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SHANE DOUGLAS INTERVIEW ONLINE |
 It’s been coming for a while,
the show all TII diehards have been requesting and waiting for – the
Anniversary Show. Not only that, but Daniel and James run down the WrestleMania
weekend, including but not limited to the whole damn WrestleMania event,
and other current WWE happenings.
Then, the interview. ‘The Franchise’ Shane
Douglas gives over 2 and a half hours of his time in this shoot style interview.
Why buy a Shane Douglas shoot when everything you ever wanted to know about
situations he has been in, is available for free in our audio archives!
Enjoy.
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"THE FRANCHISE" SHANE
DOUGLAS
-- The show starts with a special montage entrance James
put together for this one-year anniversary show, something that will never
be heard again!
-- Daniel and James go over all of the past moments that
meant a lot to TII, and generally sum up what’s coming on the show.
-- James then shocks Daniel and actually plays the first
ever recording between the two – the ‘hype’ show (an idea
dropped as fast as possible) for the never aired Buff Bagwell interview!
-- The two then run down the WMXX card from bottom to
top, giving their thoughts and of course the insider news that could well
affect each of the matches in the long run!
Shane Douglas
-- When Shane was young, he watched what is classically
known as the "old school" with Bruno Sammartino, Haystacks Calhoun, "Nature
Boy" Buddy Rogers, and others. He can remember putting a towel around his
neck and jumping off the couch pretending to be Batman, the wrestler not
the Batman that's better known.
-- Another character Shane loved was "Superstar" Billy
Graham. He isn't trying to sound condescending towards wrestling but he just
loved it from the first time he saw it and still loves it. That said, he
grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh that has all of one stop sign. So,
wrestling wasn't exactly something natural for that environment. Most kids
aspired to either join the work force or go to college. Shane opted to attend
college.
-- Shane pursued a Bachelor Arts degree in History and
Political Science with a minor in Management. He achieved his degrees in
1986. He paid for his college by wrestling and thought he'd continue wrestling
until a job opened up in his field so that is when he decided to pursue the
offer given to him by Eddie Gilbert to go to the UWF. Shane says 20 years
later, he's still looking for his field.
-- Shane's father was very ill with emphysema and a whole
collection of ailments. Shane, his father's only son, would take him to the
doctor. Much of what was being done was painful for people to watch, Shane
citing his wife as an example of someone who couldn't watch what his father
had to go through. His wife asked how he could watch the procedures being
performed to his father and he admitted to her that he always wanted to be
a doctor. She suggested he pursue that field and he did. So, Shane found
himself teaching school five days a week, working for ECW on the weekends,
and attending college on the weekends whenever he could squeeze them in.
The classes he took were not easy courses, either. But, Shane achieved A's
in all of those courses except for one course.
-- Shane was accepted into medical school, a school called
Saba in the Dutch Netherlands which specialized in older non-traditional
students which Shane considered himself. But, this was when ECW was just
starting to pick up steam and Paul Heyman offered Shane a contract. So, he
was faced with a decision that had to be made. Shane chose to stick with
wrestling. Looking back, he wishes he had gone to medical school. But, he's
not one to cry over spilled milk.
-- Dominic Denucci trained Shane. Bruno Sammartino, to
a lesser extent, also trained him.
-- Wrestlers that are starting now should get an education
first, in Shane's opinion. He can recall when someone didn't need to attend
college and could work in a steel mill and make a great living. The bottom
fell out of that industry and now you need that degree to fall back on.
-- Shane made his debut on Thanksgiving Day of 1982.
He made all of $14.50 and participated in a barbed wire match. Shane feels
it was foreshadowing where his career would be going with ECW.
-- "He's crippled himself to enrich somebody else," said
Shane when asked about Mick Foley. Shane respects anybody that makes a name
for themselves in wrestling and talks rather highly of Mick, but does admit
it is scary to hear Mick's wife saying Mick is getting lost on his way home
from the airport. Shane says, "I certainly hope that is temporary and not
long term." But, wrapping up on Mick, "I sometimes think he's become a product
of the business and lost sight of who he was then," says Shane. But, Shane
feels it's besides the point. He's more concerned for Mick than anything
else.
