He was one of the people responsible for the extreme edge in professional wrestling today. Who knew throwing down the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Title would propel him for bigger things and change the face of this sport? "The Franchise" Shane Douglas was more than ready to handle the burden of helping lead Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) to be a third top company in the United States. Douglas is known for delivering powerful promos, although many of them have centered on his hatred of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair and other veteran athletes.

Troy Martin's story began in Pittsburgh, PA. After graduating high school, Martin enrolled in Dominic DeNucci's wrestling school. Martin's class also included future World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) champion Mick Foley and the late Brian Hildebrand. Martin was going to use the money he made in wrestling to help pay for his college education.

Martin eventually graduated from Bethany College in 1986 with a BA in History and Political Science. He even continued his studies and earned his master's in Education.

Troy Martin made his professional debut on Thanksgiving Night in 1982, wrestling under his given name. His name was later changed to Troy Orndorff and his gimmick was that he was the cousin of "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. He used that name for a short time before entering Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF).

After entering UWF, he was told by UWF booker the late "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert that he needed a new ring name. Shane was a popular west coast name and Missy Hyatt gave him the last name Douglas because the movie Wall Street had just come out. So he was dubbed Shane Douglas.

Douglas began in the UWF as a babyface and began feuding with Gilbert. Douglas went on to beat Gilbert for his first major title on August 3, 1987 in Morgan City, LA for the UWF Television title. It was soon after this that Douglas' ally, Terry Taylor, turned on him and went after the TV title. He beat Douglas for the UWF TV Title on September 2, 1987.

Douglas left the UWF territory soon after and landed in Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). He continued to compete as a babyface and began teaming with the masked Lord Humongous, aka Sid Vicious. The duo had an odd couple look to them and were very over with the crowd. On July 18, 1988, they captured the CWA Tag Team Titles in Birmingham, AL.

Douglas then landed in the NWA and was paired with current head of WWE Talent Relations, Johnny Ace. The creative geniuses in the company thought to capitalize on the catch phrases "dynamic" and "dude." So there team was called The Dynamic Dudes and carried, not rode on, skateboards. You see, they couldn't skate.

Although they looked like jokes, they were pretty successful as a team and received a mid-card push. On May 7, 1989 at NWA Wrestle War: Music City Showdown, they teamed in their pay-per-view debut to face and defeat the Samoan Swat Team, Samu & Rikishi. Several months later, Jim Cornette provided his services to the Dudes as an advisor. But the team he managed, The Midnight Express, took exception to that and they feuded with the Dudes over the services of Cornette.

On the under card of the much-heralded I-Quit Match between Ric Flair and Terry Funk at Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockout on June 15, 1989, the Midnight Express took on the Dynamic Dudes, with Jim Cornette stationed in a neutral corner. The finish of the match saw Cornette turn on the Dudes and help the Midnight Express win and cement their heel turns. After the feud was over, the NWA felt they no longer needed the services of the Dudes, and they soon left.

Douglas resurfaced as a babyface singles wrestler in WWE in 1991. His tenure there was short. He made one PPV appearance during his first run and competed in the 1991 Royal Rumble match. On several house show appearances, he replaced Shawn Michaels in The Rockers and teamed with Marty Jannetty while Michaels recovered from knee surgery. Douglas asked for his release so he could spend time with his dying father.

Douglas returned to full-time wrestling for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1992. He started out in a feud with the late Brian Pillman and saw Douglas gain a pinfall over Pillman in one of their matches that aired on WCW Saturday Night. Douglas was then paired with the legendary Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. On November 18, 1992, they defeated Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes for the NWA/WCW Tag Team Titles at the Clash of the Champions XXI.

Douglas & Steamboat then embarked in a feud with The Hollywood Blondes: "Stunning" Steve Austin & Brian Pillman. These two teams put on some of the better matches during this time in WCW, which saw many seesaw battles. On an episode of WCW Worldwide, the Blondes began their road to greatness when they beat Douglas & Steamboat for the WCW/NWA Tag Team titles on March 3, 1993 in Macon, GA.

The feud continued between the teams. Unfortunately, Douglas had suffered an injury, so Steamboat and someone else, namely Tom Zenk, donned masks as Dos Hombres. The fans were supposed to know that it was Steamboat & Douglas under masks. Dos Hombres never got the better of The Hollywood Blondes.

