The “Franchise” Shane Douglas has traveled the world and has held championships in
Extreme Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship
Wrestling.  He reigned as a World Championship claimant in the 1990s and in 2000, Douglas
was billed as a member of WCW’s “New Blood.” He is also a former school teacher.

 Douglas was trained by a top-notch wrestler, Domenic DeNucci in the Pittsburgh Area,
during the early 1980s.  Also in DeNucci’s school was a young athlete by the name of Mick
Foley.  Douglas made his professional debut in 1983 and worked his way through several
indy promotions before ending up in the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986.  The
territory was run by Bill Watts and based around the Gulf Coast.  On August 3, 1987 in
Morgan City, Douglas beat Eddie Gilbert and captured the UWF World TV Title.  Almost a
month to the day later, Terry Taylor won the championship in Lafayette.

 After Jim Crockett purchased the UWF, Douglas began working for the NWA.  In early 1988,
he wrestled and won matches in the preliminary stages of wrestling shows all over the
country.  Douglas earned much experience on the road and in 1989, he got his first break
nationally.  The elevation came along with Johnny Ace in the “Dynamic Dudes.” The two
blond youngsters exploded on the NWA scene and quickly gained a fan base.  Their
television time increased especially on TBS, a major cable outlet for both wrestling and the
Alliance.  Jim Cornette, a heel manager, began to scout the popular tandem.  Many
speculated if the duo were in for a change.

 Despite winning most of their televised matches, the Dynamic Dudes never captured NWA
Gold.  The tag team division in that organization in mid-to-late 1989 was extremely tough.  
Among the others in the fight were the Road Warriors, Skyscrapers, Freebirds, Midnight
Express and Varsity Club.  There was also another popular, young team on the rise, the
Steiner Brothers.  After Cornette expressed his admiration in the Dudes’ talent, the Midnight
Express began to express anger.  This led to an Express-Dudes feud.  Cornette eventually
turned his back on Douglas and Ace and pushed the Express.

 In 1990, matches for Shane Douglas in the NWA were fading.  The tag team scene had
grown to the point in which the Dudes were not even contenders for the U.S. Tag Title.  
Douglas returned to the independent scene as Ace went to Japan.  In late 1990, Douglas
joined the World Wrestling Federation.  He was one of 29-men to participate in the 1991
Royal Rumble in Miami on January 19th.  In 1992, Douglas traveled through Pennsylvania
and Ohio.  He signed a contract with Eastern Championship Wrestling out of Philadelphia and
in 1993, he took Paul E. Dangerously as his manager.

 On September 18, 1993, Douglas won the ECW Heavyweight Title from the Sandman.  In an
extremely violent match on the first Saturday in October, Douglas wrestled and was defeated
by Sabu by pinfall.  The match was held on the second card of the NWA Bloodfest double-
header.  The title changed hands.  Sherri Martel assisted Douglas in the losing cause.  Terry
Funk also began to appear in the region.  Douglas lost to the former NWA World Champion
on March 5, 1994 in Philadelphia before 1,000 fans.  The bout was a special taped-fist
match.  He regained the ECW Title from Funk on March 26th in Devon, PA.  Douglas pinned
Funk in an eight-man tag team match, in which the stipulation called for the championship to
change hands in such a case.  He teamed with Mr. Hughes and the Public Enemy on May
14th in Philadelphia against J.T. Smith and the Bruise Brothers in an elimination handicap
match.  After more than seventeen minutes, Douglas, Hughes and the Harris Brothers were
all counted out and forced from the ring area.  Smith went on to beat both members of Public
Enemy.

 Eastern Championship Wrestling hosted the NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament on
August 27, 1994 in Philadelphia at the Arena.  Among the members involved in the eight-
man, single elimination tournament were Douglas, 2 Cold Scorpio, Dean Malenko, Chris
Benoit, Osamu Nishimura, Doink the Clown, Tazmaniac and 911.  Douglas beat Scorpio in
the finals to capture the vacant NWA World Title.  After the bout was over, Douglas made
history.  He spoke to the crowd and denounced the National Wrestling Alliance in a shoot-
style, impassioned speech.  Douglas announced that the NWA was dead and that he was
declaring himself the new World Champion of the new “ECW,” Extreme Championship
Wrestling.  The organization withdrew from the Alliance in whole and shocked the wrestling
community.  The landscape was altered.

