Wrestler of the Day – September 2: Shane Douglas
We go extreme again today with Shane Douglas.
Shane got his start in the early 80s and was trained by Dominic DeNucci along with fellow student Mick Foley. He would get some jobbing time in late 1986 under his real name, including this match from Superstars in September.
Randy Savage vs. Troy Martin
I didn’t hear an opening bell but I don’t think it’s going to make that big of a difference. As Savage destroys Martin, we get an inset interview from Pedro Morales talking about how he’s ready for Savage anywhere anytime. Savage takes Martin into the crowd for a beating before bringing him back inside for the top rope axhandle. The elbow hits and we’re done.
After working in the indies for awhile, Shane would make it to WCW in 1989. Here he is with his partner Johnny Ace in the Dynamic Dudes at Wrestlewar 1989.
Samoan Swat Team vs. Dynamic Dudes
This is the Dudes’ debut I think. They’re skateboarders and no one could stand them. Both guys deny being part of the team today as even they get how stupid it was. The Swat Team are the Headshrinkers. The announcers keep talking about how awesome the Dues are. Dangerously manages the Samoans here and we start with Johnny Ace vs. Rikishi. What a great sounding match.
Shane comes in and Fatu drops down to avoid something but Shane dives behind him anyway. Was there a point to that? Nice dropkick by the ECW Dude. They double team Fatu and nothing much is going on here. And then Samu kicks the heck out of Johnny to take over. Ross says they’re like caged animals. You know I don’t think caged animals often wear tights and pound on professional wrestlers named Johnny.
Samu uses a leg whip. What kind of wild savage uses a leg whip? Johnny gets beaten down for a good while as we hit five minutes. We get heel miscommunication but Johnny still can’t make the tag. You can tell he’s in trouble when he can’t get a tag even with that. We hear again about how amazing the Dudes are from Caudle as I think he has a shrine to them somewhere.
Johnny tries to face plant Fatu like an idiot but for some reason it works. He can’t make the tag though as he’s a foot away but just misses it. Fatu uses a Boston Crab, allowing Paul E to grab the mic and say that Johnny is as useless as a Nashville woman. Shane finally comes in and that doesn’t get him anywhere. Fatu goes to slam Shane but Johnny gets a dropkick off the top for Shane to fall on top and get the pin.
Rating: C-. It’s about as formula based as you could get here but at the same time there was absolutely nothing special going on here at all. The Dudes were just annoying and the Samoans were just generic big men. This was ok at best but compared to the other tag teams going on at the time, this was nothing. Not a horrible match though.
The Dudes would get a Tag Team Title shot at Halloween Havoc 1989.
Tag Titles: Fabulous Freebirds vs. Dynamic Dudes
The Dudes are Johnny Ace (yes, THAT Johnny Ace) and Shane Douglas on skateboards. The Birds are champs but for some reason Hayes doesn’t have his belt with him. The Dudes have Cornette with them. This is Philadelphia, so of course the fans are confusing. The Dudes are the faces but the fans hate them while the Birds are the heels but worshiped for their showmanship.
It’s a long feeling out process to start with even more stalling as Hayes starts with Douglas. A bad neckbreaker puts Hayes down and Shane gets booed out of the building. Double tag brings in Johnny to face Garvin. Ace is huge so he’s kind of awkward at the fast paced style. Garvin takes over with an armbar and it’s off to Hayes vs. Shane again. The Dudes work over Hayes’ arm before clearing the ring via a double dropkick (not really as Ace’s missed by about 8 inches) but they were trying at least.
The Birds are cheered even more as Ace takes Hayes down at will. The fans cheer for the DDT, which is the finisher of both Birds. Ace sends Garvin to the floor again and the match comes to another halt. Ace tries a rollup but gets kicked off into a BIG right hand by Hayes with an even louder pop. Garvin kicks/knees Ace in the head to the floor and the fans erupt again. This is just strange.
Out on the floor Hayes clocks Ace and the Birds are in total control. Ace gets in some right hands to kill the crowd. Hayes hits a running clothesline in the corner and starts playing face for the crowd. The DDT doesn’t work and there’s the tag to Shane. A double knee sends Hayes out and the Dudes set for their finisher, which is a double team slingshot belly to back suplex. Hayes hooks the foot though so Garvin can fall on Ace for the pin.
Rating: D. You know how Ace is always made fun of for his in ring career? There’s a reason for that: he simply isn’t that good. I haven’t seen much of his Japanese stuff so I can’t comment on it, but if it’s at the same level as his American stuff, there’s nothing to see in it. The crowd here was really strange as Shane Douglas isn’t someone you often hear booed in Philly, but he certainly was here. Bad match too.
Shane would return to the WWF as a lower card guy in late 1990. Here he is on a show called Summerslam Fever 1990.
Shane Douglas/Sonny Blaze vs. Orient Express
Tanaka chops on Shane to start but Douglas comes back with a headlock takeover to Sato and a headscissors to Tanaka at the same time. Blaze gets chopped down by Tanaka and we get the World’s Greatest Tag Team jump over your partner and onto the opponent’s back spot. Sato plants Sonny with a sitout powerbomb for the pin.
It would be off to WCW soon after this and Shane would form a tag team with Ricky Steamboat. Here they are challenging for the Tag Team Titles at Clash of the Champions XXI.
