Shane Douglas

[9.0] "Wow, reading some of the particularly harsh comments you'd think Shane Douglas killed some people's dogs around here. A Shane Douglas primer for those who haven't watched much of his work: (in no particular order) // (1) Shane Douglas & Ricky Steamboat vs. Pillman & Windham - WCW Starrcade '92 // (2) Shane Douglas & Ricky Steamboat vs. The Hollywood Blondes (Steve Austin & Brian Pillman) - WCW Worldwide 3/27/1993 // (3) Douglas vs. Chris Jericho vs. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Pitbull #2 - ECW Heatwave 1996 // (4) Douglas vs. Terry Funk vs. Sabu - ECW The Night the Line was Crossed 2/5/1994 // (5) Douglas vs. Cactus Jack - ECW Cyberslam 1996 // Douglas vs. Justin Credible - ECW Cyberslam 1999 // (6) Douglas & Steamboat vs. Hollywood Blondes (Austin & Pillman) - WCW Clash of the Champions XXII // Shane Douglas famously took part in and won the NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament on August 27, 1994 at the ECW Arena. Douglas vs. The Tazmaniac in the first round is a fun little match, and the finals of the tournament -Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio- is definitely worth a watch. His post-match promo is the stuff of legend. Though it is excellent and by far his most well known promo, it's nowhere close to being his best. He really peaked on the mic in 96-98. Douglas really built his reputation in ECW not just on his in-ring work (though he was always a solid worker), but more so for his edgy (especially for the time) promos. It's probably impossible for me to explain to modern fans the effect that Douglas dropping F-bombs and calling out wrestlers from other promotions really had on fans at the time and the impact it had on the business as a whole. I'm not overstating the facts here at all. Douglas was ahead of his time in many ways, always took his in-ring work seriously, grew to become an impeccable worker, and knew precisely what to say to get a reaction from the fans. There's a reason why Paul Heyman used Shane Douglas as his top heel for so long, and essentially built the company around him in those crucial early years. Sure, ECW wouldn't have become what it did if not for Funk, Sabu, Sandman, Dreamer & Public Enemy, but Douglas was THE GUY in 94-95 and again played a critical role following his return from the WWF. If you aren't familiar with the Shane Douglas-"Pitbull #1" Gary Wolfe incident then you should check it out. You'll never doubt Douglas's ability to get heat again (though in this case it was far TOO MUCH heat). It seems like many modern fans aren't even aware of Douglas's stable, the Triple Threat, and that's really a shame. All iterations of the Triple Threat were memorable. For those not familiar, the stable initially consisted of Douglas, Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko. Following the departure of Benoit & Malenko to WCW, Douglas would reform the group with Chris Candido & Brian Lee, with Bam Bam Bigelow eventually replacing Lee. The version most are probably familiar with is that last one. Douglas, Candido, Bigelow and of course "The Queen of Extreme" Francine, were one of the 90's greatest factions. Whether it was Francine, Sherri Martel or later Torrie Wilson in WCW Douglas always knew how to make the most of having an attractive valet to get additional heat from the audience. I can't not mention The Triple Threat vs. Taz here. Easily one of the most memorable feud's in ECW history. Their interaction at WrestlePalooza '98 was gold. This epic feud (and Taz's Path of Rage) culminated with Douglas vs. Taz @ Guilty As Charged '99. Not the greatest match of all time, but the fans were ready and it was a fantastic moment. His 1995 run in WWF was hugely disappointing, in large part because of the gimmick and what I'll just call a "lack of chemistry" with The Kliq. Douglas vs. Razor and Douglas vs. Michaels on paper seem like they should've been classics, but obviously it was not to be. I'm not even gonna get into all of that drama, but at least Douglas left the WWF relatively quickly and made his way back to ECW in a hurry. He was also largely wasted in his WCW run, although at least there he was working as "The Franchise", was given some mic time, Torrie Wilson as a valet, briefly aligned with Benoit, Malenko & Saturn in The Revolution (essentially an updated version of the Horsemen, that could've easily played into the Douglas-Flair rivalry). Unfortunately the constant changes in management/creative during that time made it hard for basically anyone to get any momentum going and organically get over. As a result his time in WCW didn't result in many noteworthy matches or feuds. They actually went through with the one can't miss program for Douglas in WCW (Douglas vs. Ric Flair), which had been built up for years by Shane in ECW, and still managed to screw that up. His time in Continental (while Eddie Gilbert was booking) put Douglas on the map. Appeared for the (Mid-South) UWF some, again when Gilbert had the book. His first run in WCW with the Dynamic Dudes was what it was. He had a brief run in the WWF where he got some wins on TV, made a Rumble appearance and then was gone. The 2nd WCW run teaming with Steamboat was fantastic, but ended prematurely, and I've already covered his time in WWF and the dying days of WCW. Watch Douglas in ECW. A couple of less than stellar runs in the Big Two notwithstanding The Franchise is still an easy 9"

