.
ugh Vince makes a religious pitch, I'm going to throw up