Unified Tag Team Titles: Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas vs. Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes
Ricky and Shane are challenging and all four guys are popular here. Shane grabs a headlock on the taller Rhodes to start and gets two off a small package. They trade armdrags to get us to a standoff before both guys try dropkicks, only to land in their corners for tags off to Barry and Ricky. Things are a bit more physical here and they tumble out to the floor and get into a shoving match before their partners pull them apart.
Back in and they chop the heck out of each other until Ricky takes over with an armbar. Barry counters into one of his own but gets taken into the corner where Shane makes the tag and kicks away at Windham’s ribs. Barry misses a charge into the corner and the challengers start working over his arm. Back up and Shane tries a cross body but only hits the ropes, allowing for the tag off to Dustin who drops some elbows for two.
A double dropkick from the champions gets two on Shane but he comes back with a sunset flip to Dustin for two of his own. Not that it matters as the champions easily take Shane back into the corner and work over his arm for awhile. Dustin puts on a front facelock and Ricky gets off the apron and goes around the ring to slap the mat in support of his partner. Back to Barry for a belly to back suplex and a big lariat for two each. Dustin comes back in to work on the arm but Shane hits a quick cross body for two.
Rhodes misses a dropkick and the hot tag brings in Steamboat who walks into a dropkick for two and a small package for the same. Ricky tries a leapfrog but can’t clear the much taller Dustin and takes an accidental low blow. Barry is livid that Dustin won’t follow up so he tags himself in and drops an elbow for two. Windham hits an atomic drop and a big lariat but Dustin pulls Barry off the cover. The champions get in an argument and Ricky makes a tag, allowing Shane to grab a surprised Barry in a belly to belly suplex for the pin and the titles.
Rating: B. Good old fashioned tag match here with an interesting way to end things. That’s a logical way to turn someone heel as the former champions had different philosophies of how to wrestle a match and it lead to them arguing. Shane getting the pin was a nice rub for him as well and it ended a good match.
Shane would head over to Eastern Championship Wrestling with one of his first matches taking place at Ultraclash 1993.
ECW Title: Shane Douglas vs. Sandman
Sandman means nothing at all yet and is from the beach still. Shane is part of the Dangerous Alliance and has Heyman with him to a HUGE pop. Shane with dark hair is weird to put it mildly. He and Heyman leave for no apparent reason and the fans are all over Sandman. We do the ten count thing or Shane loses the title. He makes it by like 6 and here we go.
Shane has tassels on his boots ala Ultimate Warrior. That’s something he did later in his career and I never liked them on him. Small package gets two for Sandman and then Shane takes over. Remember that this is still just a regional title at the moment and it really means little at the end of the day. Shane dominates with basic stuff and this is yet again, boring.
The fans think this is boring and Joey says they’re cheering for Sandman. Not a bad little spin on it I guess. The camerawork begins an ECW tradition of not being able to stay on the action and instead looking at the empty part of the ring. Sandman with a flying tackle off the top and down goes the referee. Paul comes in with the phone and Shane gets a shot with it for two. A top rope cross body is rolled through and the tights end it for Shane as he retains.
Rating: D+. Not bad but if they were going for epic this was WAY too short. Sandman would begin his transformation into his more famous persona soon enough. Shane would be considered God in ECW forever and few would care. This was a title match for the sake of a title match and was pretty boring, much like most of the card. There were few storylines to speak of at this point, but that would all change soon enough.
Next up was the NWA World Title tournament and the promo that made Shane famous.
NWA World Title: Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
And we get no entrances or anything like that. Joey said a quick thing about this is it and we cut to the bell ringing. I’m fairly certain that Shane is heel here but it’s not incredibly clear. Yeah he definitely is. The locker room is out to watch this. They try to tie this into the classic NWA guys like Race and Thesz, but for some reason the WHOMP There it is chant hurts the credibility on that one.
They do some decent stuff but it’s a tad sloppy which hurts it a bit. I wonder what Shane is thinking as he knows what he will be doing in about fifteen minutes. They lock up for about the fifth time in two minutes. We get it guys. You can do the most basic move on the planet. They do a bunch of small packages and reversals that aren’t bad but it’s hardly the masterpiece that Joey wants you to think it is.
To change the pace a lot, we have a lock up. A top rope cross body gets two and we hit a chinlock. You can really tell how far the title has fallen when it was eleven years before this when Starrcade aired and the company hit its peak. A top rope dropkick puts Shane on the floor and we have a sign that says I’ve Got Crabs. You can really feel the spirits of Thesz and Kiniski here can’t you?
They really do try to put this over as a classic. Well give Joey a point for trying of course. What they don’t point out most of the time is that Douglas beat Terry Funk for the ECW Title coming into this. Barely Legal was far from Funk’s first title reign. We get back in the ring with Shane somewhat in control.
It amuses me that this was supposed to be the biggest match of all time according to Joey, but that weekend we had Owen vs. Bret in a cage at Summerslam. Anyway, Scorpio misses a moonsault and Shane hits a belly to belly for the win. Scorpio says that Shane was better tonight but he’ll be back. Nice job on stealing the spotlight there buddy.
Rating: C+. This was nothing entertaining at all really. It’s just a match with limited heat and not very good wrestling. I get that this is supposed to mean something in the long run, but dang man, there was just nothing to talk about here at all. It’s not bad but there are about a million better matches.
