Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Oklahoma – WCW, 1999-2000
History
In late 1999, the wrestling business had braced for a major shake-up as Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera, two of the WWF’s top writers, had abruptly left the company (while most of the staff, including Vince McMahon himself) were on a tour of Europe and immediately signed with WCW.
Also about this time, Dr. Death Steve Williams had been signed by the WWF and paired with a new heel Jim Ross. Neither Williams nor Ross’s heel turn worked, and Williams wound up released while Ross simply returned to being Good Old JR.
On November 15th, the first Russo era was in full swing on Nitro. Russo (in the role of the Powers That Be) had just booked a Piñata on a Pole match for the luchadors, when we saw Dr. Death coming in the backstage area. He was being accompanied by a man who looked somewhat familiar – he was wearing a black shirt, black pants, wire-rimmed glasses, and a big black Resistol cowboy hat. Also, his face appeared to be drawn to one side.
The piñata match was underway as Dr. Death and his friend made their way out to ringside. Juvi finally cracked the piñata open, but Silver King wound up getting his hands on the $10,000 check inside. That was Williams’s cue to hit the ring and obliterate the luchadors. He wound up leaving with the check in his hand.
They disappeared until the following Sunday, which was the Mayhem pay-per-view. Vampiro was taking on Berlyn until Dr. Death and his friend (now named Oklahoma) made their way out to announce the match and shill barbecue sauce. To be honest, there was far more barbecue sauce selling than announcing going on.
The next night, Oklahoma and Williams were seen walking around the backstage area until the Wall leveled Vampiro with a chair shot and got Berlyn disqualified. As the Wall and Berlyn headed to the back, one of the Misfits called out Williams. Williams obliged and quickly destroyed all four of the Misfits before Vampiro landed a kick that sent him out of the ring.
The next week on Nitro, we had an unusual situation – WCW was out of backstage interviewers as Mike Tenay had been on the receiving end of a Jarrett guitar shot and Gene Okerlund had accepted Big Vito and Johnny the Bull’s invitation to go to a strip club. That left us with Amway salesman Chavo Guerrero Jr. to do the interviews. He was talking to Dr. Death and Oklahoma as they promised to destroy Jerry Only in a steel cage later that night.
As promised, Williams took on Jerry Only later in the night, but things didn’t go as planned. As the rest of the Misfits and Vampiro poured barbecue sauce all over Oklahoma, Williams threw Only out of the cage, giving the Misfit the win. The rest of the Misfits then locked Williams in.
On Thunder, Dr. Death and Oklahoma were backstage when Silver King approached them and demanded his check back from the Piñata on a Pole match. He was soon joined by the Villanos. Everything was still civil until Silver King trashed football, which drove Oklahoma berserk. Williams held him back as Williams challenged the luchadors to any sort of match they wanted.
It turned out that the luchadors were fine with a three-on-one handicap match. As the match went on, Zbyzsko got tired of Oklahoma’s antics and left, so Oklahoma grabbed his seat and joined the announcers. Things were going well until Vampiro showed up and attacked Oklahoma. That let Silver King slip out of the ring, grab his check, and clear out. Back in the ring, Williams wound up putting a Villano away for the win.
Silver King actually wound up stealing a cab from Lex Luger, who was trying to get away from the building before he faced Sid in the main event.
On Nitro, Gene was talking to Vampiro (who had Oklahoma’s hat) and Jerry Only. They promised to destroy Williams and Oklahoma.
That led us into a tag match. In a nice touch, Oklahoma had on a wireless microphone so he could call the match. Oklahoma finally tagged in, hit an elbow drop, and pinned Vampiro before taking his hat back.
On Thunder, Vampiro was taking on The Artist Formerly Known As Prince Iaukea when Oklahoma headed down to the ring. As Oklahoma spent his time hitting on Paisley (better known as Booker T’s wife Sharmell), Vampiro won the match. The Artist attacked Oklahoma, which brought out Dr. Death for the save.
The next Nitro had Williams taking on Sid. Dr. Death was having problems until Oklahoma slipped him his boot and Williams clocked Sid with it. That brought Vampiro out after Oklahoma who ran into the ring where Williams leveled Vampiro. Sid wound up putting Williams away with a powerbomb, and then the Outsiders came out to attack Sid.
Williams had the Wall on Thunder. Wall was dominating as Chavo Guerrero, Jr. was seen selling Amway products in the crowd. Oklahoma went for his boot, only to be chased away by Berlyn. Berlyn went on to clock Williams with a foreign object of his own, which got the Wall disqualified.
That brought us to Starrcade, and it wasn’t long before the shenanigans started as the Misfits kidnapped Oklahoma and locked him in a cage.
With Oklahoma secured, Vampiro took on Dr. Death with the stipulation that if Vampiro won, he got Oklahoma in the ring for five minutes. Oklahoma, despite being locked in the cage, still had his headset on. When Dr. Death gained a decisive advantage, the Misfits hit the ring and Williams disposed of them. In the end, Dr. Death threw the referee aside and got disqualified. While they worked to let Oklahoma out of the cage, Williams pummeled Vampiro. Once the five minutes actually started, Oklahoma dominated Vampiro for a few minutes, however, Vampiro eventually came around, put on Oklahoma’s cowboy hat, and hit the Nail in the Coffin.