Douglas had not wanted to be in wrestling anymore after that, but received a call from Paul Heyman, asking him to do some shows for the upstart Eastern Championship Wrestling. Douglas came in with a different character seen thus far in his career: he was now a heel. On September 9, 1993 in Roanoke, VA, he was declared the new ECW champion when champion Tito Santana no-showed.

Douglas was now a brash and cocky wrestler and was finally able to cut promos, which he was a natural at. He began a feud with Sabu and lost the ECW Title to him on October 2, 1993 in Philadelphia, PA. During this feud, Terry Funk was thrown into the mix. In February 1994, Douglas battled Terry Funk and Sabu to a 60 minute draw in Philadelphia, PA in a match that help put ECW on the map. On March 3, Douglas won back the ECW Title in an 8 Man Tag match, which saw ECW champion Terry Funk on the opposing team. The title was on the line, and Douglas pinned Funk to win the title. History was soon going to be made.

ECW had been apart of the NWA umbrella and were running shows regularly in Philadelphia. The NWA Title was vacant after the NWA severed its ties with WCW. The last man to hold the NWA Title was Ric Flair, and I am not counting when it was renamed to the WCW International Title. The NWA and ECW held a one-night tournament to crown a new NWA champion. ECW champion Shane Douglas was heavily involved in the tournament. He won it, defeating The Tazmaniac aka Tazz, Dean Malenko and 2 Cold Scorpio to win the title. What happened after the finals would change the face of wrestling. Douglas threw down the NWA Title in a shoot and proclaimed himself the ECW World champion. ECW was now taken to the Extreme.

The NWA had split from ECW. ECW was now running on "Franchise" fuel. ECW became more than just an indy company. Douglas faced all comers as the first Extreme champion. He defeated such names as Tully Blanchard, Ron Simmons, Stevie Richards, 2 Cold Scorpio, and Marty Jannetty.

Douglas was infatuated with Woman, the manager of The Sandman. He continued to chase her for her "services," but she didn't want anything to do with him...or so we thought. On April 8, 1995, Douglas retained his ECW Title when he beat The Sandman when Woman turned on The Sandman and left with Douglas. Seven days later, Douglas lost the ECW Title when Woman turned on Douglas and helped The Sandman win the title. Woman revealed that it was their plan the whole time.

Rumors began that Douglas dropped the title because he had been in negotiations with WWE for a return. On May 13, 1995, Douglas lost to The Sandman and proclaimed that his services be used better elsewhere, all this while wearing a Monday Night Raw t-shirt. That summer, Douglas left ECW for WWE, would prove to be a bad choice.

Douglas returned to WWE as a heel and was known as Dean Douglas, playing off the reality of Douglas being a teacher. He would grade wrestlers on their matches and scratch the chalkboard. At the 1995 SummerSlam, Douglas critiqued Razor Ramon, and Ramon knocked him down, igniting the hottest feud of the summer.

Ok, it wasn't. Behind the scenes, Douglas' hatred for The Clique (Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, The 1-2-3 Kid, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley) began. Douglas beat Razor at the September 1995 In Your House and was now challenging Shawn Michaels for the WWE Intercontinental Title at the October 1995 In Your House. Several weeks earlier, Michaels was jumped by several people outside a bar and told Vince McMahon that he could not wrestle for awhile. Douglas was going to get the title by forfeit, but Michaels convinced McMahon that Douglas would not be a worthy champion, so he shouldn't get it.

At the October 1995 In Your House, Douglas got the title by forfeit. But he was forced to defend the title against Razor Ramon, and twenty minutes later, Razor walked out with the title. The influence of The Clique had now screwed Douglas, and Douglas' WWE career went down the toilet soon after that.

Douglas got his release from WWE after threatening them with a lawsuit. He claimed that he was owed money and never received it. In December 1995, Douglas appeared on ECW TV, and now "The Franchise" was back.

Douglas returned to ECW as a face. He began a feud with Brian Pillman, which resulted in no matches between the two. Pillman was in ECW but under WCW contract. He was sent to ECW to continue his worked shoot that Pillman had in WCW. Pillman was injured in a car accident soon after and left WCW for WWE.

He aligned himself with Tommy Dreamer in his war against Raven and his nest. Douglas challenged Raven several times for the ECW Title, but Raven always came out on top. Douglas revealed why he aligned himself with Dreamer at Hostile City Showdown 1996 on April 20. He revealed that Dreamer's girlfriend, Beulah, was not pregnant. However, he claimed that Beulah cheated on Dreamer. Dreamer, pissed off, asked whom it was. Douglas laughed and said it wasn't a he. It was Raven's valet, Kimona. They made out in the ring in one of the more controversial things to happen in 1996. Back then, this was huge. It was edited off the television show.

