'The Franchise' Shane Douglas Interview

[Flair Country]

SHANE DOUGLAS INTERVIEW RECAP

Last night on Rumble Radio, Pat Creed conducted a 45 minute interview with “The Franchise” Shane Douglas. Mr. Douglas spoke on many topics ranging from the NWA Title to the current state of the business to drugs in wrestling. You can download the show at this link. Here’s a brief recap of the interview.

The interview starts with Pat asking Shane what was going through his mind the night he threw the NWA Heavyweight Title on the mat. Shane talked about how the only people in the building who knew about it were Shane, Paul Heyman, and Tod Gordon. He said Heyman never pressured him into doing it. Shane talked about how he didn’t make up his mind to throw the belt down until he went out for his match with 2 Cold Scorpio because he was being pressured all day by Dennis Coraluzzo making him exclusive property of NWA Wrestling. He said throwing down the title was never meant to disrespect the heritage of the NWA Title, but was to disrespect what the NWA had become.

Pat asks Shane about the revival of ECW in 2004-2005. Pat asks if Shane watched the WWE One Night Stand PPV and how it compared to the Hardcore Homecoming shows. Shane says he watched how WWE booked the show for months in order to see what his competition was doing. He felt that going into it he had a huge advantage over WWE because the Hardcore Homecoming shows were a continuation of what the original ECW was, not just a WWE version of ECW. He brings up the example – what sort of history did Tommy Dreamer and Sandman have with the Dudleys in the original ECW? He says the original One Night Stand should have been an ECW reunion show without WWE guys. He feels the Hardcore Homecoming shows were more true to ECW because they protected the ECW legacy while Vince McMahon was out to make money.

Shane says that he does not equate the new ECW with the old ECW. He says that he has never seen a minute of the new ECW. He feels that Vince McMahon got sick of hearing the “ECW! ECW!” chants and created the new ECW in his image. He felt that it was a way for Vince McMahon to kill the die-hard fans chanting “ECW!” He thought that Vince could have done a phenomenal job with Paul Heyman running it, but for whatever reason, decided not to.

The interview then moves to the current state of professional wrestling. Shane does not think that TNA will ever be able to compete with WWE. He says that TNA once had the opportunity to offer a strong alternative to WWE, but squandered it. He mentions how he talked with Dixie Carter and told her that if TNA tried to be WWE light, they would fail miserably. He also says that WWE’s sole focus is their wrestling product, and that they don’t have to worry about “making daddy happy down at the energy company.”

Shane then talks about when he lost all respect for Dixie Carter. He says how Dixie used to say, “Once this company turns the corner, we’re all going to get rich together.” Then after they signed Kurt Angle, they took away the $40-$50 hotel rooms of the guys who had been there from the beginning. Shane says after that, he felt she was the same thing as Vince McMahon.

Pat then asks Shane about the horrible year for professional wrestling that was 2007 – the Benoit tragedy, Congress knocking at wrestling’s door, etc – and if WWE and TNA are correct in instituting Wellness Policies. Shane says that it is very good thing that they do, but that they are both terribly flawed. He tells a story about how an FBI agent contacted him days after the Benoit murders and told him that Chris Benoit had passed a drug test in April 2007. He says that steroids are just as prevalent now as they were the day before the Benoit murders. He feels that if Chris Benoit passed a test in April 2007, that the drug testing facilities are being paid off to change results. He believes that people are still using steroids in the business. He feels that if something is truly not done to fix the situation that someone will go farther than Chris Benoit did in his depression.

As the interview wraps up, Pat asks Shane what his plans for the future are. He feels that his tenure in his business is over, but that you can never say never. He says if somebody calls with the right offer, we’ll see him again, but is very content if that never happens.
Download the interview at this link to hear this and other topics Shane covers like: Whether he thought the Dean Douglas character could have succeeded in WWE if given the chance. The idea he thinks WWE stole from Hardcore Homecoming for One Night Stand. Why he didn’t want to have a rematch of the Triple Threat Match at Hardcore Homecoming. What he thinks the last “ballsy” thing TNA did. More candid comments about TNA and Dixie Carter. How he wants fans to remember him.
For more information on Shane Douglas, visit http://www.franchisefansite.com.

TNAWrestlingNews

[DefLeppardVanHalen]

I have to agree with Shane on this one. I believe the WWE is paying the companies, who did the drug tests, to change the results.