[9.0] "Shane Douglas has to be one of my favorite ECW wrestlers ever. Want to know why? He was so good that Triple H decided to rip off his entire gimmick, even down to the hat, girl, and promo. I see a lot of him in MJF, and both of these guys set a very high standard for good promos. As for his in-ring work, considering it was the mid-1990's, it was slow, but still good for our time today. He lived and worked in a wrestling world that could not accept him yet - they weren't ready for him. No matter how hard he worked, management in places like WWF and WCW wouldn't let him soar through the roof and be the Franchise. Overall, Shane Douglas was ahead of his time, and his legacy is embedded in the concrete of the sport of professional wrestling."

[3.0] "I guess I've just never --GOT-- Shane Douglas, never really resonated with him and never really figured him as a guy that was decent in the ring. Was sort of just there as a general ring hand with nothing more"

[6.0] "He is a tough guy to grade. I suppose he was a top independent wrestler who was never quite able to get over in the two big promotions back in the day. When you are a champion or a top guy in a promotion and you are actually paying the promoter, you have done something wrong in your career. Although that reflects very poorly on Heyman as well. Suppose his best work was tagging with Steamboat when Steamboat was at the end of his career. Better at talking and at being a personality than the actual wrestling."

[8.0] "Shane was awesome in ECW. He and Francine were a fantastic pairing. Shane was a good promo, an excellent worker, and was at his best as a heel. Vince and Bischoff really showed their inability to book when they failed Douglas. It's always funny to me when the Kliq boys say Shane couldn't get over and ignore the fact that his gimmick was a friggin school teacher, they could've given that to Steve Austin, and it would have flopped."

[6.0] "Shane Douglas is a fascinating case study in versatility and context. His career can be divided into three distinct phases, each with its own impact. In NWA/WCW, he excelled as a tag team specialist, delivering solid matches and multiple championships as a babyface, though his singles work remained serviceable rather than extraordinary. His early WWF runs were less impressive: the first stint saw him as a lower mid-carder with limited mic time, while the infamous Dean Douglas gimmick was a disaster--mostly a reflection of creative mismanagement rather than Douglas himself. Douglas' true brilliance emerged in ECW. Here, he was electric both in-ring and on the mic, capable of generating intense heat and carrying storylines with authority. His ability to blend charisma, technical skill, and promo work made him one of the most compelling performers of his era when given the right platform."

[4.0] "Decided to edit and go the math route. Began as enhancement talent, moved on to be a plucky upstart youngster all through the south and absolutely excelled in the role (6). Then Herd made him a Dynamic Dude (4). His first WWF run wouldn't have been notable but WHOA there he was in Royal Rumble 91! (4.75) He then hit his best stride yet in WCW as Ricky Steamboat's tag partner/protegee (this is his been stuff overall, watch EVERY tag match with Ricky Steamboat, 8). His ECW tenure as The Franchise is infamous and also overrated, its all talk and the bell to bell just does NOT deliver (4). Dean Douglas is wrestlecrap (2). He was one of the better workers in dying days WCW, but it was also dying days WCW (4). After the Steamboat team: ITS ALL TALK. Take the microphone away and what's left? . Meanwhile, if you aren't booking him to be top draw in your company, he gets all huffy & quits. Not a fan. The average is 4.67 but I am rounding down because he's so full of himself."

[9.0] "He started the first flame of change to the wrestling world in 1993 when he took the ECW world champion one of the best promo talkers in wrestling he know how to talk the truth remains me of punk and Piper I at this point also good in the ring not the best but good he has a great vibes arounds him and remember they took triple h look from him"

[6.0] "He had the look, the attitude and he fit his era. In the ring he was decent, nothing flashy but he understood how to work. On the mic he could absolutely deliver. His ECW run gave him his legacy and he was genuinely important to that scene but outside of it he never quite clicked at the top level. Solid all around but not the revolutionary he thought he was."