Later that night, Shane Douglas challenged Raven in what would be the last time he would challenge for the ECW Title from some time. Douglas lost, thanks to interference from The Nest. After the match, Douglas said the only title that matters is the ECW Title. ECW TV champion 2 Cold Scorpio took exception to that. The next ECW Arena show, A Matter of Respect on May 11, 1996, Douglas challenged and beat Scorpio for the ECW TV Title, but didn't care much for the title.

June 1, 1996 at Fight the Power at the ECW Arena, Douglas made his way to the ring, dropkicking the ECW TV Title. He totally disrespected the title. He was scheduled to face Scorpio in a rematch, but Scorpio was sidelined with a staph infection. So Douglas begged anyone to beat him for the title. One by one he beat El Puerto Ricano, Donn E. Allen, Devon Storm, and Mikey Whipwreck. At that point, the late Pit Bull #2 made his way out to help Whipwreck when Douglas made some rude comments to Pit Bull #2's manager, Francine. Pit Bull #2 then challenged and beat Douglas for the TV Title.

Douglas was pissed and said he now wanted the TV title more than ever. Douglas went after the TV Title on July 13, 1996 at Heat Wave. By this time, newcomer "Lionheart" Chris Jericho had beaten Pit Bull #2 for the TV Title. A Four Way Dance was set up with Douglas, Jericho, Pit Bull #2, and Scorpio. The match aired during the entire hour of ECW TV later that week. Douglas and Pit Bull #2 were the final two in the match. Douglas won the title when Francine turned on Pit Bull #2 and aligned herself with Douglas as his new head cheerleader.

Douglas was now at war with both Pit Bulls. During the Four Way Dance, Douglas broke the neck of Pit Bull #1 Gary Wolfe. In an incident that almost caused a riot at the ECW Arena in the fall, Douglas shook around Wolfe, who was wearing a surgically placed Halo for his neck. It caused a major ruckus at the ECW Arena.

January 11, 1997, Douglas was in the ring at House Party when a masked man entered the ring. The voice was unmistakable. It was "Ravishing" Rick Rude. His New Year's Resolution was to "fuck with The Franchise." White Zombie's "ThunderKiss '65" blared on the sound system and Pit Bull #1 returned and attacked Douglas. The war just got hotter.

At Hostile City Showdown 1997 on March 15, Douglas wrestled Pit Bull #1 in an I-Quit Match. Douglas won, and put Pit Bull #1 back on the shelf. This set up Douglas vs. Pit Bull #2 at ECW's first PPV, Barely Legal on April 13. Douglas pinned Pit Bull #2 in the blow-off to the feud.

Douglas continued to reign as ECW TV champion. But met up with a challenger that had paved a path of rage through ECW. On June 6, 1997 at WrestlePalooza, Taz faced Sabu in the Barely Legal rematch. Sabu got the better of Taz, but Taz wanted to continue the fight. Douglas, watching from the balcony, told Taz to leave the ring so the show could continue. Taz wanted Douglas to make him, and the impromptu match was on. If Douglas could last in the ring with Taz for three minutes, Taz would leave the company for several months. Taz made Douglas tap and won the TV Title.

Douglas set his sights back on regaining the ECW Title. On August 17, 1997, ECW put together the 3 Way Dance that put ECW on the map in 1994: Douglas vs. Terry Funk vs. ECW champion Sabu. Unlike the first match, this did not end in a draw. Douglas walked out as the new champion in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

If you can believe this, Terry Funk announced some time after this match that he was retiring for good and was holding a show in Texas called WrestleFest. He lost to Bret Hart in the main event, but would make a surprising return in WWE later that year. Note the sarcasm. Douglas defended the ECW Title against long-time rival, Tommy Dreamer, on the show and was successful in turning Dreamer away.

Rick Rude was part of the Douglas' Triple Threat, which included Chris Candido & Bam Bam Bigelow. Rude's job was to line up challengers for Douglas. Douglas had been successful thus far. On October 16, 1997 at the Elks Lodge in Queens, NY, Douglas awaited the next challenger set up by Rude. It was Douglas' stable mate, Bam Bam Bigelow. Rude's New Year's Resolution was to, after all, fuck with "The Franchise." Bigelow left the Triple Threat and won his first World Title.