Shortly after this, Oklahoma wound up disappearing as Dr. Death left WCW.
His absence lasted until the January 6th Thunder. Madusa had defeated (and dumped) Evan Karagias to win the Cruiserweight title. She was set to take on Asya when a familiar fight song started and Oklahoma made his way out. He headed to the commentary booth and began talking about women, and how they didn’t deserve to hold a WCW title. Following interference from Shane Douglas’s Revolution, Madusa wound up with the win. After the match, she climbed on the announce table and bashed Oklahoma and the Powers that Be. Oklahoma clocked her with his bottle of barbecue sauce and dumped it over her.
On the following Nitro, Oklahoma hit the ring and issued a challenge to any woman who thought she could beat him. Somewhere, Andy Kaufman was surely smiling. Anyway, Asya came out to answer the challenge. They wound up brawling on the outside, and Oklahoma smashed a bottle of barbecue sauce over her head. That brought Madusa out, so Oklahoma broke a broom over her back and stole the belt.
Things went downhill on Thunder as Oklahoma took on Madusa in an evening gown match. Oklahoma wound up going for a hidden bottle of sauce, but Madusa seized the opportunity by seizing Oklahoma’s dress and pulling it off for the win. Unfazed, Oklahoma clocked Madusa with the bottle, then tore the top of her dress off and dumped barbecue sauce on her cleavage.
Souled Out opened with an interesting shift in backstage dynamic as Vince Russo was removed as head booker of WCW and replaced by Kevin Sullivan. Regardless, the Oklahoma/Madusa match still took place. Oklahoma grabbed a microphone and yelled for Madusa to “bounce those silicon hoots down” to the ring, so he could “bounce them back to the kitchen.” Oklahoma wound up pinning Madusa to win the cruiserweight title, then Nitro Girl Spice, Asya, and Madusa attacked him outside the ring and dumped barbecue sauce all over him.
Oklahoma came out on the following Thunder to relinquish the belt.
On a side note, let’s take a look at the WCW title picture after Souled Out. The World title was vacated after Chris Benoit left the company. The US title had been vacated by Kevin Nash at the PPV after champion Jeff Jarrett was found to have a concussion (he had it handed back at Nitro). The Cruiserweight title was now vacant. Brian Knobbs was the Hardcore champion. David Flair and Crowbar had the Tag Team belts. The Television title had been dumped in a trash can by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in November and was forgotten.
Anyway, back to Oklahoma. He said he wasn’t doing it because he wasn’t a cruiserweight (hint: he wasn’t) but because he had brought male pride back to WCW. Madusa came out and started running him down, then she was jumped from behind by Sherri Martel.
And that was that.
Analysis
Let’s be honest. Oklahoma was nothing but a slam against Jim Ross, courtesy of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara having their shackles thrown off. In all fairness, it must be pointed out that there was a semi-Oklahoma character in the WWF (also played by Ferrara). However, the difference was there that Tiger Ali Singh supposedly paid him to impersonate Jim Ross, at which point Dr. Death came out and destroyed him.
Oklahoma was shot after shot at Ross, including his barbecue sauce (which was weekly mentioned in wwf.com’s Ross Report and was available in the WWF Shopzone), and even bringing in Steve Williams (reportedly a real-life friend of Ross).
Even after Williams left, things didn’t get better – although they weren’t all Oklahoma’s fault. Madusa should not have won the cruiserweight title in the first place. If they wanted her to hold a belt, they could have reactivated their women’s title (which was won by Akira Hokuto in 1996 and considered held by her until her 2002 retirement). At the time, WCW had women’s matches on Saturday Night anyway, and they could have had a decent women’s division.
Although Madusa deciding once again that she wanted to be “where the big boys play” devalued the once-prestigious cruiserweight title, the belt’s credibility would be torpedoed when the more-than-215-pound Oklahoma won it. Although he surrendered the belt the next night, the damage was done to the title. From then on, the title appeared to be almost as worthless as any other WCW title, including the world title which was being swapped on what seemed a weekly basis.
To Ferrera and Russo’s credit, both have seemed remorseful of the Oklahoma gimmick in recent years. After Jim Ross was publicly “fired” on the October 10, 2005 Raw, both men issued public statements in support of Ross and also made public apologies for the Oklahoma gimmick.
Where Are They Now?
Ed Ferrara would soon depart WCW. He would next pop up in Bill Behrens’s NWA Wildside, where he feuded with Lazz. In 2002, Ferrara signed up to work as a commentator in NWA-TNA along with Mike Tenay and Don West. In August of that year, Ferrara wound up leaving the company. As of last July, Ferrara was writing columns with PWTorch’s Ask the Torch feature.
Steve Williams returned to All-Japan Pro Wrestling after he left WCW. Williams also worked for Major League Wrestling in 2003. In 2004, it was discovered that he had throat cancer. He underwent surgery and was certified cancer-free in 2005. Williams has recently been working as a guest WWE referee during a Smackdown tour of the South, and also returned to the ring at August 2005’s Wrestlereunion, where he defeated King Kaluha.
Next Week
We head over to the WWF, as Jeff Jarrett channels Brutus Beefcake.