 He gave Scorpio a title shot on October 1st in Philadelphia for the ECW World Title.  
Douglas won by pinfall.  He teamed with a former enemy in Brian Pillman on November 18,
1994 at the ECW Arena against 2 Cold Scorpio and Ron Simmons.  Douglas and Pillman
were unsuccessful in their tag endeavors.  Douglas wrestled former NWA U.S. and TV
Champion, Tully Blanchard to a 45-minute draw at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia on January
7, 1995.  He wrestled Blanchard a second time in Philadelphia on February 4th.  This time,
Douglas won by pinfall in less than ten-minutes to retain his belt.

 Douglas gave a memorable interview on February 21st on ECW Television, speaking about
the sport of wrestling.  On February 25th, he pinned former I-C Champion, Marty Jannetty.  
Douglas teamed with Cactus Jack in Philadelphia on March 18th against Terry Funk and the
Sandman.  Jack was pinned by Funk.  He beat the Sandman by pinfall on April 8th in Philly.  
Later in 1995, he left ECW and went to the WWF where he became known as Dean
Douglas.  He made his second WWF pay-per-view appearance since 1991 on September 24,
1995 in Saginaw, Michigan where he gained a big win over Razor Ramon.

 Shawn Michaels was attacked outside a Syracuse Nightclub in October and injured in a real
world incident.  Thus, Douglas won the Intercontinental Title by forfeit on October 22, 1995 in
Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Officials signed him for an immediate defense against Ramon.  Before
he could celebrate the victory, Douglas was beaten for the belt.  He teamed with Owen Hart,
Yokozuna and Ramon in a wild tag team elimination match on November 19th in Landover
during the Survivor Series.  Their opponents were Sid Vicious, Davey Boy Smith, Ahmed
Johnson and Michaels.  Douglas was eliminated by Michaels with a pin to open the match.  
Ramon beat Douglas on December 4, 1995 during Raw.

 Within weeks, he was out of the WWF and back in Philadelphia competing for ECW.  Before
1,000 fans at the ECW Arena in January 1996, Douglas teamed with Tommy Dreamer in a
loss to the ECW World Tag Team Champions, Mikey Whipwerck and Cactus Jack.  Douglas
received a shot at Raven’s World Title on March 9th in Philadelphia, but was defeated in 8:
40.  He did get a pin victory over Raven in a six-man tag team match on March 30th in
Philadelphia when he teamed with Dreamer and Sandman against the champion and the
Bruise Brothers.  Douglas’ continued to re-prove himself to fans on the east coast.  On May
11th in Philadelphia, he beat 2 Cold Scorpio and captured the ECW World TV Title.  The
match lasted nearly 30-minutes and was a strong showing for both men.

 Much work was going to be needed if Douglas was going to survive the night of June 1st in
Philadelphia.  He was forced to defend his TV Title five times against five different
competitors.  Beat El Puerto Ricano, Don E. Allen, Devon Storm and Mikey Whipwreck before
losing his title to Pitbull II, a man who had challenged for the World Title earlier in the night.  
Pitbull II lost the title to Chris Jericho soon thereafter.  Douglas received a shot to regain the
TV Title from Jericho in a four-way match against the champ, Pitbull II and 2 Cold Scorpio,
each a former television champion.  The chance came on July 13th in Philadelphia at Heat
Wave 1996.  Douglas won the bout and took his second title victory.  He beat Pitbull II on
August 3rd at the arena before an estimated 1500 fans.

 Later in the month, he formed an alliance with Raven, who was still holding the ECW World
Title.  On the 24th, the two met Pitbull II and Sandman in a special dog collar match.  The two
champs lost.    On September 14th, he beat Louis Spicolli at the ECW Arena.  In 1997, he
formed the “Triple Threat” with Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Candido.  After nearly a year of
holding the TV Title, Douglas was defeated for the title on June 7, 1997 in Philadelphia to Taz
at Wrestlepalooza.  The match lasted 2:50 and Taz won by submission.  He wrestled Lance
Storm at the Arena on August 9th and won by pinfall.