This was done because November to Remember was being held in just outside of Douglas' hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. Douglas played the face role during the rematch and won back the ECW Title, to the delight of the "hometown" crowd.

Douglas left that match more injured than he was going into it. His matches were scaled back and didn't wrestle much. He competed in the tag team main event of the March 1, 1998 Living Dangerously PPV. He teamed with Chris Candido to face Lance Storm and a mystery partner. It turned out to be Al Snow, who was receiving a big push and scored victories over the likes of Rob Van Dam and Sabu. Snow pinned Douglas to win the match and get a title shot at WrestlePalooza. Douglas went into the title match with a ton of injuries, which made it obvious that Snow was walking away with the title. It was going to be Douglas' last match for many months. Douglas won, which baffled many. Snow returned to WWE a few weeks later.

Douglas did color commentary with Joey Styles while recovering from surgery. But he was still holding onto the ECW Title, which was unprecedented for someone who was going to miss most of the year. Douglas returned in late 1998, setting up a feud with Taz. At Guilty As Charged in January 1999, Taz beat Douglas for the ECW Title when Candido turned on Douglas.

Douglas had lost interest in wrestling around this time. He toyed around with the idea of retiring and not wearing out his welcome like Ric Flair has, in his words. But he came back a week later, as a surprise, and challenged Taz to a rematch at House Party 1999. He returned as a face and with a new look. He shook Taz's hand afterwards, cementing the turn.

Douglas looked to be close to hanging up his boots, though. In an angle shot at the Elks Lodge, Douglas was looking for someone to take his spot. Lance Storm and Justin Credible interrupted and claimed they should be the new Franchise. Douglas told them no, and chose Tommy Dreamer, which started a program between the two teams. On March 21, 1999 at Living Dangerously, Douglas & Dreamer defeated Credible & Storm.

Douglas grew frustrated with ECW owner Paul Heyman. Heyman owed Douglas money, and Douglas had several checks bounce. He was scheduled to face Justin Credible at Hardcore Heaven on May 16, 1999, but Douglas no-showed the event. Douglas had severed all ties with ECW for good.

Douglas claimed in interviews that he had offers from both WWE and WCW and the contracts were in his possession to sign. During the time he was thinking of which company to sign with, Douglas made a rare, unadvertised indy appearance in White Plains, NY at the Westchester County Center on May 20, 1999 for Tony Capone's North American Wrestling Alliance (NAWA). He entered a battle royal to crown a new NAWA champion wearing a mask. He won the match, and unmasked himself, popping the crowd. He said we would see him on Monday nights in one way or the other. He finally signed a three-year deal with WCW on July 12, 1999.

Upon entering WCW in the summer of 1999, Douglas formed a new stable called The Revolution. The group consisted of him, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, and Chris Benoit. The group started out as faces, but then ganged up on Benoit that fall, turning heel. New writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera had pushed the group heavily. In January 2000, unhappy with the direction of WCW, Russo was removed by the higher-ups at Time Warner and replaced by Kevin Sullivan, who was not popular backstage at all. Many wrestlers such as Konnan, Billy Kidman, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Chris Benoit, and Shane Douglas all asked for their releases. They all received them, but Guerrero, Malenko, Saturn, Benoit, and Douglas signed them. However, leaving WWE on bad terms in his second run there didn't help Douglas. The Radicals jumped to WWE, and Douglas was left without a contract.

Douglas worked some shows in California-based Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW), which was run by Rob Black. He continued his rivalry with Chris Candido that he never finished in ECW. Candido, the XPW champion, beat Douglas in their only match in Los Angelas, CA just before Douglas made his return to WCW.

Russo and Eric Bischoff were re-hired to run WCW in the spring of 2000. They re-hired Douglas to a new two year deal and made his return on the April 10 Nitro, beginning a feud with the man he has blasted in countless promos over the years in ECW, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

The rebirth of WCW took place at the Spring Stampede PPV on April 16, 2000 in Chicago, IL. All the WCW Titles had been vacated. It was the beginning of the Russo-Bischoff era. Douglas, representing the Russo-Bischoff stable known as The New Blood, teamed with another member, Buff Bagwell, in the tournament to crown new WCW Tag Team champions. In one night, they defeated Harlem Heat 2000 (Stevie Ray & Big T) and Ric Flair & Lex Luger to win the titles. They would hold the titles until May 2, when they dropped them to Kronik on Nitro in Memphis, TN.

