In spite of the well put together argument that came before this post, I will say that Shane Douglas is emphatically UNDERrated. Though the previous poster did hit on something that I feel is an altruistic statement that proves true: Where Shane Douglas resides in that spectrum (underrated or overrated) really depends on your personal reflections on ECW.
Perception is reality.
Perception is the smoke and mirrors in this industry that relies on the suspension of belief. If you're a more than casual fan of professional wrestling, there's no doubt that you've probably heard this concept being bandied about for quite awhile now. It usually has something to do with the way that we perceive the wrestlers in front of us as it relates to storyline and characters in that framework. That is the textbook definition of what workers and insiders call kayfabe.
The one thing that we never really think of though, is that as a fan of our favorite promotion, there is also a little of this going on between promoters. As shocking as it may sound, and while there is always an exception, just like the in-ring talent, most promoters don't hate each other. While there is a definite rivalry there, it seldom spills over into an outright hatred. Logistically speaking, because of the potential of established talent being imported from another promotion, they see each other as merely colleagues. What's good for TNA today could be good for WWE tomorrow.
Promoters have built a corporate image, a brand stamp if you will, and they rely on this to offset their product from one another just like Coke and Pepsi do. Just like Coke and Pepsi in the realm of soda, when it comes to all of the different promotions, the product is similar in that same manner. Sure, there are going to be subtle differences, but that heated and hated rivalry is largely a construct that is great for both companies where it counts most, financially.
I know. I know.
"Great, but what does that have to do with Shane Douglas?"
Well, it's no secret that (original) ECW fans hate(d) the WWE and WWF/E fans hate(d) the ECW. Even though Shane Douglas has appeared in dozens of promotions in the time between WCW and TNA, he was (and largely still is) seen as an ECW icon. On August 27, 1994 Douglas threw down the NWA title and (symbolically at least) created Extreme Championship Wrestling from Eastern Championship Wrestling. From that day on he was the ECW flagship character for all time - he was "The Franchise". Moments like that don't die easily, they're iconic because of how colossal they are. They rank up there with Jimmy Snuka's October 17, 1983 dive off the top of the steel cage onto Don Muraco at Madison Square Garden or Hulk Hogan bodyslamming Andre The Giant at Wrestlemania III. It doesn't matter if you're a WWF/WWE fan or not, if you're a wrestling fan worth your weight, you've done your history and you at least know about these things.
What does that mean? It means that sometimes, something is historic not just because it happened "back then" but because it helped to define the very fabric and terrain that it was a part of. In that historic, a person is attached to something, like it or not, just because they were at the right place, at the right time, with the right stuff. That's what history is. Someone else could have done it, but they didn't. It's the matter of doing it first, and being the innovator. For instance, think about the DDT. That's one of a few basic moves that a wrestler is taught in school right next to the piledriver and the suplex. Jake Roberts invented that move. You see that in just about every match, but it's his finisher, it's his contribution to the sport, and it's so massively huge that it's easy to take that for granted.
In Douglas's case, he was the vehicle that was used to create something new: Extreme Championship Wrestling. Which is still going today, even if it is in a completely different way than it was intended to be originally. Vince McMahon is cashing in on the brand that Douglas forged and the rest of the ECW alumni including Paul Heyman, Joey Styles, and all of the wrestlers and characters that were involved gave life to by their hard work and innovative ideas. Like it or not, but ECW can stand without any of those originals being involved because of the work that was put into building the foundation in the first place. To say that Shane Douglas - that Troy Martin - was not a megalithic part of that, is beyond short sighted, it's revisionist history.
As far as the allegation made in the previous post that asserted that Shane Douglas was somehow less of a talent or not as entertaining because he didn't transition from the WCW to the WWE after the buyout: How do you know? How do you know he wasn't at least offered a contract by Vince McMahon? There's been nothing there to say to the contrary, and when Douglas left the WWF in the 1990's, it was one of the rare instances where it was done so amicably. It stinks of a WWE mark to prop up that age old argument that what one promotion has is better than the next.
It's simply a matter of preference in style and format that offsets the countless promotions from each other. The Coke can is different from the Pepsi can, but both are cola.
If Shane Douglas had decided to go out on the independent circuit and work with some of the up and comers in the business, because in his view, it was better for professional wrestling in general, who are we to argue? It wouldn't be the first time that Shane Douglas has done something simply to develop a wrestling promotion or talent. Nobody starts out in the "majors". Unless your dad is Vince McMahon, it's a long and hard road to even get to that point, and there's no guarantees of that elusive stardom. It's a total crap shoot that's just as much luck as it is skill. For every visible star of the squared circle, there is a story of where they came from and who trained them. Sometimes it takes just that one match to be recognized by a top promotion, or to provide a creative springboard for an otherwise "green" wrestler.
A person need only to look at the past title history of one Shane Douglas to really get an appreciation of just how expansive his career has been. Not just for the sake of the numerous titles that he has won, but by the yardstick of the kinds of wrestlers he has worked with over his career. Names like Eddie Gilbert start to emerge, Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Chris Jericho, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ric Flair, of course Terry Funk and Sabu and a whole host of others that are either Hall of Famers or destined to be future Hall of Famers. That is the measuring stick that truly counts. Where has a person been? What have they done? What have they given to the sport and to the fans? Shane Douglas trumps just about everyone that you put in front of him that hasn't had a 30 or 40 year run in the business. That is success personified, and that is what makes him "The Franchise". It's not how he's been criminally underutilized by the big two (WCW or WWF/E - as if those are the only two promotions that count?), or their overrated, lackluster writing team (I'm looking at you Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara!). He's not Superman, but he's damn close.
...And that's an eternal original ECW mark's word on it.