And here it is. The speech that officially got ECW on the map and made everything different. Shane Douglas throws down the NWA belt, saying that he refuses to take the torch from an organization that died in 1987 (when Turner bought out Crockett). This didn’t really take effect on the fans at first, but at the same time it had a huge impact for the company.
The thing is though, all this really did was open a door for ECW. The NWA Title had been more or less dead since Flair just dropped it and headed to WWF. Think about it: it’s being decided in front of a few hundred people in Philly with no heat and a bunch of relative unknowns. After this it was won by Chris Candido in Smokey Mountain Wrestling. That should give you a hint about where this belt was.
Scorpio shakes his hand while the fans chant so loudly that no one can hear a word that he’s saying on a microphone. The fans chant Flair is dead. As I wrote this, Shane Douglas currently works at Target and Flair debuted on Impact three days ago. That’s just amusing.
Shane would go to the WWF and get into a feud with Razor Ramon. Here’s their match at In Your House III.
Dean Douglas vs. Razor Ramon
This is a result of Dean insulting Razor for losing the Intercontinental Title match at Summerslam and Ramon has bad ribs coming in. Razor goes right for him to start and clotheslines Douglas out to the floor. Back in and they take each other to the mat a few times with no one being able to get an advantage. Dean fires off some right hands but gets hiptossed over the top and out to the floor. We cut to the split screen again with Mabel looking at Yokozuna and Cornette looking thrilled. Nothing is official though.
Back in again and Douglas cranks on the arm, only to have Razor counter into a top wristlock. Dean flips out of a hammerlock but gets caught in the fallaway slam for two. Razor snaps Dean’s arm over the top rope before putting on an armbar. Back up and Dean’s sunset flip out of the corner gets two before Ramon clotheslines him down for the same. It’s a back and forth match so far and we hit the armbar again. Dean gets back up and avoids a charge to send Razor out to the floor.
Razor gets slammed on the floor and they barely break the ten count. A knee to the back sends Razor into the steps before Dean rams him back first into the post. Back in again and a top rope ax handle gets two for Douglas. Dean’s major flaw is really showing here: he’s a pretty generic in ring worker and doesn’t do anything particularly better than anyone else. He’s much better on the mic but it doesn’t help him in the ring.
Dean stays on Razor’s back before cranking on the arms for a bit. Some right hands to Razor’s bad ribs keep him in trouble and a gutbuster gets two. Off to a reverse chinlock but Razor eventually gets to his feet with Dean on his shoulders for an electric chair drop. Ramon pounds away and rolls through Dean’s middle rope cross body for two. Dean sends Razor into the referee to knock both guys down but Ramon comes back with a quick Razor’s Edge. No referee though and here’s the soon to be heel 1-2-3 Kid to count the pin behind Razor’s back. Ramon thinks he’s won and Dean rolls him up for a quick pin.
Rating: C-. The ending was more clever than a lot of others I’ve seen but it still wasn’t anything special. As I said, Douglas was a much better character than wrestler which makes these fifteen minute matches fairly dull to sit through. Razor continues to be at about the same level he’s been at for years while never really moving further up the card at all. He’s still very popular though so it’s not the worst thing in the world.
With that great gimmick taking him so high, Douglas bolted back to ECW and became the Franchise again. We’ll start at the first ECW PPV Barely Legal.
TV Title: Pitbull #2 vs. Shane Douglas
Pitbull #2 is Anthony Durante and if he loses, the masked man has to reveal his identity. Shane tries to jump Pitbull as he comes in but gets clotheslined down and put in a front facelock. The fans want Pitbull to break Shane’s neck. A headlock takes Shane down for two before it’s off to another front facelock with Durante lifting the Pitbull up by his neck. Pitbull crotches him on the top rope before they botch what looked to be a powerbomb.
A big atomic drop and clothesline put Douglas down before Pitbull chokes away even more. Shane actually comes back with a hurricanrana but gets dropped by another clothesline. Pitbull’s powerbomb is countered with another hurricanrana to send them both outside. Back in and the neck work from both guys continues as Shane piledrives Pitbull three times in a row. A delayed vertical suplex drops Pitbull and we hit a camel clutch. Shane talks trash to Wolfe but Pitbull fights out and chokes a lot.
Pitbull catches Shane diving out of the corner and slowly drops him over the top rope through the timekeeper’s table. Gary Wolfe jumps the barricade and hammers away on Shane until the riot squad takes Wolfe to the back. Pitbull throws in a piece of the barricade and the fans want blood. Shane tries to crotch Pitbull on the barricade but knocks it over instead, sending the knee into the barricade instead.
A low blow sends Pitbull to the floor and Shane drops the barricade over the top rope and down onto Pitbull’s back. Back in and Shane hammers away in the corner as Joey makes fun of WCW’s Sting. Pitbull shrugs off some right hands and the fans think this is boring. They switch over to insulting Francine as Pitbull kicks Shane in the face to put both guys down. A double clothesline puts them both down again before Pitbull gets two off a powerslam.
Francine slips Douglas brass knuckles which don’t drop Pitbull. A piece of a table to the head gets two for Shane and chair shots to the back get the same. We also get the ring bell and another piece of table for two more but Pitbull is right back up. Now Shane hits him with the belt before it’s time for the signature chain. Pitbull slams him down for two and takes the chain away, but here is Douglas’ Triple Threat teamember Chris Candido for a distraction. Shane’s belly to belly suplex is enough for the pin to retain the title.