-- Missy Hyatt helped come up with the name Eddie wanted
to call him Shane but nobody could come up with the last name. Missy blurted
it out and instead of Troy Martin, Shane Douglas became Shane's commonly
known name.
-- Shane says, "Eddie Gilbert was, to me, my key in the
business. Eddie saw me and Mick Foley and he instantly saw something in us.
We stunk to high heaven! I'll eternally grateful to Eddie and I miss him.
He was one of the rare guys that "gets it" and understands how to make it
work."
-- "I believe UWF was the predecessor to ECW," said Shane.
The UWF was revolutionary in how the other companies were doing hip tosses
and in the UWF, Bill Watts was being buried under the flag. Compared to today,
it was relatively tame. But, when in context, it was completely revolutionary.
In addition, 45 of the top 50 stars in the business over the past 20 years
passed through the UWF and were seasoned there, says Shane.
-- "Bill Watts got himself into trouble financially by
trying to be too big too fast," said Shane. So, there were two options for
the UWF. Either it would fold or be bought. So, when Crocket bought it and
the feeling in the locker room was hope that he'd let the legacy continue.
He feels the UWF was able to draw in places the NWA (Crocket's company at
the time) was not. So, he would have run them as two separate companies.
Shane asks, "Who cares what name is on the door as long as the receipts go
into my pocket?"
-- Shane is absolutely floored that Vince McMahon managed
to do the same thing 15 years later. As the NWA (Crocket) could have had
NWA VS UWF events and angles. Instead, Crocket bought it to squash it. Vince
did the same thing with WCW and avoided doing the "Super Bowl of Wrestling"
with matches like Kevin Nash against Big Show, Goldberg against Austin, or
Shane Douglas against The Rock. "Vince proved he was too cheap to buy the
contracts," said Shane.
-- Eddie Gilbert came up with the idea of teaming Shane
and Johnny Ace up. The original idea was to create a younger version of the
Rock 'n' Roll Express as "The Rockers" (as Shane calls them) were getting
"a little long in the tooth." He feels they were trying to appeal to young
girls as the Rock 'n' Roll Express was rapidly losing that demographic.
-- A little known fact, The Dynamic Dudes was not the
original idea for the team. They wrestled on national pay per view as "Johnny
& Shane, The New Generation." It was supposed to be a combination of
the Rock 'n' Roll Express and an ultra modern gimmick. So, the night after
the pay per view, Shane and Johnny get in Eddie Gilbert's car. Eddie tells
them they have a new name for the team. When Shane heard "Dynamic Dudes,"
he started laughing figuring it was another Eddie Gilbert classic rib. "I
was wrong!"
-- The thinking behind the name was, as Shane put it,
"in Jim Herd's infinite wisdom as a pizza executive." They did a study that
showed the two most popular phrases in California where many think all hip
trends stem from, were "Hey Dude" and "That's Dynamic!" So, the name was
created. Shane feels the name was considered ridiculous by the girls and
only liked by the young girls and the guys in the audience hated them, "so
it was dead from the start." Eddie used the Dusty Rhodes style and tried
to make lemonade out of lemons or chicken salad out of chicken shit. So,
they were turned heel.
-- "I just learned to roll with the punches. You had
to laugh or you were going to cry," said Shane talking about the silliness
of the Dudes.
-- The Dynamic Dudes were working the Midnight Express
one evening. Johnny started the match and Shane sees Bobby Eaton and Stan
Lane laughing out loud. Jim Cornette was covering his face with his tennis
racket to hide his laughter as Johnny walked over and tagged Shane in. As
Shane entered the ring, he saw a massive sign in the upper deck that was
written in big and bright letters, "Johnny Sucks Shane's ...!" As they got
to the back, Johnny asked if Shane was mad about it. Shane said, "Well, since
it was you sucking me... If I was sucking you, I'd be pretty pissed
off!"