[5.0] "Someone who sits firmly in the "so crap he's kinda class" category. A meme wrestler before his time."

[4.0] "For a guy who took a lot of shots at Ric Flair, Douglas sure didn't do anything to back his bluster up. His matches were fine, but nothing special. He was slightly better on the mic than in the ring, but nothing special. Pretending to be a college dean in WWF was probably about his level, regardless of what he was handed in ECW."

[9.0] "In his prime in ECW he could do it all. He was a sound wrestler, good brawler, and outstanding on the mic. It's a shame he was never able to gain any traction in WWE and WCW because he was the most credible part of ECW in its hey day. Going back a little earlier, he had a great run with Ricky Steamboat as tag team champions. A lot of what he's done after ECW isn't noteworthy but he was one of the best at one point."

[8.0] "I dunno, maybe I'm biased because he's a fellow Yinzer, but I always liked Shane. However, for my money, his best stuff wasn't his ECW run (which I think most people would say was his best), but rather, I think his best stuff was when he and Ricky Steamboat were a tag team and they had that fantastic feud with Austin and Pillman. Those were really great matches."

[6.0] "Journeyman guy who jumped around a lot during the strongest era in pro wrestling. ECW made him a huge star, but never really hit the same height in either WCW or WWE. In the ring he is solid but he was better on the mic as a heel as his promo where he rejected the NWA championship is a great promo."

[8.0] "I mean, he was Cody Rhodes in AEW before any of both existed in wrestling: annoying, self absorbed, pretentious and delusional. He was thinking everyone from the other companies cared about him or what he had to say, and when he cut promos crying about how wasted he was in WWF and WCW, you can tell that this wasn't even Heyman or Tod Gordon's doing, it was all him and his ego. But still, Shane had something no one else had at that time; realness! The man was intense cutting the serious promos against his opponents, and even when he was cruising for a bruising, everyone was behind him in the crowd. His ring skills were a bit off rhythm, but no doubt about it, it was just like he said it once: "if it wasn't for him, there wouldn't be an ECW for us to spend our stinking hard earning money on". Mad respect for the guy, but only when he was focused on his company."

[2.0] "He could cut a decent promo (as long as he was able to cuss and get cheap heat) but is definitely overhyped and quite frankly underdelivered in the ring bassicly every time I saw him."

[5.0] "I will admit I didn't grow up watching ECW as I became a wrestling fan many years after it's demise, but I have gone back and watched a lot of ECW on Peacock/YouTube and I cannot understand what people saw in Shane Douglas. He was the most boring fucking wrestler I've ever watched. Like, I can't sit here and call him a "bad" wrestler because he did everything right, but his matches put me to sleep. His promos are all the same shit too. If you've heard one promo, you've heard them all. His hatred of Flair came off as pathetic too. He simply never evolved as a character and if you can't evolve your character, you get left behind. I just don't get how people could have been a fan of this dude, sorry."

[5.0] "He was a good promo but he would cut the same promo every time. He could not evolve from that one promo when he threw down the NWA Title. He is another mid wrestler like Theory, Deonna or Kamille who was super pushed for some reason. He would often be one of the worst matches on the ECW card. He would always try to force a classic match. His matches always went way too long. When people think ECW, they think RVD, Raven, Dreamer, Sandman, Taz, Sabu, Dudleyz and others. Meanwhile Douglas was champion most of the time, having 2 very long title reigns which no one cared about. If you listened to his shoot interviews you would think he was one of the greatest wrestlers ever and his matches were classics which isnt the case."

[0.0] "FUCK SHANE DOUGLAS. Just point blank, fuck Shane Douglas. He's an actual waste of talent who got pushed for zero reason and deserved not a goddamn lick of success in the wrestling business. He made JOHNNY ACE look good in the ring. Boring as fuck in the ring, boring on the mic, WASTED PART OF THE CAREERS OF BAM BAM BIGELOW AND CHRIS CANDIDO, TWO OF THE BEST TALENTS ECW EVER HAD, and fucked over 2 Cold Scorpio completely. But that's just ECW, why don't we talk about WCW where he nearly fucked the careers over of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn by trying to force his way into the Radicalz stable when they attempted to hop over to the WWF? Or maybe we talk about him being a locker room cancer who made 1990s Shawn Michaels and Triple H look like fucking SAINTS in comparison when it comes to egos. As I mentioned above, FUCK SHANE DOUGLAS."