Rating: D. WAY too long here at over twenty minutes and Pitbull stopped being angry or vengeful about five minutes in. The ending was also horrible with Shane using far too many weapon shots before getting a pin with a suplex. I understand that it’s his finishing move, but it’s hard to buy that a suplex is going to keep Pitbull down after all those wood and metal shots to the head didn’t work. Also you would think Pitbull should have gotten the title here for revenge instead of keeping it on Shane.
Shane would get into the World Title picture at Hardcore Heaven 1997.
ECW World Title: Terry Funk vs. Sabu vs. Shane Douglas
Sabu is defending, having won the belt from Funk eight days earlier. This is under elimination rules. Shane tries to buy off Funk before the match but Terry throws the money into the crowd. After the entrances eat up a lot of time we’re finally ready to go. Sabu’s arm is heavily taped after the barbed wire match where he won the title. They circle each other to start until Douglas and Sabu lock up. Funk heads out to the apron even though there are no tags in this match.
Sabu flips over Douglas and Shane bails to avoid a right hand. Funk is on the floor and gets in a fight with Shane but Sabu helps Douglas. Terry goes into the barricade before getting blasted by a trashcan to the head. Back in and Funk gets double teamed with Shane suplexing Sabu down on top for two. A slingshot legdrop gets the same for the champion and all three head back to the floor. That goes nowhere so it’s back inside with the double teaming continuing on Funk.
A pair of Air Sabus (a running hip attacking using a chair as a springboard) gets two on Terry. Shane has had enough of Sabu and levels him, only to get caught in a German suplex by the champion. With Shane on the floor, Sabu uses the chair for a BIG dive over the barricade which mostly misses and sends him down in a big crash. Sabu changes his attention to Funk, laying the older man out with an Asai moonsault into the barricade. Back in and Funk sets up a pair of chairs and Sabu takes an elevated neckbreaker down onto the steel.
Sabu is back up almost immediately and hits both guys in the head with chairs. Douglas goes after Funk’s knee but Sabu dropkicks him away for no apparent reason. A neckbreaker and elbow drop get two on Shane but he walks to the back with Francine anyway, only to come back with a piece of barricade. Funk piledrives Sabu for two but Sabu backdrops Shane into the barricade in the corner. Sabu crushes both of them with the barricade and gets two off a double cover.
Douglas comes back with clotheslines and a belly to belly for both guys but he puts Sabu in a sleeper instead of covering. Why did he do that you ask? So Funk can put a sleeper on Douglas at the same time to recreate a spot from the original three way. The triple jump moonsault give Sabu a near fall on Shane but the chair breaks under Sabu, allowing Funk to move before the moonsault connects with him. With nothing else to do, he hits a triple jump moonsault to them at the same time for two.
A table is set up for Shane but Todd Gordon comes in for no apparent reason and winds up going through the table along with Alfonso in a spot that really doesn’t add anything to the match. It takes forever to get them out of there so Sabu chops both challengers for awhile. Now Sabu brings in a ladder, presumably because they’ve run out of stuff to do to each other and there are twenty minutes left in the show.
The referee gets punched for trying to stop it, but here’s Sandman to go after Sabu. Security takes Sabu out and we have a fall on Sabu to get us down to one on one. Sabu dives onto Sandman and the guards so the fans cheer, despite Sabu presumably being a heel for the attack earlier. Funk goes after Francine but stops to hit Douglas in the head with a trashcan about twenty five times. Then he hits himself with it because why not.
The roster is out to watch the brawl as Shane and Terry slug it out in the ring. A belly to belly gets two on Funk and the piledriver lays him out. Shane goes to the floor to set up yet another table before coming back in so Francine can slap Terry. This brings out Terry’s brother Dory Funk Jr. to beat up Shane and chase Francine off, allowing Terry to take a bad looking belly to back suplex.
Terry tries I think a belly to back suplex through the table but they both just fall off the apron and through it instead. Back in and another belly to belly gets two for Shane. Then another belly to belly gets two for Shane. Funk counters the fourth belly to belly into a small package before the fourth belly to belly finally gives Shane the title.
Rating: D+. This is a tale of two matches. The first half is a solid triple threat match with everyone hitting spots and a nice question of who is going to blink first. As soon as the table came in though, this match goes downhill in a BIG hurry. After that it becomes a huge mess as they run out of stuff to do and have to wait on all the big interference spots.
This needed to be about ten minutes shorter and the quality would have gone way up. It’s watchable, but you’ll want to fast forward after about fifteen minutes. Also again, why did Sabu even win the title only to lose it less than ten days later? Not a bad thing mind you, but it’s kind of an odd choice.
He would lose the title soon after but get another rematch at November to Remember 1997.
ECW World Title: Shane Douglas vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Shane is near his hometown and is challenging in a rematch after losing to Bigelow a few weeks ago. Fellow Triple Threat members Lance Storm and Chris Candido have been barred from ringside. Francine is allowed to come out with Shane but is on crutches due to interference in a recent match between these two. Bigelow easily shows him out to the floor and Shane needs to rethink his strategy.