-- "It was the first time I made real money in this business.
Everybody tries to bring it up to me, I don't laugh about it. I laughed all
the way to the bank with that gimmick," said Shane. Shane feels he'd rather
be a Dynamic Dude than the Dean Douglas character he played in the WWF in
1995.
-- Shane used to do a move combination
where he'd dropkick someone to the floor, and then do a cross body to the
floor. He was working with Bobby Eaton who Shane says was very dependable.
But, the pads outside the ring were set up differently to compensate for
a smaller area. With just Shane's luck, he did the move while his kneepad
had slid down a bit. So, Shane came down on his knee and it required surgery.
During his six weeks off, he got calls from several members of the office.
Jim Ross was one of them. Ross would "bitch and moan" about Sting and Luger
and how they wouldn't do what they were being paid to do. So, the injury
heals and Shane returns. Backstage, Missy Hyatt walks up. She was in a
production. She asked, "How did you piss off the office, you just got back?"
Shane had no idea what he could've done wrong. So, Teddy Long comes up and
tells Shane what he's doing that night. They wanted him to do the job for
Mark Callis, before he became The Undertaker, in 3 minutes to a heart punch.
Shane couldn't figure how this would be a "push" as Jim Ross had said they
wanted to do with Shane. So, Shane finds Jim Ross and Ross calls Teddy Long
a "stupid son of a bitch" and says that is not what they want. They wanted
Shane to do the job for Callis to the heart punch, but they wanted it to
be a competitive match. Shane mapped out a match, pitched it to Ross. Ross
said, "Tremendous! Go tell Jody Hamilton." Shane feels that should be an
indication of how convoluted the company was being run. So, Shane tells Jody.
Shane thought he was friends with Jody. Jody wouldn't look Shane in the eye.
Jody cut him off in mid sentence, "Shane, you're going to go to the ring
and do the job to Mark Callis in under 3 minutes in a squash match or you
can walk your ass out of this building." Shane felt, "put it that way," and
threw a garbage pale at him, turned around and punched Jody's board destroying
it and 3 hours worth of matches.
-- Shane got his stuff and headed to Atlanta. He wasn't
going home, he was going to speak with Jim Herd. When he got there, Jim Herd
wouldn't let Shane talk. Shane had spoken to Pat Patterson but was under
contract. Shane feels he had no reason to tell the booker of the biggest
wrestling company not to call him anymore. Herd was on Shane's case for taking
the phone calls and took out a chart telling Shane he wanted to show him
why going to the WWF would be a big mistake. When Shane reached to read the
chart, Herd pulled it away and said, "Let me explain this to you being you
won't be able to understand it since you're a wrestler." Shane thought "you
son of a bitch" and snatched the chart. What the chart showed was ratings.
It was WWF ratings singular next to the ratings of a series of territorial
ratings, no matter how small the company. Combined together, NWA with the
other companies against the WWF, the WWF was still beating everyone combined
in the ratings but it was close. Herd continued to try to tell Shane he was
crazy to want to work for the WWF given what the sheet said. Shane couldn't
believe what he was being told. He couldn't figure out how Herd could say
wanting to work for a company bigger than the NWA and all other territories
combined, most of which having nothing to do with the NWA, was crazy. So,
Shane ripped up the chart.
-- "At that point, the decision was easy to leave," said
Shane. He persuaded himself to never allow himself to work for people like
that again and put his faith in the hands of the WWF, Vince McMahon, and
Pat Patterson who he feels were running a crisp business.
-- The WWF production crew compared to the WCW/NWA production
crew was like the NFL against peewee league football, in Shane's opinion.
In the WWF, they have signs everywhere in the building, girls working behind
the scenes to assist you with your costumes, coffee, the whole nine yards.
In WCW/NWA, you had to walk around the building for 10 minutes to find a
locker room and if you wanted coffee, you had to send someone out to buy
it or find an open concession stand. Shane says, "Every office building in
the world has a coffee pot, not WCW!"
-- Shane puts Vince McMahon's production value on par
with Disney. He feels it is the best production crew in the world. He feels
Vince does all he can to make his product look the best it possibly can.
That said, he feels the problem is you can't use smoke and mirrors to make
the product they put on the air today look good.
-- Shane enjoyed his stay with the WWF the first time
around in 1990-1991 even calling it his favorite WWF stay. That said, Shane's
father was becoming ill. When Shane was born, his father was 48 so his father
was "a tough old World War II veteran." Shane got the call one day saying
his father was very sick and was to have 3 to 5 days to live. Shane went
to Vince and told him he'd have to leave. Vince put his hand on Shane's shoulder
and said, "Listen Shane, family comes first. This business is bullshit. It's
secondary to anything having to do with family. You go home and spend time
with your dad. If you ever want to come back, the door is always open." Shane
has his problems with Vince today but feels, at the time, Vince was very
"gracious." Shane's father ended up going home after a long stay in the hospital
but he didn't die, as was expected.
-- In WCW, Shane teamed with Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
quite a bit. "First of all, Ricky is a tremendous guy. Top-notch class! It's
rare to find in this business and he's also one of the top babyfaces in the
history of the business. They put me with Ricky ... Ricky could have easily
said no to them and had enough clout to do it without any heat," said Shane.
Shane feels Ricky may have seen a little of himself in Shane in that he was
going to "bust his ass." "He saw in me the same ambition in a time where
he was probably starting to get a little stale in the ring," added
Shane.
-- "A lot of success I had later in my career as "The
Franchise" I directly credit back to Ricky Steamboat. He taught me how to
be a main eventer. He taught me how to go from being that guy that gets beat
up in the corner to the guy that does the beating up. As far as gratefulness
goes, I'll always be grateful to Ricky Steamboat."
-- Shane saw a lot of potential in Steve Austin. Shane
feels Austin took advantage of his experiences in ECW and took a lot of each
character from ECW with him to the WWF. He sees a lot of Sandman, Taz, and
even a little Franchise in Austin and feels he was the perfect fit for the
more "edgy" product Vince was getting ready to put on.
-- "Brian was one of those guys you could love to death
and ten minutes later, want to beat up," said Shane when asked about Brian
Pillman. Shane feels he and Brian grew up together in the business. The story
that popped in Shane's mind about Brian was an incident they had in ECW.
Brian got Shane's attention, spit on him, and Shane was to pick up a chair
and crack him with it. So, Shane grabs a chair and all of a sudden, Brian
pulls a newborn baby in front of him straight out of the baby's mother's
arms. Shane had to pull the chair back with all his might, telling all to
watch the tape and you can see him pull it, and coming close to hitting the
baby with a chair. In the back, Shane was pissed off. Brian was laughing,
which pissed Shane off more, and Brian kept saying, "It worked, didn't it?"
Shane agrees that it did but he was more worried that a baby could've been
harmed. Shane feels the bottom line is all that mattered to Brian, nothing
in between.
-- The whole thing about the Dos Hombres, which was supposed
to be Shane Douglas and Ricky Steamboat under masks, was done out of paranoia.
Shane feels when you get done with a wrestling tour, you're not beaten up
from the physical aspect of the business but from dealing with all the paranoia.
So, when Shane blew out his shoulder, he needed some involved surgery to
get it fixed which would keep him out of action for a while. WCW was persuaded
he was going to screw them. "Ricky was too much of a gentleman to do that
and being that he was my boss, he wouldn't let me do it either!" But, the
company was still insistent on getting the belts off of Shane and Steamboat
and as such the Dos Hombres were born with Brad Armstrong and Tom Zenk filling
the role for Shane who, as stated, was injured. Shane wanted to wait until
he could and drop the belts to Brian Pillman and Steve Austin properly but
WCW just wouldn't wait.
-- Shane left WCW for a number of reasons, the story
above being a big part of it. Another part was his pay. He wasn't being paid
what he felt he deserved and when he talked to Bill Watts, Watts asked him
to give him a few months because money was tight. Shane did but in the meantime,
Watts was fired. So, Shane asked Ole Anderson for a raise. Ole told Shane
he didn't need a pay raise because when Ole was Shane's age, he made just
as much as Shane did and lived fine off it. Shane replied with, "Ole, you
idiot!" He then explained how the value of a dollar has shifted in the many
years between their ages and how the dollar just doesn't go as far as it
used to. So, Shane just got fed up with the business and wanted out. So,
he went back and started teaching and stayed near his father.
-- Around this time, Eddie Gilbert started calling Shane
regarding ECW. Shane wanted no part of it at the time and told everyone he
was retired from wrestling. It wasn't until Eddie offered Shane the top heel
spot in the company that Shane entertained and eventually took the offer.
Eddie also gave Shane a look at the booking aspect of the business in that
time. "And the rest, as they say, is history," said Shane.
-- The Tito Santana ECW Heavyweight title victory never
took place. They said the match took place in an elusive tournament match
in Florida that never happened. Why Tito left, he doesn't know.
-- The idea of throwing down the NWA World Title was
planned and only two other people were in on it: Todd Gordon and Paul Heyman.
Paul told Shane the negative would be that many he grew up loving would peg
him as a “backstabber” if he did it. What made the decision easy
is Dennis Carluzzo's commentary about Shane at the time. Carluzzo went on
the radio and behind his back and told everyone not to book Shane as he would
no show and was a "bad risk." Shane can't recall ever no showing an event.
Carluzzo, a high-ranking NWA official, apparently was talking about a show
Shane no showed because he was worried about pay. The promoter kept backing
out of parts of the agreement and in the end wanted Shane to drive instead
of fly as was planned in the arrangement. So, Shane told the promoter to
take his name off the show and not to book him again. Shane credits Mike
Tenay for telling him the story as Shane didn't even remember it.
-- The day of the event Shane was to throw down the NWA
belt, he was still undecided. It wasn't until Carluzzo showed up and was
stuck to Shane's side "like a dingleberry" and wanted him to sign a contract
which Shane couldn't sign. When he saw how disingenuous Carluzzo was being,
he decided to do it using his father's theory of doing right by the people
that do right by you.
-- Shane feels there is some left over anger from the
NWA about the tossing of the belt. When he went to TNA, he feels they could
have had him do the typical heel "nobody beat me for the belt" angle but
opted not to.
-- When asked about the Dean Douglas character, "everything
negative" was his response! The idea behind the character was to expose the
flaws in the ring work of the WWF superstars at the time. An example would
be the lack of false finishes or proper hooking of the leg except when the
three count actually comes. Selling a dropkick that missed by a mile ...
Things of that nature. It was a "tongue & cheek" way to correct errors
in the locker room. Well, the locker room took offense because the "WWF
superstars know all and can't take constructive criticism."
-- A lot of the problems Vince was having back then are
the same problems he's having now, in Shane's estimation. He thinks they
need to start teaching the "seasoned veterans" the "basics" that are taught
when you're a baby in the business.
-- In addition, the WWE needs "white heat" from the fans.
An example would be when Shane was working on Shawn Michaels and suplexed
him on the ring steps, a fan jumped the rail. They need to find a way to
make the fans get that passionate about wrestling again.
-- Shane feels tossing the belt is a historical part
of wrestling heritage.
-- Razor Ramon AKA Scott Hall was not a lot of fun to
work with then but in the WWF at that time, nobody was. Shane realizes Hall
can go when he wants to but the two couldn't have a match together likely
because of politics. Plus, Hall likes to do the same match over and over
in different towns and that drives Shane nuts. So, one night as "Dean Douglas,"
Shane thinks he should change something up out there a bit. Hall goes to
throw his toothpick, something the "world's smartest wrestler" should know
is coming since Hall has done it every night since he became Razor Ramon,
and as Hall went to do it, Shane slapped him upside the face. In a sarcastic
tone, Shane says, "Hall, being the great worker he is" crawled around the
ring looking for the toothpick to do the spot!