 As part of Hardcore Heaven 1997, Douglas went to Fort Lauderdale’s War Memorial
Auditorium in Southeastern Florida.  He was in the main event with Terry Funk, challenging
for Sabu’s ECW World Heavyweight Title.  The card was held during the evening of August
17th.  Douglas beat both others to win the title for the third time.  He pinned Phil Lafon on
September 20th in Philadelphia.  Bigelow shocking challenged him for the World Title and the
two were matched for the belt on October 16th in Elmhurst, New York.  Bigelow pinned
Douglas and captured the World Title.  The group was fractured from within.  Lance Storm
soon became the new third wheel.  Douglas returned to Philadelphia for an October 18th
show which saw him wrestle both Sabu and Tommy Dreamer in a three-way dance.  Sabu
won the bout.

 November to Remember was scheduled for pay-per-view on November 30th and was set to
be held in Douglas’ hometown of Monaca, Pennsylvania.  Douglas was also going to be in the
main event wrestling Bigelow in a rematch for the ECW World Title.  Francine accompanied
him to the ring and both Candido and Storm were barred from ringside before hand.  Bigelow
was on the top of his game, but so was Douglas and the latter was able to get the win and
regain the belt.  He faced a crowd full of heads and Al Snow across the ring in Marietta,
Georgia at Wrestlepalooza ’98.  Douglas beat Snow to retain his World Title.

 On September 19, 1998 in Philadelphia, he reformed the Triple Threat with Bigelow and
Candido.  The trio wrestled Sabu, Rob Van Dam and Masato Tanaka to a no-contest.  In
Kissimmee, Florida on January 10, 1999, Douglas was choked out by Taz and dropped the
ECW World Title.  On March 13th, he teamed with Tommy Dreamer in a three-way dance
against the Dudleys and the ECW Tag Champs, Van Dam and Sabu.  They were beaten.  
Douglas had comments for Paul Heyman on May 15th at an independent card in
Philadelphia.  He didn’t appear at the Hardcore Heaven show the next evening.

 Douglas signed with World Championship Wrestling despite rumors that he was going to the
WWF.  He made his initial appearance on July 19th.  The Revolution was formed with
Douglas at the helm.  Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko all rounded out the
group.  The four men were all accomplished athletes in pro-wrestling, but the crew did not
cripple the organization as they could have. 1999 was a year of evolution for WCW and it’s
wrestlers.  Finally, on April 10, 2000 in Denver, things seemed to come to a head.  WCW was
seemingly on the right track behind Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff.  Douglas was in a ring full
of top-notch athletes who wanted to bring down the Millionaires Club.

 The “New Blood” was founded.  With that came a feud that had been burning underground
for years.  Douglas was going to be matched with the man he had criticized from ECW and
challenged verbally on more than one occasion.  The man was the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.  It
all began when Flair had gone to the ring and called out Russo.  Scott Steiner walked out
instead and the two began jabbering at each other.  Douglas made his way to the ring and
attacked Flair from behind.  He pummeled the former NWA, WCW and WWF World Champion
into unconsciousness.  Later in the show, Flair challenged Douglas to a match in the ring.  
The latter received some outside assistance from Russo and a baseball bat and Flair was
laid out for the second time.  Douglas was disqualified, but the hatred had spilled over and
the war had begun.

 Shane entered the vacant World Tag Team Title Tournament on April 16th with Buff Bagwell
in Chicago.  The duo beat the New Harlem Heat and then Flair and Lex Luger to win the
belts.  Douglas and Flair were matched at the Slamboree pay-per-view in Kansas City and
beat him by pinfall.  After Bagwell was briefly suspended by the promotion, Douglas was
forced to pick another partner to act as his replacement for a defense on May 15th in Biloxi
against Kronic.  The Wall was chosen and the two lost the belts.  For their loss, Douglas and
Wall feuded and wrestled in a special table match at the Great American Bash on June 11,
2000.  Douglas won and then entered a war with his former tag partner because they had
lost the belts while Bagwell was suspended.  He beat Buff on July 9th in Daytona Beach with
the assistance of Torrie Wilson.

 The U.S. Title was stripped from around the waist of Scott Steiner and a tournament was
scheduled.  Eight-men were announced to participate in the event on July 18th in Auburn
Hills, Michigan.  Douglas met Billy Kidman in the opening round and advanced with a pinfall.  
Lance Storm, a former Triple Threat teammate from ECW, also advanced and the two were
paired in the second round.  Storm beat Douglas by submission and got to the finals.  He
eventually took the belt.  Douglas wrestled another ECW alumni in Mike Awesome on July
24th in Cleveland and was defeated.

