Shane Douglas

[C.S.]

There seems to be a lot of hate around the interwebs for Shane Douglas, and I've never quite understood why. The Dynamic Dudes stuff was before my time, but I'm guessing almost no one could have succeeded in that role.

 

My first exposure to Douglas was as a white meat babyface in WCW. Even as a kid, I hated white meat babyfaces, but Douglas made it work - first as a singles wrestler and then as the tag team partner of Ricky Steamboat. It would be easy and convenient to credit Steamboat, but Douglas "got over" with me even before that team.

 

Fast-forward a year or two later: Douglas was now a heel as "The Franchise" of ECW. Say what you want about his "shoot" promos or obsession with Flair, but that character and his interview style was riveting back in 1994. Keep in mind, this was when the WWF had garbage men and plumbers while WCW was trotting out The Shockmaster and the Dungeon of Doom. His "R.I.P." speech about the worthless, irrelevant (by that time) NWA Title was incredible.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kpEjrKqf3s

 

"The Franchise's" matches were also pretty good - maybe not on an elite level - but he could certainly hold his own with most anyone.

 

Douglas's jump from ECW to the WWF was derailed by a bad character (Dean Douglas) and politics (The Clique). He never quite recovered after that, even when he returned to ECW.

 

His WCW run in 2000 was useless because WCW itself was useless. Even then, he was still cutting decent promos - like this one:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZDkc-hZ4Ms

 

Now, he's the butt of jokes from fans and wrestlers alike, such as Ric Flair, who made fun of him on the "Factions" episode of Legends of Wrestling for working at Walmart. (It was actually Target, and I see no shame in working a normal job and trying to live a normal life.) Granted, Douglas went to town on Flair for years, so some sort of "receipt" is hardly the end of the world. Still, Flair probably didn't realize how insecure, petty, and utterly tone deaf he came across - especially since he has no room to judge anyone else's personal life.

 

At this point, I'd almost have to consider Shane Douglas underrated because he truly doesn't get the credit he deserves. Maybe it's a case of "you had to be there" but Douglas was definitely one of the most compelling characters in all of wrestling as "The Franchise" and even his earlier white meat babyface stuff was good.

 

Great on the mic and crisp in the ring - what more could anyone ask for? I've always been a fan. How about you?

[El-P]

Douglas' stint in WCW in 2000 once he got hooked with Torrie Wilson was actually really solid and he made the most out of poor booking and awkward gimmick matches every time around. He was one of the saving graces of WCW TV for a short while. The Revolution stuff was awful, but it wasn't his fault.

 

Yeah, big time Shane Douglas fan myself. Terrific babyface in 93 and great heel promo later on (before he went overboard at times especially in ECW and indies). Peaking in 95/96 and having a resurgence as a veteran-like worker in 99 (his last program in ECW) and 00.

 

Interesting to hear Steve Austin giving him major props as a face worker and heel promo. Austin said that his only problem was that his heel work wasn't on par with his promos at the time, and that his babyface in-ring work was great but that he didn't had the great babyface promo ability.

[Memphis Mark]

Shane was great during his first WCW run . I l loved the first part of his ECW run . The feud with the Pitbulls and the tv title match with 2 Cold Scorpo , Chris Jerchio and Pitbull # 2 were my personal favorites .

 

Shane career was hurt by his many elbow injuries and his weight gain. Shane must have gain 40 to 50 pounds from 92 to 98. I know he was trying to muscle up , but his lost all of his speed and moblity .

 

More factors in Shane ;s decline was the rise of Rob Van Dam to the top spot of whole he was hurt. Also Tommy, Taz and the Dudleys held more influence with Heyman. I guess it was NY deal.

 

In the end I think the injuries was ruined his carreer. When he came back he was just a shadow of his former self. The second WCW run , XPW and TNA matches were just awful.

[ButchReedMark]

The way he does that annoying "HA HA HA" about three times a sentence in his later promos succeeded in turning me against absolutely anything he's ever done. That and "You're going to get your ass FRANCHISED" which always sounded to me like he was going to bum them. I though he was cool as shit in 1990 as a 5 year old though. To the point of being one of my favourite wrestlers at that time (along with Jim Powers). Anything from returning to ECW post Dean Douglas onwards bores the shit out of me though.

[Russellmania]

am I the only one who thinks that HHH's late 90's/early 2000's style and persona were really heavily influenced by Douglas? I remember Shane rocking the track pants, black wrestling t-shirt, and pony tail look before HHH started doing it during his big singles heel run. Even HHH's promo style seemed to be similar to Shane's.

 

Maybe it was just simply the style of the time (the track pants were pretty popular with wrestlers), but I definitely remember thinking that when HHH broke off from DX and started his run as the hardass heel that I had already seen his whole schtick from Shane Douglas in ECW.

 

One of those things you can't prove and HHH would never admit to, but I always saw a connection there.

[C.S.]

"You're going to get your ass FRANCHISED" which always sounded to me like he was going to bum them.

 

Agreed, but the '90s was full of that stuff: "Mr. Ass," DDP using "bang" in a million different ways toward his male opponents, etc.