-- Shane also didn't like the finger motions Hall makes
as in "I'm scared of you." Hall feels that makes the heel look silly which
means you're starting the match with psychology 6 feet under.
-- Hall and Michaels wanted the belt to stay "with their
boys." Shane started feuding with Shawn for quite some time when the injury
took place. The two were not getting along and the rumor in the locker room
was Michaels was saying he'd embarrass Shane in front of a live audience.
Shane told the boys if Michaels pulled anything, he'd stretch him. Shane
feels his wrestling training is solid enough to stretch Shawn Michaels but
he doesn't think he'd be a match for Kurt Angle. Anyway, it comes time for
Shane to beat Michaels for the belt and Michaels claims he's had a relapse
of his head injuries. Shane, having had some medical training, asks if Michaels
had gotten hit in the head again. He was told no. So, Shane knows he was
faking because he wanted the belt to stay with his boys and, considering
Hall won it back that night, it did.
-- "Vince says it's his company and he runs it his way.
I say hogwash to that. The inmates are running the asylum," said Shane. Adding,
"it's comical to me."
-- With ECW catching on, Shane feels he became a hot
commodity. Shane feels Vince saw Shane as the voice of ECW and that's why
he wanted him. Vince's logic was accurate. The fans were chanting ECW at
the WWF events, not WWF at the ECW events. Shane feels Vince wanted Shane
to get over when he was brought there but it didn't pan out for a number
of reasons. One reason was Vince wanting Shane to play the "boring teacher"
character because, as Vince told Shane, he once had a teacher that spoke
that way and it drove him nuts. Shane tried to explain to Vince that the
difference is you can't, as a kid in school, get up and change the channel
on the teacher. The people at home are channel surfers and will change it
if they're bored.
-- Shane was cutting the promos the
way Vince suggested and then decided to have Vince view them the way Shane
wanted to do them. So, a group of production crewmembers, Stan Lane, Michael
Hayes, and Jim Ross were in a room along with Vince. As Shane started his
way of doing the promo, very "Franchise" like, Vince had to step out to take
a phone call as JJ Dillon informed him. When Shane finished up, he asked
the room what they thought and 100% of them said the "Franchise" way was
better. When Vince returned, he put his glasses on the tip of his nose, looked
around for approval and said, "I like my way better." Every person that told
Shane they liked the "Franchise" way better turned and said Vince's way was
better. Shane felt like he was on a ship called the WWF that was about to
hit an iceberg and the crew didn't want to steer the ship out of the way.
At that moment, Shane thought, "What the hell have you done, you jackass!"
He regretted leaving ECW to go to the WWF.
-- "Luckily, Or maybe not luckily depending how you
look at it" the WWF had a clause in their contract that relieved them of
all responsibility including in negligence on their part. Shane's lawyer
caught it and it was changed appropriately before it was signed. That said,
Thanksgiving week, Davey Boy Smith was working in the ring and while working,
the ring collapsed. A crew of 30 converged on the ring to get it up before
they went live in just a few minutes. They did, but it was not done properly.
The mat had no give or spring to it and the ropes felt more like steel beams.
In a match with Scott Hall, Shane left with a broken back.
-- Shane also received a phone call from his wife worried
about paying the mortgage which was under $480 a month. In 4 months of working
for the WWF, Shane made $6,700. Shane recalls when he was negotiating with
Vince, his wife asked why Shane should leave ECW and a teaching job to be
on the road all the time. Vince stroked Shane's wife's hand and told her
he'd make Shane a wealthy man. So, when Shane approached Vince on pay issues,
Vince said, "Hang in there, Shane. It will get better." Shane replied back,
"I can't tell the bank to hang in there!" So, Shane filed his 2-week notice
to leave and Vince asked if he could make it a 4-month notice as he had a
lot of money tied up in the Dean Douglas character. Shane scoffed back with,
"Well, it certainly isn't tied up in pay!" But, he stayed. While there, Vince
gave the impression he wasn't going to let Shane go. So, when he suffered
his broken back above, he had the ability to sue the company for negligence.
