Shane Douglas's First WWF Run

[The Brain]

Although it was a short lived gimmick I’m sure most of you either remember or are aware of Shane Douglas’s WWF run in 1995 as Dean Douglas. What is probably less remembered is his first WWF run five years earlier.

Shane Douglas entered the WWF during the summer of 1990. Some wrestling fans were familiar with Douglas from his time in WCW where he teamed with Johnny Ace as the Dynamic Dudes but for the most part Douglas hadn’t had much national exposure at the time. Douglas had a clean cut pretty boy look and seemed to have potential as a strong mid card baby face. It usually took guys at least a few months to get over and hit their stride in those days so it was not unusual to see Douglas in the dark matches for SummerSlam and Survivor Series in 1990. He was able to get on ppv by competing in the Royal Rumble in 1991 where he had an impressive showing lasting about 25 minutes. It appeared to be just a matter of time before Douglas would end up in a feud with someone like the Mountie or Rick Martel to take that next step up the ladder.

Unfortunately for Douglas things were not going well in his personal life. His father had fallen ill and he chose to leave the WWF to care for him. Douglas’s WWF career was cut short before it got a chance to start. How do you think Douglas would have fared in the WWF had he not had to leave so suddenly? I’ve heard that he was the original man picked for the Heart Break Kid gimmick. I don’t know if there is any truth to that but if that is true then I suppose things worked out for the best (speaking as a wrestling fan of course with no disrespect intended to Douglas and his father). Some might question Douglas’s attitude but I don’t think he had that chip on his shoulder yet that he would get later in his career. Besides, a little attitude didn’t seem to hurt the actual Heart Break Kid.

So tell me, how do you think Shane Douglas would have done had he stayed with the WWF in 1991? A solid mid card baby face? Possible IC title run? The Heart Break Kid? What kinds of feuds would you have liked to see from him at the time? How would he have affected others that were on the verge of a push, mainly Shawn Michaels?

 

[wrestler36]

It seems like it would have been a perfect time for him, had he stuck around. Once Hogan and Warrior were gone, the smaller guys were getting the push. With his wrestling acumen and strong mic skills, I could definitely see him working up the ranks of IC to maybe even top dog. He had the look and charisma. I could see Bret vs Shane, Shane vs Perfect, Shawn, Owen and some other pretty good feuds.

 

[MrHashasheen]

I think that Shane Douglas tends to rate himself more highly than he actually is, which is enhanced by his long stay at the top of the card in ECW and his shorter stays in places like WCW or WWF, where politics and circumstances fucked him over. Still, he was young (then), was a fresh face and does actually have some talent. Don't know anything about him being HBK, though.

Had his dad not fallen ill and he'd stayed in Connecticut, I'd imagine he'd have a good run in the mid-card for a several ears. There more than a few veterans still around that could have put him over if the WWF wanted to make him a star, and I could definitely see him with an Intercontinental Championship run or two at some point, possibly versus Razor Ramon or Shawn Michaels. Maybe even a King of the Ring run, perhaps. And definitely a tag run or two with a fellow babyface. But the main event strap was definitely beyond his reach, as heel or babyface.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The HBK stuff is true, originally it was said that Vince had it more as a "rock star/heart throb/David Cassidy" type gimmick and Douglas had the look at the time.

His leaving caused a lot of issues at the time, to the point where it said in several sheets and magazines at that time that he had told Vince he wanted to leave the biz to become a doctor and to spend time with his ill father. Vince released him and very soon afterwards he showed up in WCW for a relatively big push, having never tried med school... This was the time when he was teaming with Ricky Steamboat which of course put him on the shit-list with Vince. He did come in in 95 but as evidenced in his gimmick and push and lack of back up from Vince against the Kliq, he was still on that list and that he has never done any business with Shane since also says quite a lot.

90/91 was an interesting time for young rookies- there were two very similar cases in Shane Douglas and Dustin Rhodes who both left despite quite substantial rookie pushes for WWF at the time over father issues. Both went on to do reasonably well in WCW but Rhodes left "the right way" with Vince and later had his chance with the WWF as Goldust and even now is still used regularly.

Douglas had potential when he left the WWF but it's one of those situations where the right thing probably happened for all concerned except for Shane. Shawn was much better in the HBK gimmick than Shane could have been and the loss of those two "young guns" left the door wide open for Shawn, Bret, Owen, Hall and Nash to grow into their roles.

If even half of the story was true about how Shane got his release then he only has himself to blame for the blowback. Wanting to look after a sick relative is totally understandable, but the med school story was out there even as far back as 91 and signing for the competition barely a year later is not a good move.