[4.0] "An okay talker and a bad-to-mediocre worker. He had the charisma? I think. There were better wrestlers in ECW. Better talkers. More over guys. And he was prone to injuries. "They can all kiss my ass" saved his career"

[6.0] "Another solid midcarder, tag team wrestler, and IC/US title contender who seemed to always find himself on the wrong side of the ruling party. Went to ECW where he could really stand out because he sure as hell wasn't going anywhere in the WWF!"

[5.0] "Shane Douglas has had a really interesting career to look at, but I never saw him as a huge standout. His peers bring him up and I think he ranged from "fine" to "bad" for most of his career."

[0.0] "In my opinion, one of the worst wrestlers of all time. As a worker, he's fine. As a promo, he's fine. As a personality, he's fine. But as a locker-room ego, Shane Douglas was the very embodiment of the selfish, out-for-himself wrestler that he despised so much. The idea of a Shane Douglas is just so dislikable."

[0.0] "Shane Douglas sucks, all he did after 1995 was shoot promos constantly because the only thing he was known was the shoot promo where he threw down the NWA belt and Eastern Championship Wrestling became Extreme, honestly you could've just have Scorpio cut that shoot promo and would've made it 10 times better. I swear everytime I hear Shane Douglas cut a promo he's got a hate boner for Ric Flair, it's not even like Scott Steiner shooting on Flair where you're laughing your ass off, This guy just gives off go away heat. Also he was a boring wrestler having long matches where NOTHING HAPPENS, like his Forty Mimute match with Tully Blanchard, and his 20 minute stinker with Pitbull #2. And if you want to talk commentary? Heat Wave 98, him and Joey Styles were awful together, Douglas's commentary was like Chris Jericho where he's just constantly yelling and sounding like his throats going out."

[7.0] "I am giving Shane a 7, but he had 3 different careers. NWA/WCW he was a very good tag team specialist winning multiple championships as a baby face, and at the end of WCW he had a mid level impact as well. Solid work but not exceptional. WWF had two different stints. First stint was very young and was a lower mid card guy, not much time on the mic but was passing. The Dean Douglas stint was a train wreck, but I blame Vince for that. ECW he was awesome and was great both in the ring and on the MIC. Could get major heat."

[5.0] "Douglas was a decent talent who had the misfortune of getting injured or otherwise missing time every time he got a real push. His non-ECW stuff was mostly forgettable."

[6.0] "He was good until he was Dean Douglas in the WWF. Will always be regarded as an ECW legend. His later WCW work was poor and so was his TNA work."

[8.0] "Far from the greatest ever, and far from truly great in general, but my god was he ever entertaining. A great over the top heel with electric promos. I know he's not generally the most well regarded guy in the game but he'll always be a personal favorite of mine."

[4.0] "For my money, one of the most overrated wrestlers in the history of the business. He excelled because ECW didn't have anybody else like him at the time. He was a brash, over-the-top dick heel who could talk. His matches weren't great and he showed in every single run he had in any other company that he benefitted from being in the right place at the right time."

[6.0] "He had a nice gimmick and his workrate was pretty consistent, even if he was an average worker. He wasn't anything special on the mic but wasn't bad by any measure."

[6.0] "Douglas was always meh to me. While solid with promos, he relied too much on shooting on the WWE and whatnot to really get a reaction, and could really only do one character and was impossible to be taken as a face or whatever. In the ring, he never really stood out: while he understood ring psychology and the finer details of matches, his actual skill as a wrestler was significantly limited, and outside of a good piledriver, none of his moves ever felt like they had any impact (particularly his belly to belly suplex, which was massively outdated by the mid 90's, let alone anywhere close to the year 2000). When he went to WCW he did exactly nothing of worth and simmered out afterwards, and while he was shown as a main event player in ECW, he didn't really seem like it."

