Jim Ross Says Ed Ferrara’s Oklahoma Parody of Him in WCW Was Personal & Hurtful, Discusses If He Ever Cleared The Air With Ferrara & Vince Russo

On the latest edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed Ed Ferrara doing the Oklahoma character in WCW, a parody of JR, while managing one of JR’s old friends, Dr. Death Steve Williams. Ferrara and Vince Russo were in charge of WCW creative at the time. JR felt the parody was personal and felt as though people in WCW were telling Williams that JR could have saved his job in WWE if he wanted. He also said that he cleared the air with Ferrara and Vince Russo years ago, and was never angry with Williams for being part of the Oklahoma parody. Highlights are below.

On how letting Williams go from WWE impacted their friendship: “The sad part about letting somebody go is it effects your relationship, and there was a time there where we were not communicating because I was perceived as the bad guy and it effected our friendship and it effected a long, long relationship with a guy that I looked at as a little brother, and that was sad. Unnecessary.”

On feeling like the Oklahoma parody was personal and unnecessary: “You can’t tell me, Conrad, that the creative in WCW at that time with Russo and Ferrera, who did a hell of a job in WWE without question, they just couldn’t handle when Smackdown came around, they’re gonna write another show, do more work, for the same money, and I understand their apprehension there, they got a nice deal in WCW, and off they went. But you can’t convince me that that angle with Ed Ferrara imitating me with the Bell’s Palsy, and then Dr. Death being in there, in the same role that he had in one of his last appearances in WWE as JR’s bodyguard, wasn’t personal. I don’t know how smart booking that really is. I know that Turner finally curtailed the Bell’s Palsy facet of the impersonation. I always looked back at that as personal. I think that that effected Doc and my relationship because I’m sure that somebody probably said, or could have said, that, well, JR could have saved you Doc, if he wanted to. I’m sure that was said, because they want to ingratiate themselves with him, so one way of doing it is to make me the bad guy, again, and to convince him that if JR had wanted you to stay, he’s got a lot of influence with Vince, he’s Vince’s right hand guy, he could have made that happen. Well, I couldn’t make it happen, I tried to make it happen. But I thought that whole thing was very personal.”

On making peace with Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara: “I’m glad I made peace with Russo and I made peace with Ed Ferrara over the years, because I realized, thanks to Jan again, you just can’t bring those grudges with you, honey. You got to get rid of this hate and all this animosity, it’s not good for you, it’s not good for your health, and she was right, and I remember sitting at home, in this very house I’m sitting in right now, in Norman, and the phone rang, the home line rang, and she answered and said it’s Vince Russo. So I take the call, and we kind of cleared the air and it was good to clear the air, but at that time, when he was Oklahoma, the Oklahoma thing was going on, I thought it was very hurtful, I thought it was very unproductive, and I could see no money in it. So all those issues gave me plenty of reasons not to go that route in creative.”

On if he was ever angry with Williams for being part of the Oklahoma parody in WCW: “No. He was booked, and this was his role, it’s like filming a movie. Here’s the movie, here’s your script, here’s your role, here’s what you’re gonna do it. So if you set the terms of the creative and accept our money, then this is what we’re going to ask you to do. Doc needed money, he needed a payday. He’s like a lot of guys. You hope everybody saves their money and you understand that this thing is going to go away somewhere along the way, the checks are going to stop coming. So that was kind of the deal. So I was never angry at Doc, never had one bit of hostility or animosity toward him, I loved him, and I understood what he was doing. Did I like it? No, but all he was doing was running the plays the coach called.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Grilling JR with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.