Shane Douglas

 "The Franchise" Shane Douglas

Born: November 21st, 1964 From: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Height: 6 ft 0 in Weight: 240 lbs ECW Debut: August 24, 1993

Title History in Eastern Championship Wrestling / Extreme Championship Wrestling:

-ECW World Heavyweight Championship (4 times)

-ECW Television Championship (2 times)

-NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

-NWA World Heavyweight Championship Tournament (1994)

*He was also inducted in the Hardcore Hall of Fame (Class of 2014)*

"The Franchise" Shane Douglas achieved his greatest success of his professional wrestling career in ECW, where he debuted in 1993 and captured the ECW Heavyweight Championship twice in his first year with the company. He gained himself and the promotion national attention upon winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a tournament ECW hosted with the National Wrestling Alliance in August of '94, before proceeding to throw the prestigious belt down, claiming he wouldn't be the man to carry the torch of an organization that died seven years prior (a reference to Jim Crockett Promotions sale to Ted Turner in 1988, which later became World Championship Wrestling).

He later aligned himself with "Crippler" Chris Benoit and "Shooter" Dean Malenko to form The Triple Threat in 1995. In mid-1995, Douglas left ECW to join the WWF as Dean Douglas, but was back home by 1996 with ECW. Upon his return he attempted to regain the ECW World Heavyweight Championship (now held by Raven) but failed to do so due to heavy interference by Raven's Nest.

After failing to regain the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, he won the ECW Television Championship from 2 Cold Scorpio at A Matter of Respect '96. He would lose it to Pitbull #2. At Heat Wave '96, Douglas won his second ECW Television Championship by defeating champion "Lionheart" Chris Jericho, 2 Cold Scorpio and Pitbull #2 in a Four Corners Match after Francine turned in The Pitbulls and aligned herself with Douglas. With Francine by his side, Douglas continued to feud with Pitbull #2 and his partner Pitbull #1.

In the fall of 1996, Douglas reformed The Triple Threat (this time with Chris Candido and "Primetime" Brian Lee). Douglas and Francine feuded with Tommy Dreamer and Beulah McGillicutty, which culminated in a series between the two pairs throughout late 1996 into early 1997.

The Triple Threat feuded with Douglas'enemies Dreamer and The Pitbulls throughout the first half of '97 after Douglas legitimately broke the neck of Pitbull #1. During early '97, a mystery masked man thought to be "Ravishing" Rick Rude began stalking Francine. After Douglas retained the ECW Television Championship against Pitbull #2 at ECW's first pay-per-view event Barely Legal, it was "Primetime" Brian Lee who would reveal it was him all along as the mysterious stalker, thus disbanding The Triple Threat again for a short time before Bam Bam Bigelow took the empty spot at ECW Chapter 2.

At WrestlePalooza 1997, Douglas retained against rookie Chris Chetti and later that night interupted a promo by Chetti's trainer "The Human Suplex Machine" Taz. Douglas defending his title against Taz with the stipulation that if Douglas won Taz would be suspended for 60 days. Taz vowed that not only would he win but he'd do it by submission in under 3 minutes. Douglas accepted the challenge then lost to Taz ending his reign at 329 days. Aftee loosing the ECW Television Championship, he turned his attention to recapturing the ECW World Heavyweight Championship from Terry Funk but lost by DQ at Heat Wave 1997. At Hardcore Heaven 1997, Douglas defeated Sabu and Funk in a Three-Way Dance (a throwback to their classic 1994 bout) where Douglas won the title for a third time.

Douglas lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to Bam Bam Bigelow in October '97 after Rick Rude chose Bigelow as a challenger for Franchise. As a result, Bam Bam Bigelow was kicked out of The Triple Threat and replaced by Lance Storm. Douglas regained the title for a fourth time at November to Remember 1997 but injured himself in the match and was sidelined until January '98.

At Hostile City Showdown '98, Bigelow rejoined The Triple Threat by turning on Bigelow's partner Taz. Bigelow's return led to Lance Storm being kicked out, which began a feud between Storm and Triple Threat (most notably Chris Candido and Lance Storm, who were being billed as a team who couldn't get along). At Living Dangerously 1998, Douglas and Candido faced Storm and his mystery partner who ended up being Al Snow. Snow defeated Douglas earning himself a title shot at WrestlePalooza '98, where Douglas retained.

Douglas suffered another injury setback but still appeared on television feuding with Taz and leading to November to Remember 1998 where Douglas' Triple Threat faced The New Triple Threat, consisting of Taz, Rob Van Dam and Sabu with "Manager of Champions" Bill Alfonso in their corner. After the match, Bigelow left for WCW and at Guilty As Charged 1999, Candido turned on Douglas abandoning him and allowing Taz to choke Douglas out and win his first ECW World Heavyweight Championship, ending Douglas' reign at 406 days (the longest reign in the history of the title).

Douglas attempted to regain the ECW World Heavyweight Championship from Taz at House Party '99, but lost. At Crossing The Line '99, Douglas aligned himself with long-time nemesis Tommy Dreamer to take on The Impact Players (Justin Credible and Lance Storm), who both claimed they were the "New Franchise" of ECW. At Living Dangerously 1999, Dreamer and Douglas defeated Credible and Storm. Douglas continued to feud with The Impact Players before he left for WCW after disagreements with Paul Heyman, wrestling his final ECW match on April 15th, 1999 where he defeated Justin Credible after a Pittsburgh Plunge.

Douglas would depart ECW following the May 15th, 1999 independent wrestling show at the ECW Arena called Break the Barrier, which was an event organized by Allied Powers Wrestling Federation, Combat Zone Wrestling, ECW, Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance, Maryland Championship Wrestling, Music City Wrestling, NWA New Jersey, New Dimension Wrestling, South's Greatest Wrestling Fans, Steel City Wrestling, World Legion Wrestling and World Wrestling Organization that was organized by the founders of ScoopsWrestling.com, Al Isaacs, Remy Arteaga and Bob Bistrowitz. The show was Shane Douglas cut a controversial "shoot" interview which he ended with quitting ECW one day before the ECW Hardcore Heaven 1999 pay-per-view event, where he was scheduled to work Justin Credible in a match. Douglas was owed close to $50,000 at this point by Paul Heyman/ECW and decided to walk away before he went without being paid again.