Shane feels he isn't the type of person that would sue, he just wanted out
and because of the injury, he was let out.
-- Back in ECW, a fan attacked Shane after a 16-year-old
girl spat in his face. Shane jokes saying he doesn't know what was in the
girl's mouth in the past 48 hours and doesn't want her spit on his face.
Security held him back and her father, because security was holding Shane
back, had a few free shots on Shane. Shane left with a severe injury that
haunts him to this day.
-- ECW and Shane were sued over this incident. Shane
sank $75,000 in legal fees fighting this issue which Paul Heyman was supposed
to reimburse. Heyman never did.
-- Shane says he'd "have given my right nut" to be given
the center stage with Ric Flair when Flair was the champion.
-- Shane feels the TV title was the secondary title.
The only time the TV belt was worth more was when Shane was injured for months
and begged Paul to get the world title off of him.
-- Taz was a true professional in the ring, according
to Shane. He feels Taz was a good character to play off of. The only reason
Shane was hesitant to drop the belt was because he was owed money and realized
he could've gone on WCW Monday Night Nitro and dropped it to Ric Flair and
made his legal fees back instantly. But, he felt the ECW fans deserved to
see the belt change hands and not be a "Shawn Michaels" and hurt the belt
out of spite. "I'm damn glad I did," said Shane.
-- "Terry was different to work with," said Shane. "I
always enjoyed working with Terry, but you could always expect him to throw
one or two potatoes" Shane loved working Terry because he was "so damn
passionate."
-- Why didn't Shane drop the belt to Al Snow? Shane
wanted to but Paul would have none of it. Shane realized he was injured and
couldn't defend it for a while and felt Al Snow had every bit the talent
needed to carry the title. One thing Shane has heard is Paul got wind of
the idea of Al Snow leaving ECW for the WWF which would have been bad, to
put your belt on a guy leaving the company.
-- The Triple Threat was a play on the IV Horsemen.
The play was the Triple Threat needed only three top talent wrestlers to
do the job of what took four in the IV Horsemen. Shane feels the Malenko
and Benoit generation of the Triple Threat was the IV Horsemen of the
90's.
-- Chris Candido has, as many in the wrestling business
do, his demons. Shane says he looked clean the last few times he's seen Candido
and hopes that is the case. He feels he is a very special talent in the
business.
-- Shane feels ECW became a parody of itself with the
blood, chairs, and violence. He feels bleeding was done so often that it
meant nothing. "ECW folded under the weight of it's own success," said
Shane.
-- The backstage environment of WCW was chaotic
to say the least. He feels WCW saved his life financially but the company
was being run poorly backstage. A lot of the problems could've been solved,
Shane feels. Such as guys refusing to do a job. Shane feels that you should
not get away with things like that and thins like that ultimately lead to
the demise of the company.
-- If Shane knew then what he knows now, he would not
have done the "Anti-American Revolution" angle. He feels it would never make
the air today but even before 9/11, it was over. He would tell the other
members not to travel alone because there could be a crazy redneck waiting
to attack one of them with bats. But, the angle faded because they were being
pushed one week and not being pushed the next.
-- It was hard for Shane to get a feel of Vince Russo
in the WWF because he was always around Vince (McMahon.) At WCW, Shane got
to actually speak with Russo quite a bit and got a good sense on his creativity.
Shane thinks he's creative but needs a wrestling counter balance. "If it
was up to Vince, we'd have alien babies being spawned out there."
-- Kevin Sullivan had "hard ons" for Shane, Perry Saturn,
Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero because Chris Benoit ended
up with Sullivan's wife Nancy, known to wrestling fans as "Woman." Sullivan
had made it clear he would not push or promote any of them. They ended up
leaving, Shane stayed but was off TV because of an injury. Shane's muscle
was torn 90% off the bone. Lex Luger suffered the same injury but only had
a 65% tear and he was off TV for 8 months. Shane was back in 6 days but not
wrestling.