 

[Judah's Lion]

wow! totally interesting topic.

i remember the 91 Rumble and how long Douglas lasted in there. it was pretty impressive at the time and commentator Rowdy Roddy Piper was putting over HUGE how good of a job Douglas did for a young rookie. because of that, i thought Douglas was on the "who to look out for soon" list.

don't remember much of Douglas after that until he returned and won the IC Title. he won it pretty quickly upon his return too, which made me think that if he had never left, he would have been a multiple time IC Champion. and back then, that meant something. usually a World Title Champion or at the very least, credible contender.

to say that Shane Douglas would have never been a World Champion in WWF had he never left in 91 is unprovable. maybe even downright wrong. i guess we'll never know now. but he seemed to be on the rise. and he definitely had/has the skill set needed to be a top guy in any company: look, mic skills, move set, charisma, etc.

unfortunately, Douglas always seemed to be more high on himself than maybe warranted, burned his bridges after crossing them and had a constant chip on his shoulder. that's how many see him now. had he never left the WWF in 91, i doubt the chip would be on his shoulder and those same bridges would not be burned, so he could have been much bigger, at least in the WWF, than he turned out to be.

so hard to know what could have happened. i do think that the HBK gimmick was much better suited for Shawn Michaels, so that might be considered a lucky break for all involved. kinda like how the Mr. Perfect gimmick was originally slated for Terry Taylor and not Curt Hennig.

Jim Ross always says that the cream rises to the top. i'm kinda split-minded on that. sometimes i totally agree and other times i think that really great guys with tons of skill get screwed while totally one-dimensional jerks get lucky breaks. i'm not sure if Douglas falls in those categories or maybe somewhere more in the middle of the road.

i do wish he had stayed in the WWF for the 90's though. he could have had amazing feuds during that New Generation Era with Bret and Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, Diesel and Shawn Michaels, among others. and could you imagine Shane Douglas during the Attitude Era? could've been freaking epic!!

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

Had Vince let Shane Douglas be "The Franchise" in WWE in 1995. That character would have at least dominated the mid-card. The Attitude Era may have launched a year earlier. Douglas and HBK could have had a sick feud. Even Douglas and HHH. I always thought Douglas to be talented, but he burned bridges with Vince and WCW collapsed before he made it to the top.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

To be honest, Shane Douglas was so self destructive that I believe he would have found a way to screw things up. And I don't believe for one second he was chosen to be "Heartbreak Kid" before Shawn Michaels. That sounds like more propaganda from Douglas.

I don't his run would have been too good because back then, you had to have a cartoonish gimmick or a strong gimmick to get over. If Douglas would have remained Shane Douglas in the WWF, then I believe he would have been regulated to jobber status. He wasn't that high in WCW, being in a sort of jobber tag team with Johnny Ace.

Also, I don't care for Shane Douglas and to think he would have amounted to anything makes me mad.

 

[CripplerBenoitFan]

Douglas has one thing he can do, and that's yell and swear. The Philly Mutants loved that sort of thing. Yelling and swearing? That's main event status in the ECW Arena!

 

[hacksawrowdyhogan]

He left the wwf in January 1991 and didn't show up to wcw till October 1992. That is a very long time not like he just jumped ship. Maybe Vince was pissed because he didn't give him heads up that he wanted to return to wrestling. But this was around the time of the steroid trials too.

 

[ShinobiMusashi]

It's an interesting and complex what if, but all I know is that the dude was red hot in 96 in the ring and on the mic. He was pulling guys like Axle Rotten and Mikey Whipreck through 3 star matches, and his promos got legitimate white heat from the ECW Fans with the whole Pitbull broken neck angle. Fans were jumping the railing, and chasing the dude out into the parking lot taking punches at him and that was all shoot.

The physical shape he was in and the passion that you could see he had for what he was doing would have made him the hottest heel anywhere in 96. Austin was a better performer, but there was something about Douglas' personality that got legit hate, where as people thought Austin was cool. Hogan wasn't wrestling anywhere close to Douglas' level in 96. It seems like something an overly romantic ECW fanboy would say, and I'm sure it's hard to picture for those who are only used to seeing 97-2000 Douglas, but it's true. Douglas in 96 in ECW was money. It was far more than just swearing and shouting.

As much as I love the British Bulldog, Vader, and Sid, a heel Franchise against HBK for the WWE strap in 96 would have been really good in the ring. I think it would have been a legendary feud.