Back in and Shane can’t suplex the champion and gets hammered in the corner. Bigelow calmly chokes with his boot as Shane hasn’t had any offense yet. Some right hands have little effect on Bam Bam and a splash in the corner puts Shane down. Bigelow charges into a boot in the corner but Shane can’t belly to belly suplex him. They’re still in a very low gear but there’s a ton of time to go.
Shane tries a slam to no avail as Bigelow falls down on him for two. We hit the chinlock from the champion for a bit before he catches a cross body in a slam for another near fall. A baseball slide sends Shane into the barricade and Bigelow rams him into the post so hard that the ring shifts. Douglas gets splashed up against the barricade and they head back inside, only to have Shane score with a low blow. He still can’t suplex Bigelow though and the champion counters into one of his own for two.
Back to the chinlock before Bigelow gorilla presses Shane down onto the buckle and post. We get a table thrown into the ring and a headbutt drops Shane again. Bigelow loads up the moonsault on the table but Shane gets up and powerbombs him through it instead. The champion’s back is hurt and Shane finally has an opening. He hammers on the spine and nails some clotheslines to send Bigelow outside. Bigelow responds by slamming Shane through a table on the floor. Bam Bam is in pain though and can’t get to his feet in the ring.
Francine gives Shane a pep talk on the floor but Shane walks into another powerbomb (the move that won Bigelow the title) for two. The hometown boy is busted open so Francine tries to call out the Triple Threat which would cost Shane the match. Security stops them from getting to the ring, so Bigelow launches Shane down onto them in a big crash. The referee gets shoved down and Francine tries to hit Bigelow with her crutch.
There’s no effect of course so Bigelow swings the crutch at Francine who ducks out of the way. Instead Shane takes the crutch to the head and a second shot to the arm. After being thrown around even more, Shane grabs a belly to belly out of nowhere but can’t cover. Bigelow throws in a chair and part of a table but Shane belly to belly suplexes him through both of them for the pin and the title.
Rating: C+. This match was well thought out and told a good story…..if you’re part of the live audience. As has been the case at all three pay per views now, this match was much more for the people in the crowd rather than the people watching on pay per view. Shane was a hero around Pittsburgh but he was the top heel in the company to people anywhere else in the world. It’s really hard to care about Shane and support him, especially when he’s going to be a huge villain again right after this show. WAY too long as well, going over twenty five minutes.
Shane would hold the title for well over a year, including time off for an injury. Here he is returning at November to Remember 1998.
Taz/Sabu/Rob Van Dam vs. Triple Threat
Before the match, Shane grabs the mic and yells at Taz for claiming to be a World Champion. Van Dam has a little trinket that Shane didn’t want anymore. Sabu is worthless thanks to the Triple Threat. Shane insists there’s only one Triple Threat and does his whole team’s entrances. The Dudleys jump Van Dam and Sabu on the ramp to make up for the title loss earlier. Taz’s entrance turns the lights off and the brawl is on with Taz cleaning house. The Dudleys leave to get us down to three on three.
Everyone not named Bigelow gets Tazplexed and Bam Bam takes him out to the floor. Candido and Sabu fight in the ring as Shane whips Rob into the crowd. Sabu gets double teamed by Candido and Douglas but he takes Douglas down with a springboard kick to the face. Candido is sent to the floor and Taz wants a tag. He realizes this isn’t that kind of match as Sabu hits a big dive to take out Candido and Douglas. Rob uses the chair as a launching pad to take everyone out again as Bigelow and Taz fight on the other side of the floor.
Back in and a Triple Jump Moonsault gets two on Shane but Bigelow pulls Sabu out of the air. All six are back inside for a moment but Rob is quickly knocked out to the floor. Sabu winds up being legal with Candido to start, about six minutes after the bell rang. A suplex gets two on Sabu and Shane adds a shoulder breaker. Sabu finally comes back with another springboard kick to Chris’ face but Shane breaks up the cover. Taz gets knocked off the apron and the referee goes over to him, meaning he misses Sabu tagging in Van Dam. Rob comes in anyway and cleans house as everything breaks down again.
Taz was put through a table off camera. Bigelow drops Van Dam with a shoulder breaker of his own and the Triple Threat is in full control. Things settle down with Sabu dropkicking Shane’s leg, only to have Candido come in before he can go anywhere. Sabu avoids a rocket launcher and tags in Rob who cleans house with kicks. Rob counters a powerbomb from Bigelow and Taz FINALLY tags himself in to clean house. As in the whole point of the match.
Everything breaks down again and only Sabu is standing. Shane throws Taz to the floor but he pops back in and we get the showdown as Rob kicks Bigelow into the crowd. Shane tries to run but gets nailed by a clothesline. A Tazplex sets up the Tazmission….but Sabu comes in off the top with an Arabian Facebuster to Taz (accidentally) and covers Shane for the pin. The fans go SILENT over that ending.
Rating: D+. That’s almost out of pity. This match had one purpose and one purpose only: to have Shane Douglas get beaten by Taz to set up their long awaited showdown. Somehow they can’t even get that right as this looks to set up Sabu vs. Taz or even Shane vs. Sabu. The action wasn’t bad and thankfully the Dudleys were gone about thirty seconds into the match so it could be the people scheduled.
Shane’s last ECW feud was with the Impact Players, including this match with Justin Credible at Cyberslam 1999.
