Ed Ferrara and Vince Russo paired up to write some of the most highly successful editions of WWF Raw during the Monday Night War era. They worked day-to-day with Vince McMahon and week to week with top stars such as Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Mick Foley, and The Rock.

The following is a segment of a new "Torch Talk" with Ed Ferrara conducted this week, a rare interview from this former WWF insider. After taking a few years away from following WWE closely, he has watched Raw weekly the past year and provides PWTorch with his exclusive analysis of where WWE booking is today compared to ten years ago when he was immersed in the writing and booking of Raw.

This is just a small part of nearly two hours of conversation with PWTorch editor Wade Keller regarding the WrestleMania 25 build-up compared to the WrestleMania 15 build-up which he was partly responsible for, plus his reflections on what it was like to work with Austin, Taker, Foley, Rock, and other top stars of the WrestleMania 15 time period.

The entire interview will be published in upcoming editions of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter, including the special double-issue of Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter early next week covering WrestleMania 25.

Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara [photo by Wade Keller, PWTorch]

Wade Keller: You're approaching your tenth anniversary of leaving the WWF for WCW, and you've been following the industry, especially lately. I think it'd be interesting to get your perspective as somebody who was around when a lot of today's top stars weren't even in the business, but some of today's top stars were around. And you were also around during a real pivotal time in terms of the creative approach wrestling took, very involved in a time when the business really changed. So I'd like to get your idea if you think ten years later those changes worked out for the better, if it's been steered in directions you think make sense since then. When you watch Raw these days, do you think that the direction WWE has gone in the past ten years since you've left has been where you thought it would go, and is that a good or bad thing?

Ed Ferrara: As far as where I thought it would go, I was so caught up in the middle of everything, I was more concerned with where is it going next week and at the end of the month and where is it going at the next WrestleMania. We had ideas in our minds of who were the stars that we were going to be working with far more frequently and who would be the bigger stars as time went on, but in terms of that, it's hard for me to compare what I thought then to what I'm thinking now in terms of in my present opinion, having been out of the business for a number of years and having watched it for a little while now again, I think in certain ways as far as where they're at now, I feel like creatively they've kind of taken a step backward. I know some of that has to do with they've definitely downgraded, not downgraded, but they're aiming at a younger audience for sure. They have to sell as many of those child-sized Cena spiner belts as they can. But by the same token, I feel like the storytelling we're seeing, there's a few things on any given week that are really working. I think what Jericho's done over the past year has been among some of the best heel work I've seen in the business. He's created a believable heel that really is unlikeable and the storylines have been believable. By believable, you know what I mean, you don't feel your intelligence is being insulted. There's an intensity and a realism and it you don't feel like you need to hide your head in shame that you're a wrestling fan when you're watching stuff like that.

What they've been doing with Randy Orton of late I feel the same way about. But by the same token, a lot of what else is on the show, I don't feel challenged at all as a viewer. I don't feel they're taking the risks they need to take because no risk, no reward. It feels like a lot of what I'm seeing is either I've seen it before or there aren't any surprises or swerves that I'm looking for that make it worth continuing to watch. I'm feeling like the storytelling is on a lesser level, far more simplistic and less believable and I don't know if that's because they're telling themselves, well, we're shooting for a younger demographic so we don't want to do anything too complicated, but watching it, it's hard to watch as a grown up watching this. It's hard to watch and not cringe at some of the angles and storylines that they're telling because it's a little bit insulting to the intelligence.

Keller: Let's look at the progression of Randy Orton as a character and that storyline in particular heading into Mania. On their flagship show Raw, Randy Orton's been the top heel, Triple H his foe, they've incorporated Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon into it. They had the climax of the angle this week where Vince McMahon comes out with Shane making his grand return to the stage. Vince, Shane, and Triple H run to the ring and take on Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase, and they give away Triple H and Randy Orton brawling in the ring as they cut away. And that's the final pitch for most WWE fans to buy WrestleMania. That didn't work with me for a lot of reasons. What did you think as you watched that and your booking mind is churning? What did you think as you watched that having watched the Triple H-Orton feud play out for weeks and months?

Ferrara: What I liked about it was a visceral, gut level was when Vince came out and then brought out Shane and then Triple H, seeing the three of them standing side-by-side at the top of the stage, one of those historic moments we haven't seen, and seeing the longtime enemies finally appearing side-by-side as allies, on a visceral gut level, that was very satisfying emotionally. It felt good to me. I could understand why they did that. Because it was a huge moment and kind of setting the stage for how huge WrestleMania will be. But that said, I agree with you that I feel like as far as selling a pay-per-view, going off the air with just a hot brawl going on without announcers reminding us "This Sunday, WrestleMania!" Nothing of that. Not even, "This Saturday night, don't forget to watch the Hall of Fame on USA Network." That sort of thing. It felt to me that they were playing their cards and forgot that they had another hand following up. So I really had a problem with that. They went for the moment, but once they had the moment, they didn't really have a follow-through or know what to do from there.

As far as giving away Triple H and Orton, on one hand as a booker I'm not necessarily above having them get into a brawl, especially if it's at ringside, if it's going to stop quickly and still continue that anticipation where, well, on Sunday when there's nobody around to pull Triple H off of Orton then we're going to see it. But that wasn't the case.

Keller: They went off the air fighting.

Ferrara: Right. They went off the air fighting, went off the air hot, went off the air with no announcers. So I don't think that was the worst thing in the world, especially since it feels like that's all they've been doing is giving us what they're going to be asking us to pay for on Sunday. I mean, I scratch my head at Rey and JBL that night. Why are you doing that? All they were doing to me was making it clear who's going over on Sunday. I felt that way with Rey and JBL, I felt that way when they went off the air with the McMahons and Triple H sending Orton and Legacy scampering. I also felt that way with Undertaker and Michaels. I feel that Undertaker has been Willie Coyote for the past six weeks and Michaels is the Road Runner, so I feel that on Sunday, Willie Coyote is finally going to get to eat the Road Runner because he's been doing nothing but giving up heat to Michaels. Week in and week out he's come out on top. It really makes me scratch my head. It makes me wonder psychologically what they have in mind and how they're building toward this. I have to hope in my heart or heart they have some aces up their sleeve that they have been really good about shielding and really keeping knowledge from everybody.

We will have more sample excerpts of this interview here at PWTorch.com this weekend leading into WrestleMania 25 on Sunday, so check back. Or you can subscribe to PWTorch and gain access to not only the entire interview transcript, but also the entire audio of the interview. SUBSCRIPTION PAGE. (If you're reading this on our PWTorch App, please visit PWTorch.com on your P.C. to get sub info. A PWTorch VIP subscription includes email reports on PPVs, major TV shows, and special breaking news alerts which you can receive on your smart phone.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline