Edward Wiskoski Edward Wiskoski ( January 10 , 1945 ) is a former American professional wrestler best known as Colonel DeBeers in the AWA ( American Wrestling Association ) . He also wrestled as Derek " The Mongoose " Draper ( Florida ) and Mega Maharishi ( Portland ) . His nicknames included Easy Ed and The Polish Prince . Before wrestling . In an interview , Wiskoski said that he was the first in his Polish family to attend and graduate from college ( Northwest Missouri State University ) . He also played briefly for the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League before training to become a wrestler , but added that his time in the league lasted about as long as " a fart in a hurricane . " He says that he chose not to mention his NFL experience when wrestling , because of the negative connotations that go with being an " ex - " anything . Career . After being trained by Harley Race and Lord Littlebrook , Wiskoski debuted in 1972 . Wiskoski primarily wrestled in the Portland , Oregon area during his career . His team with " Playboy " Buddy Rose was famous across the West Coast , holding the Pacific Northwest Tag Team titles on multiple occasions , and the NWA World Tag Team titles ( San Francisco version ) . Wiskoski was also the United States Heavyweight champion and Pacific Northwest Heavyweight champion . He held the Central States Heavyweight title in 1975 and wrestled throughout Europe in the 1980s . He worked as a heel for Leroy McGuirk in the Tulsa , Oklahoma area in the early 1980s . He was known as " Easy " Ed Wiskoski [ 1 ] and was managed by Skandor Akbar . They feuded with Tommy Gilbert and his son , Eddie Gilbert . He also wrestled a few matches in the WWF in the early 1980s , managed by Fred Blassie . During one of his many tours of the Pacific Northwest territory ( where he eventually retired ) , Wiskoski took up the gimmick of Mega Maharishi Amed ( I ' m Ed ) . [ 1 ] This character played upon potentially the hottest topic in the state of Oregon in the early to mid - 80s , that of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his group of followers essentially raising their own city in Eastern Oregon , outside the town of Antelope , and ending with a bioterrorist attack on the small Oregon town of The Dalles , causing the sickening of about 750 people from salmonella poisoning , though no deaths . Wiskoski played the role to the hilt , growing out his facial hair , donning red robes and a stocking cap , much like the Bhagwan himself . During this time he managed Kendo Nagasaki . He was best known as Col . DeBeers in the American Wrestling Association ( AWA ) from 1985 until the organization stopped promoting in late 1990 . His interviews and persona were based on a pro - Apartheid mentality and he played on the fragile race relations and political climate of South Africa at the time . He was billed as being from Cape Town , South Africa , though he bore no accent whatsoever . It was never directly mentioned , but his name was meant to link his status and wealth to the South Africa - based diamond mining and trading corporation , the DeBeers Group . DeBeers also wrestled in Herb Abrams ' Universal Wrestling Federation and various promotions across the West Coast . During his stint in the AWA he feuded with Scott Hall and " Superfly " Jimmy Snuka in 1986 , Sgt . Slaughter in 1988 , briefly with Derrick Dukes in 1989 , and jobber Jake Milliman throughout 1990 . DeBeers feud with Snuka was notorious in that , even in an industry known for characters based on racial stereotypes , DeBeers ' overt racism was still shocking . DeBeers essentially refused to wrestle Snuka because he was not white . After a series of standoffs between the two , the feud was magnified after an injury angle where DeBeers interfered in a match with Snuka , throwing him off the top rope to the floor and delivering several piledrivers on the floor , resulting in a bloody and battered Snuka being wheeled off on a stretcher . This led to a series of high - profile matches with Snuka . DeBeers showed he wasn ' t exactly fond of certain white guys either . On an episode of " AWA All - Star Wrestling " , later seen on ESPN , DeBeers called out " Big " Scott Hall over " his use of anabolic steroids " . Hall , who indeed was much bigger then than his later incarnation of " Razor Ramon " , soon went back to Florida . DeBeers and Milliman competed in , quite possibly , one of the most infamous matches in the history of wrestling while in the AWA . In the company ' s dying months , the AWA created the Team Challenge Series ( TCS ) to try and attract more viewers . One of the matches in the TCS pitted DeBeers and Milliman in the Great American Turkey Hunt , a match where the object was to be the first to pull an uncooked turkey off of a pole tied to one corner of the ring . DeBeers was the first to grab the turkey , although the referee had been knocked out . Milliman pulled a fast one and stole the turkey from DeBeers just before the referee got back up , and was awarded the victory . Also in the AWA in 1988 , DeBeers was briefly managed by Diamond Dallas Page , the leader of the " Diamond Exchange " stable , and his Diamond Dolls . During that short time , he would try to force his opponent to leave on a stretcher . While in the Herb Abrams ' UWF , DeBeers became involved in another feud based on race . After a match with Louie Spicolli , DeBeers attempted to attack the referee who was an African - American . Iceman Parsons came to the save and became involved in a short feud with Col . DeBeers . Retirement . Wiskoski and Rose ran a wrestling school in Portland , Oregon from 2001 until 2006 . One of their students received a tryout from WWE in May 2006 , Caden Mathews , who wrestled Dave Finlay on an edition of SmackDown ! that took place in Portland in May 2006 .