Shane Douglas vs. Justin Credible
Shane curses a lot at Justin before we get going. This is one of Shane’s very last matches in ECW as he would head to WCW for good in just a few weeks. They chop it out but Shane gets some rolling vertical suplexes. This was before Three Amigos and possibly before Rolling Germans (although I don’t think so on that one). Goardbuster and a rolling neck snap to Justin.
Justin fires off some chops in the corner but Shane fires back. Out to the floor we go which has been a running theme tonight. It’s table time again as Shane sets one up in the ring. Jason and some chick that has no name yet (Jazz) help Justin back in because the best thing to do to your buddy is to throw him into the ring where a guy that wants to kill him has a weapon.
Shane goes up but Jazz helps Justin put him through the table. They chop it out in the corner again but Justin gets a superkick to put him down. Middle rope elbow gets two and we hit the chinlock. Shane fights up and gets a sunset flip, only to get taken down by a clothesline. Out to the floor again and Shane goes into the post, busting him way open.
The fans are totally behind Shane here but a low blow stops his comeback cold. Back to a chinlock which Justin puts no crank on at all. Here’s another table, this time in the corner. Wrestling law #1 comes into play as Justin goes into it since he set it up. That only gets two so Shane puts the Figure Four on because he hates Ric Flair so much. Jazz comes in and it’s catfight time with Francine.
Both guys grabs canes and they have a duel. Shane gets some kind of kick to put Justin down. Here’s Jason who has a broken neck. Francine spears him down and Shane puts a full nelson on him. It leaves him open to a superkick from Justin though which gets two. Thesz Press puts Justin down and they speed things up a lot. Justin grabs a Stunner of all things to put Shane down. Justin goes up but jumps into an atomic drop and the Pittsburgh Plunge (Fisherman’s DDT with a cradle) ends this.
Rating: C-. Neither guy has ever really done much of anything for me. It’s not a horrible match but it dragged on a good bit at various times. Shane would be gone in about two weeks after beating Justin a few more times so this was kind of meaningless in a sense. Either way, not bad, but Justin and Shane are rather dull in the ring most of the time and are better suited on the mic.
Douglas would leave ECW due to creative differences and head back to WCW. Here’s one of his earlier matches at Road Wild 1999.
West Texas Rednecks vs. The Revolution
It’s Hennig/Barry Windham/Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Saturn/Douglas/Malenko. What is with all the tag matches so far tonight? Big brawl to start and the Revolution clears the ring. Officially we start with Windham vs. Malenko but Saturn and Douglas come in quickly off two tags. Saturn chops away at Duncum and then it’s back to Windham. Saturn gets beaten down and my mind wanders a bit due to boredom.
Off to Dean who does a little something and then it’s back to Douglas who can’t quite get the Pittsburgh Plunge. Now it’s his turn to get beaten down and this match is going nowhere. Duncum gets a shoulderbrekaer for two. There’s nothing to talk about in this match at all. It’s been about two minutes since I last typed anything. Saturn comes in and everything breaks down. Malenko hooks Hennig in the Cloverleaf but Barry’s brother Kendall makes the save. Death Valley Driver on Duncum ends this.
Rating: D+. Well that match existed. There’s nothing else to say about it other than that: it happened. It wasn’t really good, it wasn’t really bad, but it happened. There wasn’t really a story here other than “we don’t like each other” which isn’t exactly something that’s going to carry a match. Next.
Douglas would hook up with Buff Bagwell for a tag team. They would make the finals of the Tag Team Title tournament at Spring Stampede 2000.
Tag Titles: Team Package vs. Buff Bagwell/Shane Douglas
Russo comes out with the New Blood and sits in on commentary. Luger vs. Bagwell gets us going. Russo is guaranteeing victory. Buff rakes the eyes to stop the offense and it’s off to Shane. Luger casually gorilla presses him and Flair gets in a right hand and they go to the floor. Tony shouts BS about something as the New Blood beats on Flair. How a guy that was world champion seven years ago can be considered New Blood is beyond me but it’s WCW so who cares.
Bagwell beats down Flair and Tony wants more choking and violence. That would be cool if we hadn’t seen it in every single match so far tonight. Flair gets a chop and they hit the ropes, bumping heads to put both guys down. Luger FINALLY does something to break up the beating on Flair. There’s the hot tag to Luger who cleans house for a bit and there’s the Figure Four on Shane. Russo gets up with the bat as the Blockbuster hits Shane by mistake. Russo pulls the referee out as Kronik debuts and hits the double chokeslam on Luger to give the New Blood the titles with Russo counting the pin.
Rating: D+. Just another match here and Kronik added nothing for the most part. The New Blood win the first tournament and I’m sure that’s all they’ll win right, because it’s not like they’re going to put all the titles on the heel faction like the NWO because that would just be stupid when they had done that a few years ago right?
Here’s a totally random gimmick match from Great American Bash 2000.
The Wall vs. Shane Douglas
Douglas curses a lot before the match and apparently doesn’t like Flair and Hogan. Now this is no longer a tables match as we’re going to make it a best of five tables matches with Shane saying now we’re guaranteed five tables being broken. Thank you for admitting you’re going through at least two Shane. Ok now you have to put someone through five tables to win. PICK A RULE ALREADY!