-- The Wall was as classy as Ricky Steamboat. "He was
a truly gentle giant," said Shane. One night, Shane saw Jerry (Wall) was
bothered by something. At a bar, Jerry pulled Shane over and explained what
was wrong. He had heard Bam Bam Bigelow giving the impression that there
was a problem with the friendship. Shane immediately called Bam Bam and settled
it but because a long-term friendship was in danger, Jerry was upset and
it didn't directly affect him. "That was Jerry, he was always wanting to
make sure things were cool," said Shane. Shane says we've lost a lot of guys
over the past few years. None of them have affected him like Jerry's death
did.
-- Shane thought the pairing of Eric Bischoff and Vince
Russo would work. They had very different styles. Eric was a very managerial
style of booker while Vince is "no more managerial than a man on the moon."
Shane doesn't feel the reason it didn't work had to do with Bischoff or Russo.
He feels Bischoff played the politician, "hey Terry," instead of coming in
and laying down the law. He says Hogan refused to lie down for people and
Flair wanted to work "half ass" with Shane himself. Shane feels that was
the major problem with the Bischoff and Russo era. They couldn't get everyone
on the same page even though the initial concept was very well put together
and could've worked.
-- Shane wasn't too favorable about his match with Ric
Flair at Slamboree 2000 because he feels the finish was very week. He didn't
see a point to it and feels it subtracted from the match. He feels they should've
just let the fans get a feel for the feud because the classic WCW fans knew
Flair intimately and just needed to hear Flair talk to tell the story.
-- Feuding with Kidman was favorable for Shane. He enjoyed
working with him and feels he is a good guy. James brings up the Viagra on
a Pole match which gets a laugh. As for the scaffold match he had with Kidman
against Madusa, Torrie Wilson shouldn't have been in the match. First, the
scaffold was shaking and it was more of a platform than the designed scaffold.
Secondly, it was taken too high.
-- Hugh Morris was fun to work with. Shane wishes they
had given more time to allowing a lot of his later WCW feuds develop and
letting characters develop. He points out that only half the fans recognized
him from ECW.
-- The way Vince did it, he made money off of buying
WCW. Shane says the AOL/Time Warner stockowners should seriously question
this. Shane also wonders how Vince avoided monopoly laws adding, "Maybe nobody's
made the phone call yet."
-- Shane was under contract for over a year with Time
Warner before it expired.
-- Maryland Championship Wrestling was fun because he
got to do some stuff with Ricky Steamboat again.
-- The future of MLW doesn't look very good but in the
same breath, Court mentioned hoping to work with Shane again in the near
future so there's a chance they'll get up and running again. He was booked
to do the February shows which were cancelled.
-- Shane was hired to be the booker of XPW. "It's difficult
to be the booker when you're that far away," said Shane. He would fax, call,
and email in his ideas and such but it wasn't the same as actually being
there.
-- In a week's time, they sold more tickets than the
first show in Pittsburgh and the first show was one of the most profitable
in XPW history. While Shane was on a WWA tour, he got a phone call from his
assistant asking if he cancelled the show. Shane said "no, why?" The XPW
website reported that the show had been cancelled. Shane immediately called
XPW owner Rob Black. Rob said they were going to lose a lot of money, Shane
said they sold more tickets in a week than the previous time in Pittsburgh
and Rob seemed surprised and said to "uncancel the show." Shane said, "You
can't uncancel a show! You can't cause that kind of confusion!" That's when
Shane threw his hands in the air and tapped out on XPW.
-- Shane enjoys NWA TNA. He assists backstage and is
enjoying the "New Franchise" faction. He says "good question" when asked
why the "New Franchise" isn't called the Triple Threat but also says he wouldn't
want to subject Michael Shane to being compared to Chris Benoit.
-- At age 40, Shane now is trying to phase out of the
in ring wrestling work. He doesn't want to overstay his welcome.
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