 A “home-video” tape was played on the arena video-screen, distracting both Douglas and
Torrie Wilson.  Nitro on August 7th in Denver was embarrassing to Wilson and caused
Douglas and a new wrestler to the organization to whip Billy Kidman.  Kidman had gone to the
ring with a bottle of champagne, a box of candy and some flowers, prepared to apologize to
Wilson for what he had done to her.  He named it “Torrie Wilson” Appreciation Night.  Wilson
finally walked out to confront Kidman.  He talked about another video he wanted to air and
the video screen altered to the date “4-17-92,” and a young girl eating a birthday cake.  A
young girl so eager that she nearly burned herself with the lighted candles.  Wilson was
beside herself.  Thousands of papers with a picture on it fell from the ceiling and into the ring
and crowd.  Douglas hit the ring and following was a newcomer to be known as Reno.  Both
whipped Kidman with Douglas’ belt as Wilson began to collect the papers from wherever she
could.

 The feud between Douglas and Kidman had been further ignited.  At New Blood Rising on
August 13th in Vancouver, Douglas lost a strap match to Kidman.  Rather than worry about
the loss, Douglas took the whip to Kidman after the final bell.  Big Vito and Reno also got into
the fracas.  On September 11th in Charlotte, Wilson had a scheduled match against a former
Women’s World Champion Wrestler, Madusa Micelli.  Douglas interjected his two-cents and
caused her disqualification.  He then put Madusa in the STF.  Kidman ran out to make the
save.

 Promotions began for the special scaffold match at Fall Brawl between the team of Douglas
and Wilson and Micelli and Kidman.  Douglas eliminated both Madusa and Kidman from the
scaffold on September 17th in Buffalo and won the high risk contest.  Where each of the
wrestlers could have suffered career ending injuries, none of them did.  Douglas and Wilson
lost a mixed tag bout at Halloween Havoc to Tigress and Konnan on October 29th in Las
Vegas.  He won a grudge match over Ernest Miller at Mayhem on November 26th.  Wilson
disappeared from Douglas’ side in the weeks thereafter.

 Douglas challenged General Rection for the United States Title on December 17, 2000 at
Starrcade at the MCI Center in Washington DC.  He lost by disqualification after Chavo
Guerrero Jr., a former stablemate of Rection in MIA, interfered.  In January 2001, Douglas
remained one of the top contenders to the U.S. Title.  Promoters scheduled him in a rematch
against Rection at Sin on January 14th in Indianapolis and he was more than prepared to win
the belt.  Douglas and Rection brawled in a special First Blood Match.  There, in a
controversial bout, he won the United States Belt, his first WCW singles gold.  Rick Steiner
returned to WCW and on February 5, 2001, he took the U.S. Title from Douglas on Nitro.  
Douglas had previously suffered a severe injury to a wrist and would miss several weeks time.

 The Greed pay-per-view was held on March 18th in Jacksonville.  Steiner wrestled Booker T
in defense of his U.S. Belt and lost after Douglas returned and interjected an amount of
revenge on the champ.  Fans weren’t sure if they should cheer Douglas yet, but it seemed as
if he was in the war against Steiner and the Magnificent Seven.  Within the following week, an
announcement came down that WCW was sold to the WWF.  Everyone was in limbo.  The
final Nitro was held on March 26th in Panama City Beach.  When the Alliance was launched
during the summer, Douglas was not apart of the group seen on WWF Television.

TITLE HISTORY:

 -UWF World Television Title (1987) defeated Eddie Gilbert
 -Co-holder of the Continental Tag Team Title (1988) w/ Lord Humongous
 -A two-time NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Champion
         -Defeated Tito Santana (1993) via forfeit
         -Defeated Terry Funk (1994) eight-man elimination match
 -A two-time co-holder of the WCW World Tag Team Title (1993) w/ Rick Steamboat
         w/ Rick Steamboat (1993) defeated Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham
         w/ Buff Bagwell (2000) defeated Ric Flair and Lex Luger, tournament final
 -NWA World Heavyweight Title (1994) won tournament
 -WWF Intercontinental Title (1995) defeated Shane Michaels by forfeit
 -A two-time ECW World Television Champion
         -Defeated 2 Cold Scorpio (1996)
         -Defeated Chris Jericho (1996)
 -A two-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion
         -Defeated Terry Funk and Sabu (1997) three-way dance
         -Defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (1997)
 -WCW United States Heavyweight Title (2001) defeated General Rection




Research by Tim Hornbaker
Shane Douglas Wrestling History
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