[ButchReedMark]

I remember the APA T-shirt.

 

ALWAYS POUNDING ASS

[El-P]

am I the only one who thinks that HHH's late 90's/early 2000's style and persona were really heavily influenced by Douglas?

 

No, you're not. It always seemed obvious to me that HHH tried to emulate the Franchise character at that time. The whole "Cerebral Assassin" gimmick, the serious deliberate promos, all of this was basically "The Franchise" done poorly. One of the differences being that Douglas oozed pure heel charisma on promo in the mid-90's, and even when he went too long by the end of the decade he was always making a point and was getting his opponents over. And he wasn't insecure and showed tons of ass all the time.

[DMJ]

Not really adding much to the convo here, but on a recent episode of his podcast, Stone Cold namechecked Shane Douglas as someone he felt was a "bad ass" babyface worker. (I think this was the Zeb Colter episode, but I may be wrong)

 

It may not be everyone's opinion, but I put a fair amount of stock in Austin's opinions based on how long his career went, how successful it was, and how many different people he worked with throughout his career.

[jm29195]

Looking back at the first page, he looks like he aged a good 20 years between 1994 and 2000.

[peachchaos]

I'm a fan.

 

He sorta got lost in the shuffle once ECW got on PPV. He became champion almost as an afterthought and then held the belt way too long for anyone's good.

 

As good as the in-ring work was in '96, I always felt like him getting the TV Title was a major regression, even as they did a great job explaining this in the story.

[(BP)]

I just watched Douglas vs Bigelow from November to Remember the other night. He was de facto babyface because they were in Pittsburgh, and he's really good here. I don't know if it was by design, but it reminded me a lot of Flair/Vader from Starrcade. I didn't like his belly-to-belly finisher; it didn't look that great, and it's more of transition move.

[Migs]

I fucking love Shane Douglas.

 

What got me into ECW as a kid was stumbling onto an episode, late night - it was the 4 Way Dance for the TV Title. In the span of 40 minutes, Douglas successfully outsmarts the Pitbulls, steals the girl, breaks a dude's neck, and wins the title. Just mesmerizing and amazing for a 13 year old.

 

His promo work and his in-ring work from 1994-1997 are a really terrific run. 1996 in particular has a lot of really great stuff. The injuries after 1997 really slowed him down in the ring, but I think the character was effective through the end of his ECW run. The angles in 1998 worked fairly well, especially week to week, although I think everyone recognizes that Taz's chase ended up being far too drawn out. But that's not Shane's fault.

 

In some ways, I think he really suffered after his injuries from being in an era where there weren't managers being used regularly. He could have easily had a second career in the 00s as a manager who could take a bump, but that wasn't in vogue (and there was no way Vince was taking him anyway).

[Migs]

I just watched Douglas vs Bigelow from November to Remember the other night. He was de facto babyface because they were in Pittsburgh, and he's really good here. I don't know if it was by design, but it reminded me a lot of Flair/Vader from Starrcade. I didn't like his belly-to-belly finisher; it didn't look that great, and it's more of transition move.

 

He's good in that match, but it was very slow and plodding. Cut that match down about 7 minutes and you probably have an excellent underdog story.

 

The belly to belly worked fine early in his run, but it did get a bit odd as you got into 97-98 and the other ECW finishers had a much stronger look.

[El-P]

 

I just watched Douglas vs Bigelow from November to Remember the other night. He was de facto babyface because they were in Pittsburgh, and he's really good here. I don't know if it was by design, but it reminded me a lot of Flair/Vader from Starrcade. I didn't like his belly-to-belly finisher; it didn't look that great, and it's more of transition move.

 

He's good in that match, but it was very slow and plodding.

 

Blame Bigelow, who's doing a really poor job at trying to be Vader I thought. One of the clear cut "Bigelow wasn't that good" match to pass around.

[MikeCampbell]

Shane was the hottest heel in ECW from mid-late 1996 until Barely Legal. My college roomates heard the fans chanting "Break his neck!" during the PPV match and were shocked. The angle where he grabbed Gary Wolfe by the halo is easily a top five for ECW crowd heat.

[Parts Unknown]

Douglas is a natural heel, one of the best in my opinion, he just oozes heelness. However from an in ring perspective, he was better as a babyface, his peak as a worker teaming with Steamboat against the blonds. Found his obession with flair quite nauseating.

[Clayton Jones]

Douglas is a natural heel, one of the best in my opinion, he just oozes heelness. However from an in ring perspective, he was better as a babyface, his peak as a worker teaming with Steamboat against the blonds. Found his obession with flair quite nauseating.

Agreed all around. The Flair stuff made him seem like a mark even when I was a teenager.

 

I like Douglas quite a bit but reiterating the above points about how he ranks as a total package, I think Austin & Joey Styles said it best on one of the episodes of his podcast. I forget which one made the point, but basically when Douglas came up, the evaluation was in the ring he is a natural babyface, and on the mic and as a personality he is a natural heel, and if he could ever match his ability on either side with the other he'd be an all-time great.