May 7, 2000 saw the first time Shane Douglas battled Ric Flair one on one on PPV. The event was Slamboree in the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, MO. Russo was phasing out veterans like Flair, so Douglas went over in this match. Later that month, at the third annual Brian Pillman Memorial Show, Douglas jobbed to Diamond Dallas Page.

Douglas gained his first WCW singles title on January 14, 2001's Sin PPV. He overcame Gen. Rection aka Bill DeMott to win the title. His reign was short-lived as Douglas lost it to Rick Steiner on February 5. This would end up being one of Douglas' final appearances in WCW before being sold to Vince McMahon.

Douglas went back out to California to work in XPW. He was soon the head booker of the company. Douglas was also competed in the east coast for Major League Wrestling (MLW). On June 16, 2002, he defeated Steve Corino and Jerry Lynn in separate matches to reach the finals to crown the first MLW champion. In a Triple Threat final, he defeated Vampiro and Taiyo Kea to win the title at the ECW Arena. He held on to the title until he was stripped on September 13, 2002.

Douglas added more heavyweight gold to his resume on July 20, 2002. He defeated Johnny Webb in Pico Rivera, CA to capture the XPW Title. Shane Douglas had several successful title defenses against Chris Candido, Justin Credible, Terry Funk, and Vic Grimes. Douglas was the last man to hold it when the company folded operations in 2003.

Douglas competed for Andrew McManus' World Wrestling All-Stars in 2003. On May 21, he lost a Triple Threat Match to WWA champion Sting and Rick Steiner. Two nights later, he defeated Sabu in Melbourne, Australia as part of the tour.

On June 11, Douglas returned to the company whose title he threw down nine years earlier, the NWA. This time, the NWA was also known as Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) and run by Jeff Jarrett. He made his debut attacking Raven. Douglas aligned himself with James Mitchell's New Church in a war against Raven and The Gathering, which included Julio Dinero, CM Punk, and Alexis Laree. Douglas, Brian Lee and Slash teamed to defeat Dinero, Raven & Laree on July 30, 2003 in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match.

Douglas and Raven continued their feud September 3, 2003 in a War Games match. Douglas teamed with AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger to job to Raven, Jeff Jarrett, D'Lo Brown, & America's Most Wanted. Two weeks later, Douglas defeated Raven in a Hair vs. Hair Match, resulting in Raven getting a bloody shave.

In October 2003, Douglas broke away from the New Church and spoke about mentoring a new protégé. He did that the entire month of October. On November 5, Douglas defeated former ECW rival The Sandman with help from his new valet, Traci Brooks. Douglas continued to scout a new protégé and on November 26, 2003, after Michael Shane defeated Sonjay Dutt, Douglas revealed Michael Shane as the new Franchise.

Three nights later, Douglas made his debut in USA Pro Wrestling at the final show at the Elks Lodge in Queens, NY. He reformed the Triple Threat with Bam Bam Bigelow & Chris Candido. In his in-ring debut for the company, he beat The Sandman.

On February 14, 2004, Douglas defeated Raven in Bethpage, NY to capture the USA Pro Wrestling title.

In the spring of 2004, tension began to mount between Shane Douglas and Michael Shane. On March 24, they lost in the first round of the NWA Tag Team Title tournament to the mystery team of Low Ki & Christopher Daniels. After much bickering between the two, the squared off one on one on May 5, 2004. Douglas was accompanied to the ring by Traci, much to the shock of Michael Shane. Late in the match, Traci turned on Douglas by attempting to throw Michael Shane the chain but Douglas intercepted it. Douglas used the weapon to the get the victory.

Douglas continues to compete in the ring, 21 years later. He knocked Ric Flair for years about not stepping aside, and now time has caught up to him. Despite that, Douglas continues to be a major force in the independent scene and NWA:TNA. Douglas still has some go in him and isn't about to stop.

After reigning for three months without making any defenses, Shane Douglas will defend the USA Pro Title this Friday night against Raven in a Cage Match. The hatred between these two have spilled from ECW, to NWA:TNA, all the way to USA Pro. The match will take place in Queens, NY at The Amazura Night Club. For more information on this show, you can check out http://www.usaprowrestling.net. For information on Douglas in NWA:TNA, check out http://www.nwatna.com/.

John Gjoni
johnftw7533@aol.com

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