[4.0] "Never liked his promos, and even if his in-ring work was relatively solid, he never had a single match that I would rate as anything other than "good", and even calling his best matches "good" is fairly generous. I think he's one of the most overrated, average guys in the business. Big fish in a small pond in ECW, and his forays into larger promotions showed how far below the top level he was."

[8.0] "Always a solid ring-worker, both in his early days as a tag specialist (notably as half of the Dynamic Dudes, and later even more successfully alongside Ricky Steamboat) and as a single, Douglas also cemented himself as one of wrestling's all-time great heel promos. He was a key part of establishing ECW as a major part of the '90s wrestling scene and helping it transition from Eastern to Extreme Championship Wrestling with his throwing down of the NWA Title and subsequent lengthy runs as ECW Champ. He was always very opinionated and this likely worked against him behind the scenes, as he burned bridges in multiple companies including WWF and WCW and the top belts of those companies eluded him, but he was still a major part of driving one of wrestling's hottest eras. To this day he still frequently makes appearances and often can be found helping to put over independent companies and talents."

[7.0] "Shane Douglas was a solid worker; not outstanding, but not bad. His mic work was OK, but he relied on swearing far too much, to the point that he came off as a guy who didn't know how to cut a promo without it."

[6.0] "The biggest heel in ECW? Perhaps. Douglas had a nice gimmick and he knew how to work in the ring but he never really became anything, which is unfortunate because I reckon if he focused more on himself then he did on people he was bitter about that I reckon he'd be worth his namesake as 'The Franchise' rather then a dimes worth of crying."

[5.0] "When I first heard of Shane Douglas, the thing everyone talked about was the night the line was crossed. It sounded incredible, but I've never seen anything from Douglas that lived up to that moment. Most of what I remember him from is his run in WCW. His ECW stuff was obviously better but all those terrible promos about Flair, viagra on a pole, and a lot of bad table matches, I can't appreciate the guy."

[8.0] "an outstanding wrestler with exceptional mic skills, helped get ECW perma-over by dropping the NWA title on TV (thus devaluing the title, which has remained irrelevant to this day). never seen a bad promo from shane. Had a run in WWE as "dean" douglas, and was turned into a joke character. also a nice guy who genuinely cares about the business. has not broken kayfabe ever, continues to act as though wrestling is 100% legit, which is refreshing, since kayfabe died years ago."

[9.0] "Shane has been his own worst enemy a million times over, and that's why he never made it big in WCW or WWF. But he was one of the absolute best promo guys in the business in the 90s, and very solid in the ring as well. Great passion on the mic, and great in the role of a dickish heel."

[10.0] "Even though ECW's success is owed to several great workers and the booking ingenue of Paul Heyman, it certainly would not have been the same without Shane Douglas. Amid all the blood and chaos was the voice of reason, a wrestler with more of a throwback style to contrast the frequent unorthodox ring action. Despite his mostly traditional wrestling style, he utilized high spots and mic work that were certainly "extreme". Douglas is one of the greatest talkers in wrestling history. He also managed to generate incredible heat in ECW after previously being their top babyface, which was arguably the hardest promotion in which to get over at the time."

[8.0] "There was a time when Shane Douglas was one of the top performers in the world. One could say he got in his own way by refusing to "sell out" and play the politics game, but despite all of that he still excelled to the top of a number of very prominent organizations. He has strong beliefs of what wrestling should be, and he's not afraid to let anyone and everyone know it."

[8.0] "Never in the history of wrestling has one man accomplished so much and gone so unappreciated for it. Shane's got all of the basic tools down: great wrestling ability, brilliant mic ability, and a great look. He cut the promo of a lifetime the night he threw the NWA World title down. He helped create ECW. He captured titles in WWF and WCW, but those weren't treated with the same esteem as his title reigns in ECW. It was there that he truly shined. It was there that he'll always be remembered."

[7.0] "Without a doubt, Shane Douglas played a very important role in the creation of ECW, and 20 years on, that shoot promo is still fresh in memory. When he was ECW Champion, he was reliable and solid, "The Franchise" was like "The Game" Triple H, only 5 years earlier. Before that, he was in a very good tag team with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in NWA/WCW. Outside of all this though, he really wasn't up to much. His WWE run was a memorable flop. His late 90s/early 2000s WCW run was a flop (like most other things around that time in that company), and his TNA run didn't do much for him either."