It’s first to five now. Ok, let’s stick with that. Wall has a really stupid looking black goatee now so he looks like a cross between Hitler and Kurrgan. Again no reason given for why they’re fighting or anything because that would be important information right? Standard match to start as we continue to waste more time on this show. Douglas hits a suplex and a reverse Hennig neck snap.
Wall is sent onto a table but not through it. No one has gone through anything yet. They fight on the floor in maybe second gear at best. Shane tries a suplex through it but gets countered and Wall hits a chokeslam to go up 1-0. Wall blocks a shot into the post and gets a release belly to back suplex through the table as they change the rules in the middle of the match to make it best of five instead of first to five.
Back in the ring as Shane is totally fine after a pair of table breaks with a low blow. Shane wants to take it to the back but settles for by the stage instead. What a shock: there are a bunch of tables there with a ladder next to them. Shane goes up the ladder and there are either two tables on a stage or three in a row with a cloth over the bottom one. Wall has his back to the tables but wants a chokeslam anyway. Shane knocks him through it with brass knuckles as all of a sudden it’s just TWO tables again but they say Shane wins anyway as it switches from 3 to 2 to 3 again inside of five seconds. Just go on already.
Rating: F+. We get it: you can have gimmick matches. Was there a point to having this be a table match? Or even to have the match in the first place? NOT IMPORTANT!!! This is yet another stupid gimmick match as Russo treats its fans like idiots that are going to be easily fascinated by things being broken. Whatever dude.
And one more for the US Title at Sin.
US Title: General Rection vs. Shane Douglas
This is a first blood chain match. Douglas says nothing of note before the match. The chain is above the ring like in a ladder match. Douglas says this is about getting a world title shot. Then he says it’s about a woman. He doesn’t say anything about the US Title but I guess that’s implied. Ok so this is a first blood match and the chain is the only way to bust someone open I guess.
The referee checks for hidden chains on Douglas and actually finds one. Slugout to start with Morrus grabbing a knuckle lock to take over. Arm drag by Douglas as Rection demands that the referee ask him for a submission in an armbar. You know, because that makes sense. The fans want blood so Morrus finally realizes he’s in a first blood match and pounds away on the head.
Douglas fights back a bit but gets caught by a top rope clothesline to put him back down. This is just a match so far with very little emphasis on drawing blood. Shane stomps away and works on the knee. Figure four by Shane who I’m sure will blame Flair for the lack of psychology here. They go out to the floor which at least makes sense and head into the crowd.
After some punches by Shane and a shot to the railing by Rection we head back into the ringside area. Shane uses the figure four on the post but can’t get the leg up that far at all and pushed down on it with his head. Dude, you’re too lazy to throw a leg up there? Seriously? I mean SERIOUSLY?
Back in and Morrus manages a gorilla press because he’s just fine now. He hits the floor and pulls out a ladder which allows Tony to point out the obvious: HIT HIM WITH THE LADDER TO MAKE HIM BLEED!!! I mean dude how hard is that? He gets the chain but the ladder is shoved down to hit the referee. Shane pulls out another chain and busts Rection open with it for the win.
Rating: F. A first blood match was 11 minutes long and had a total of one shot to set up the blood. I mean dude, how hard could this possibly be? Apparently it was too hard for these idiots to figure out as they managed to screw it up. Terribly dull match for a gimmick match, not bad match for a regular match. But it wasn’t a regular match now was it?
We’ll jump ahead a bit as Shane’s in ring career is coming to an end. He would however have a run in TNA with a few appearances. One such appearance was on TNA Weekly PPV #61 on September 17, 2003.
Raven vs. Shane Douglas
This is hair vs. hair. Shane is part of the New Church and has James Mitchell in his corner. The stalling begins early with Douglas arguing with a fan and Raven saying just bring it. No contact in the first minute but Raven cranks it up with rights and lefts to the jaw. Raven sends Shane to the floor but refuses to give chase as he knows what’s waiting for him if he charges back inside.
Shane runs to the floor on his own this time but gets whipped into the barricade and drilled in the forehead. They head into the crowd with Shane staggering away from Raven after being rammed into various hard objects. Raven drops a leg on a chair onto Shane’s face and hits him in the head with a garbage can. Thankfully the camera work here is really solid and there’s nothing blocking the view. That used to drive me crazy in ECW.
Back in and Raven puts on a Cobra Clutch to keep Shane in trouble but Douglas bails to the floor to avoid the Raven Effect. Shane comes back in and sends Raven to the floor again with a drop toehold. The brawl continues at ringside with Shane stumbling face first into the steps, busting him open. Shane sends him into the announcers’ table and the steps to come back though to give us matching cuts on the forehead.
They head inside again for a Hennig necksnap on Raven followed by an abdominal stretch. Raven counters the hold twice in a row before putting on one of his own, only to be hiptossed out to the floor. Back in and Shane looks to be vomiting in a disturbing visual. Raven kicks him in the face and grabs a chair but Shane comes back with a chain (signature weapon) shot to the head. It’s only good for two though and Raven comes back with a drop toehold into the chair for the same result.
A superkick drops Shane again but New Church member Slash pulls the referee to the floor. Raven takes out Slash but has a bulldog countered, resulting in a ref bump. Here’s New Church member Sinn (Kizarny/Sinn Bowdee) to help with the beatdown but the Gathering (Julio Dinero and CM Punk) come out to take the New Church to the back. Shane takes too much time loading up a table and gets caught by the Raven Effect for two. This DVD has made that move look so lame.