 

[dman1373]

I think that he was extremely over rated. And this is coming from a big ecw fan. He had pretty generic promos, was pretty generic looking, he really couldn't work. He has no excuse for not getting over on a national platform because he did have a run in wcw where russo was pushing him to the stars. He just isn't that good.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's important to note that the HBK and med school stories have been going around for 20 years now, if they weren't true they'd have been debunked long before now.

From my understanding Douglas had told him he wanted to go to med school as his primary reason for leaving the biz and that he would also spend time with his dad. To my knowledge Douglas never actually went to med school, so Vince perhaps felt lied to... that he then dumped the NWA title probably broke the last straw with many "old school" people, not that Vince could talk... but a talent who you don't trust, who then shit-cans the oldest title in the world is not really a guy you're gonna want to use and if you do it'll be sparingly.

The Franchise was not that special looking back, Pillman and Austin had better characters and others like RVD had more in the way of in-ring talent. At the time Douglas was able to parlay that WCW/WWF experience into being "the biggest name" in ECW, while others actually made the promotion great.

By the time he went back to WCW he was damaged goods, again many guys would not trust him and he had the bad rep without any actual stroke to back it up, if you're blackballed by Vince then why would Russo/Bischoff push him, not like he had an alternative if he didn't like how he was being used.

 

[Makaveli31]

Interesting topic...I remember Douglas in the WWF in early '91 wearing the neon-colored trunks that were popular in the early 90's. He did have a clean cut, baby face, heart throb type look, similar to that of Shawn Michaels so I have no trouble believing that he was in line for the "HBK' gimmick OR a feud down the line with the real HBK. He was getting a pretty substantial push on Superstars with wins over jobbers and getting put over pretty good as a promising young rookie....then suddenly disappeared.

As far as how he would've done if he'd stayed....hard to say. I see a definite feud with Shawn Michaels. I see him as a face though....feuding with mid-card heels like Shawn, Perfect, Martel, DiBiase etc...he was too clean cut to be a serious heel. Speaks a lot about his talent though that they didn't stick him with a stupid gimmick when he came in, they basically stayed with this name, I guess Vince thought his in-ring talent alone would get him over. It would have been interesting no doubt about it.

 

[HBsam31]

Interesting thread Brain. I have made threads about Douglas myself, and I did not hate him as much as everyone else seems to. I don't remember to much about the first run he had in WWE, but he was great in that Royal Rumble. I think he could have feuded with the the likes of Bret Hart, mr perfect, and HBK and done well vying for the IC title. I just think inevitably he would have pissed Vince off, and he would have gone from WWE anyway. it just seems that he has a way of rubbing people the wrong way. I don't know about all of the Heartbreak Kid stuff, but I for one am glad things turned out the way they did as I am sure eveyone else is.

 

[thebarber]

Had Vince let Shane Douglas be "The Franchise" in WWE in 1995. That character would have at least dominated the mid-card. The Attitude Era may have launched a year earlier. Douglas and HBK could have had a sick feud. Even Douglas and HHH. I always thought Douglas to be talented, but he burned bridges with Vince and WCW collapsed before he made it to the top.

Vince had no intention of pushing Douglas hard, he bought him to weaken ECW...WWE were not in their business relationship at the time with ECW. Simply to bury him, as the Kliq made his life a misery and why he quit barely 6 months into his contract.

Shane Douglas, would probably have been handed some rubbish gimmick as was the way it was in 1991, he may well have been Dean Douglas in 1991. I do not believe for a second Vince had any plans for him for the Michaels heel turn gimmick, that play was in the works for 12 months before it officially happened. And the phrase "Heartbreak Kid" was copined by Mr Perfect during a stint on commentary, the HBK gimmick wasnt set in stone as it did not exist.

 

[GameOver]

He had promise and woulda rose to maybe the IC title or a tag title but beyond that was impossible for that era he was way too small and i think he was just another new face to add to the roster, they had no immediate plans to push him to the moon, the only claim to fame he had was being in the Royal Rumble and eliminating someone. and i find it highly unlikely they were gonna push him like HBK, he was nowhere near that level in ring. Shawn Michaels proved himself and was HBK whether he was coined it or not, he was the showstoppa even b4 he went heel and was given the chance.

For him tho it panned out better not staying and in ECW he shined, tho he seemed like an asshole in reality from that point onwards and pissed off alot of people.

His partial return as Dean Douglas was very forgettable, that character sucked. the only reason that got anywhere was they wanted someone for Razor to beat easily without having Shawn have to drop the IC title to him. (HBK was injured) IMO