Shane Douglas... Legend?

[jeffrodigital]

the iwc seems to be split on shane. everyone waxes poetic about how great ecw was but i dont see too much shane love. id like to know what people here think of him.

to me, hes one of the greatest of all time. great on the mic, off the charts personality and drew heat like nobodies business. another great heyman character, maybe the best. despite his anti wcw and wwf stance he was by all means the prototype for the wcw/wwf type wrestler. buff, good looking and even used that style of wrestling despite fueding with the hardcore ecw guys. to me, he made the ecw title a true world title and was amazing at what he did.

[NIXON]

I agree with you. I am a HUGE Shane Douglas fan. He never got much of a shot in the big 2 and I think that's a shame. He was such a great heel. I feel like he could have taken The Franchise character and main evented with it anywhere. Alot of people say his mic work was over rated because of the foul language, but I disagree completely. Great charisma, great mic work, solid ring work, I love me some Shane Douglas. I still have my Triple Threat shirt

[slasher911]

I wasn't a big fan. He bored me in the ring most of the time, and it seemed like his entire gimmick and act revolved around cutting bitter rants about other guys who were way more successful than himself, especially in the later years.

XPW didn't help. And his TNA stints weren't too great either ("Oh look, it's Shane Douglas and he's angry....again...").

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Never cared much for him. I have to disagree with Mr. Nixon about the promos, I've just personally never heard a good one. I've mostly heard profanity, which doesn't make a good promo, and the ones I've heard without it just did not impress me. The matches I've seen have lead me to think he was good in the ring, but nothing spectacular.

So I guess I prove the original point about the split opinion on the guy.

[NIXON]

May 10, 2010 23:24:24 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

Never cared much for him. I have to disagree with Mr. Nixon about the promos, I've just personally never heard a good one. I've mostly heard profanity, which doesn't make a good promo, and the ones I've heard without it just did not impress me. The matches I've seen have lead me to think he was good in the ring, but nothing spectacular.

So I guess I prove the original point about the split opinion on the guy.

Yeah, he is definitely a polarizing guy. My favorite promos of his always involved Taz, because he did this amazing job of conveying that he was scared of Taz, but all the while he's talking about how easily he will beat him and what a bozo Taz was. I was very impressed at how all his promos had this undertone of fear even though he wasn't actually coming out and saying it. Not to mention his Taz impression was hilarious!

[Johnny Flamingo]

I'm going to say NOT a legend. Going to have to agree with Shawn Michaels' opinion of Shane Douglas. Basically, Shane got over by cursing and doing "shock" interviews in front of a niche audience. Had talent, but way too big of an ego. Used to talk about "Ric Flair couldn't tie my boots" when one is considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time while the other never made it.

He's a good wrestler for sure, but definitely not a legend.

My opinion of ECW legends:
Terry Funk
Cactus Jack
Raven

[Mozenrath]

He's a legend of sorts, yes. You can't tell the story of early ECW without him. If you think that is worth something, sure, he's a legend. If you don't think anything of ECW, then no, he isn't a legend in your eyes.

[Johnny Flamingo]

May 10, 2010 23:52:09 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

He's a legend of sorts, yes. You can't tell the story of early ECW without him. If you think that is worth something, sure, he's a legend. If you don't think anything of ECW, then no, he isn't a legend in your eyes.

I think ECW was the greatest promotion I've ever seen. On that side, anyone could have won that match and anyone could have cut the same promo and threw away the belt. To me, he just happened to be the person that Paul picked to cut the promo.

I think more credit should go to Paul for booking that angle.

[Todd Pettengill]

May 10, 2010 23:22:22 GMT -5 @slasher911 said:

I wasn't a big fan. He bored me in the ring most of the time, and it seemed like his entire gimmick and act revolved around cutting bitter rants about other guys who were way more successful than himself, especially in the later years.

XPW didn't help. And his TNA stints weren't too great either ("Oh look, it's Shane Douglas and he's angry....again...").

AGREED!

[celticjobber]

I thought he was great in ECW, and okay during his run in WCW where he teamed with Steamboat and even in his return there in 1999/2000. But he's definitely not of my all time favorites or anything.

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

Great personality on the mic, but just supremely boring inside the ring. I wouldn't call him a legend, personally, but it's certainly a debatable opinion.

[Kris Kobain]

I never saw him as much more than a mid to upper mid card guy.
He's not a legend by any means in my book.

His biggest claim to fame is a promo that he almost didn't do.

[corndog]

May 11, 2010 0:05:56 GMT -5 Johnny Flamingo said:

May 10, 2010 23:52:09 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

He's a legend of sorts, yes. You can't tell the story of early ECW without him. If you think that is worth something, sure, he's a legend. If you don't think anything of ECW, then no, he isn't a legend in your eyes.

I think ECW was the greatest promotion I've ever seen. On that side, anyone could have won that match and anyone could have cut the same promo and threw away the belt. To me, he just happened to be the person that Paul picked to cut the promo.

I think more credit should go to Paul for booking that angle.

This. Shane Douglas needed ECW more than ECW needed him. He would have never amounted to more than a mid carder without it and never did afterwards. Also unlike alot of other ECW stars, he never transcended ECW and never really got over without it. He was a legend in his own mind. People like Cactus Jack, Sabu, Terry Funk, Taz, RVD, Tommy Dreamer and many others all built reputations in ECW and most afterwards that garnered massive respect from the fans. It's true most of them may have never broken out without ECW(although Terry Funk was already a former NWA champ when it mattered and Cactus Jack main evented in WCW), they continued to succeed and have respect from the fans afterwards. Shane's ego really hurt him, his statements about Shawn and Ric may have been true, but you don't get anywhere in this business by ripping two of it's best workers, even if they could be pricks backstage. Also Shane's own practice of politics in ECW just made him a hypocrite and look bad. If you don't know what I am talking about in 1998 Shane injured his elbow and was sidelined for 6 months, yet still retained the ECW title although unable to defend it, which led to Taz creating the FTW title and RVD's tv title becoming increasingly important.

[noleafclover1980]

Nope, if he was anywhere near as good as he claims to be, he'd have gotten over in other places then ECW. HE may have had a crappy gimmick in WWF, but he did get a better shot in WCW, and guess what? When he can't curse like a sailor, no one gives a damn and he flopped there too.

[Throwback]

I'm in the middle of reading Mick Foley's first book right now. He talks alot about Shane Douglas because they broke in together. Here's something he had to say about him. "Shane burned a lot of bridges that he never had any business even looking at"

The only exposure I got to him was his stint in wwf.

[johnnyk9]

if WWE ever does an ECW HOF they better induct him

[rapidfire187]

Shane Douglas is one guy that I was never too sure about. On one hand, I liked the fact that he had a more traditional wrestling style in ECW, and I always thought he was great on the mic. But the guy also seemed to have this attitude of being bigger than he really was if he went anywhere other than ECW. The only other time I liked him was in WCW when he was in that group with Benoit, Saturn, and Malenko.

Plus he puked in the ring in TNA...that kinda keeps him from being a legend IMO.

[bitteroldman]

Outside of ECW he didn't draw a dime, so no not a legend. A mid-card guy at best who's only real success came while working for a top flight booker.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

I don't think he is. Here is a got who didn't become as successful as he had hope in both WWE and WCW. So he blames others for his failures. He blames Ric Flair for WCW not working out and acts like that it was Ric Flair's job to make him a MEer. When it wasn't Flair job. It not like in Flair job discription it says in it "Make Shane Douglas a star." Because of Flair not pushing him to the moon. He takes it out on him. Instead of wondering if he was missing something. Let's face the truths here. If Flair wanted to put over someone he would. Look at his history. The problem is Shane is mad that he didn't get from Flair that Sting got. But Sting had the ablity to work a crowd. Was a solid worker and can cut an above average promo without crusing.

So Shane goes to the ECW and crusing a storm on Flair. Cuts the famous throw down the belt promo. Becames the ECW champion. Maybe call him an ECW Legend and ok he was a feature star but he had one hell of a supporting cast. The thing that made it more interesting was even though he was the champion. He was not the big attraction. Really he was never the main attraction. It was Raven and Dreamer.

Then go goes to the WWE as "Dean Douglas" The teacher. Which didn't work out. What does he do? blames the Kliq and goes back to ECW. Now sure he had a lame gimmick. But legends make it work. Hell Dusty Rhodes got Poka dots over even to work with the likes of Savage. Tell me that wasn't lame. Hell look at his hype promos going up to his WWE debut. They where nothing like what he was in the NWA. But he got it over. Shane if he was that good. He would gotten over.

While gone The Raven became champion. He comes back and he was down there as TV champion. While Raven was working with the big feuds with Dreamer and Sandman. Taz and Sabu was starting to take off. The biggest thing about this is that ECW was coming up to there first PPV. ECW biggest moment. The WWE gave them a Raw to hype and show case to the mainstream wrestling fans there product. Which never happens in wrestling up until that.

Now Shane was not featured in that. Every other big star of ECW was. Dreamer, Taz, Raven, Sabu, Dudleys, BWO, and Elimanatiors. Shane was the ONLY champion not on that Raw. Which after that first PPV. Then after that Raven and Dreamer finish there feud as Raven was leaving ECW. New angle starts up. WWE invading ECW. That becomes the big feud. So that PPV comes up where Sabu, Funk, and Shane had a rematch from a big match from a year or so ago. It was a good match and the rematch was good. But the bigger feud and match was Dreamer vs. Lawler. Shane comes champion that night. I don't remember much else from that. Outside the triple threat and Bam Bam.

Heyman is someone I blame for what he was out 6 months and didn't strip him of his title. But because of that RVD made that TV title huge because he was basicly the champion in the fans eyes. Because he was the only single guy defending a belt. Taz bring in his own world title.
Which by now Shane was on his way out of ECW. To another mid card run in WCW.

So yeah over all Shane didn't do all that much. When ECW was at his hottest.

[xtremehorseman]

Shane said in a shoot that during the WWF attitude era he was going to come in as the Franchise charecter which would have fit great but at the last minute WCW offerd more money so he went their instead. He made alot of bad choices.