Raven goes up top but gets shoved through the table for another near fall. Another table is brought in and Raven hits the Effect through said table but the lights go out. It doesn’t help that Shane clearly kicked out before the arena went dark, but they come back on to reveal a mystery man who has been around for months. He pulls off a mask to reveal Vampiro who lays out Raven to give Shane the pin, costing Raven his hair.
Rating: C+. Overbooking aside, it’s amazing how much easier it is to sit through a Shane Douglas match when I don’t have to listen to him talk. Raven really did have a career rebirth in TNA and was having some awesome matches in this run. I’m not sure what the New Church deal was (I know it was a stable and all that jazz) but the blowff (I guess?) was good here.
When all else fails, you try to revive ECW. Here’s Shane’s effort at Hardcore Homecoming in June 2005.
Shane Douglas vs. Terry Funk vs. Sabu
Oh ok. This is a barbed wire rope match so that’s why they had to use so much time. Francine is with Shane (freaking hot) who booked the tour so this is a huge deal for him, Sabu has Fonzie and Funk has Sunny. Shane talks a lot. He’s great in case you didn’t remember that. Funk is 61 years old here. I get that people think it’s cool and impressive and stuff, but it’s not.
This is stupid of him to keep doing this and they shouldn’t let him. Let him come out and address the crowd and maybe even do a run in, but seriously, do not allow him to do this stuff anymore. Sabu of course has no issues with wrestling without a shirt. They have this annoying split screen thing where it’s just another camera angle of the same thing. I don’t get that but whatever.
Sabu goes chest first into it which can’t feel good. More or less this is how many times can we screw up Sabu, which tells me he’ll be winning. Naturally we get the triple sleeper which is a spot that I just hate. If someone is going to be eliminated, why not just let the person in the initial sleeper be in it so that that person is out? If you put the guy in the middle to sleep, he’s going to lose the sleeper he’s got. So we get a ton of weapons and violence, none of which really go anywhere.
This just isn’t that interesting, but it’s supposed to be a throwback to the original and on that note it’s a good thing. Funk gets tied up in the wire and there’s blood everywhere. Sabu gets his neck caught in it and the freak show is on. WILL YOU STOP WITH THE FREAKING CAMERA ANGLES JUMPING??? Joey suggests that Shane has been planning this beating for years. Ok then.
The ropes are pretty much gone as they had to cut both guys out. Douglas hits the referee in the back of the head with a chain for no apparent reason, to set up the real shock of the night: the lights go out and as they come back on, MICK FREAKING FOLEY is in the ring to a massive pop. He would do the commentary with Joey in two days so this really was a big deal.
He busts out Socko to get booed out of the building but a double arm DDT helps things. He wraps Socko in barbed wire to help a bit and after the Tumbleweed and a chair shot, Douglas is out. After more brawling, they set up a ladder and the ladder literally crumbles. I mean it just breaks apart which is cool looking. This lets Sabu hit an Arabian Facebuster with a chair to get the pin. There’s a HUGE celebration with these four guys and Terry gets carried out as his shirt is more or less covered in blood to end the show.
Rating: F. For letting Funk do this at 60+ years old. I get that he wanted to, but sometimes you have to tell the guy no. Let him do what Foley did instead or something, but you can’t have him out there getting beaten up like this, period. Shane looked like the old washed up guy that he had been for years at this point.
One more TNA appearance at Slammiversary 2009.
Shane Douglas vs. Daniels
Shane is in a t-shirt here which probably doesn’t bode well for him. Not a huge fan of either of these guys in the slightest so this isn’t a match I’m particularly looking forward to. Daniels grabs a headlock and the tarping off of sections is so noticeable it’s laguable at this point. The referee shirts look like late 80s WWF ones. Daniels has a handlebar mustache going here and it’s not working for him.
Back to the headlock which has been the majority of the match so far. Dropkick gets two for Daniels. Douglas looks old to say the least. Out to the floor and Douglas just stands there while Daniels hits a moonsault. Shane sends him shoulder first into the steps to take over. West calls Douglas an all time great and I begin to smile.
Back inside and it’s time for more arm work by Shane. Clothesline sets up more or less a full nelson on the mat but with Shane’s legs out. Out of the cool looking move and off to a Fujiwara armbar. Daniels makes his comeback and hits an enziguri to buy himself some time. It’s hard to take him seriously with that mustache though. Douglas comes back with a variety of forearms as this isn’t a very interesting match. Nice timing for me there as an STO sets up the BME for the 1-2-3. I have a strange craving for alphabet soup all of a sudden.
Rating: D+. I’m really not sure what the point of this match being on the show was. I know Douglas has history in TNA but at the same time, it’s still Shane Douglas. It’s not like he was anything special after about 1995 so I don’t get this. The match wasn’t all that good either which really makes me wonder why it was here. Were they expecting a good match from a 44 year old Shane?
Shane Douglas is a guy that has talent but can’t keep his mouth shut. Outside of ECW, he only had success when he was a normal wrestler which should tell you almost everything you need to know. His promos were entertaining in ECW but after he became the loud mouth everywhere else, there really wasn’t much to brag about. Shane was talented, but not great.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at: