Shane Douglas interview, New WWE DVD, and more Submitted by William Martinez on Monday, August 26, 2002 at 11:20 PM EST
Biggest of many big nights at the Garden for Heyman NEW YORK -- Aug. 26, 2002 -- Paul Heyman arrived today at Madison Square Garden knowing that in a few hours he'd walk to the ring with the new WWE Undisputed Champion, Brock Lesnar. Click for Full Article
WWE Lays the Smack Down on Wall Street NEW YORK – Aug. 26, 2002—World Wrestling Entertainment and the Participate America Foundation kicked off a six-city tour for the purpose of encouraging Americans to become more active citizens. Click for Full Article
WWE will release a new kind of DVD on October 1st, 2002: "WWE: Entrance Themes" is the title, published by Sony. This item will be available on DVD and VHS.
I wrote in last month referring to Hogan being on a radio show here in Little Rock. I am writing back just to let you know that the mp3 interview is now posted at http://1037thebuzz.com/morningbuzz.htm
Jeff Wilen sent in the following:
This moved on the sports wires Monday afternoon.
Credit story: Casey Seiler/Albany Times Union
BC-WRESTLING-THE-HURRICANE-HNS ¶ ‘THE HURRICANE’ BRINGS COMICS TO LIFE IN PRO-WRESTLING
(For use by New York Times News Service clients.)
By CASEY SEILER Ž
c.2002 Albany Times Union Ž
ALBANY, N.Y. — Shane Helms, aka The Hurricane, has green highlights in his hair, the Green Lantern’s logo tattooed on his bicep, and almost 4 pounds of stainless steel plates and pins in his right forearm.
Comic-book characters walk among us.
Currently, they’re eating among us: Helms is tucking into an egg-white omelet, toast, hash browns and a short stack of banana pancakes at a corner table at an area restaurant one Friday morning. "I won’t do too much with the potatoes," he says.
At 6 feet tall, he’s small by World Wrestling Entertainment standards. He’s good-looking enough to have performed in a mock boy band ("All the guys hated us") when he was with World Championship Wrestling. He was that league’s cruiserweight champion when the WCW was purchased by wrestling mogul Vince McMahon in 2001.
Helms changed his persona after the WWE takeover, dropping the more straightforward tough-guy character "Sugar" Shane Helms for The Hurricane, a masked avenger with his own goofball catchphrase: "Whassup wit dat?"
"Hulk Hogan told me that the hardest thing to do is get people to chant your name," Helms says. "It’s hard to capture the imagination or the heart of a mass of people like that. And the second week I was The Hurricane, I had people chanting my name."
He had released his inner joker: "Everybody is all mean and serious and sweaty, and everybody wants to kill everybody, and here I come out having a good time, and it really comes through how much fun I’m having."
The Hurricane’s look owes more than a little to Helms’ love of comic books, which dates back almost as far as his obsession with wrestling. Despite having caught less than four hours of sleep, Helms lights up while discussing the work of comics creators such as Alan Moore, Warren Ellis and Todd MacFarlane. He still follows about 40 titles.
Helms was 5 when his parents took him to Charlotte, N.C., to see Dusty Rhodes take on Superstar Billy Raymond. He broke his arm as a high-school champ, requiring two plates and a dozen screws and giving him added punching power that he compares to carrying a roll of coins in his fist.
His love of comics developed almost in parallel. DC’s The Green Lantern, who focuses his power through a cosmically charged ring, has remained his favorite character.
"His whole thing was willpower," Helms says. "He never had a superpower, but he just had so much heart that no one could take that ring from him. ... That kind of worked for me, especially when I was in high school when I was the smallest kid on the football team, the smallest guy on the wrestling team.
"And in pro wrestling, I was so small that I was never supposed to make it, but I just kept trying and trying and trying."
Helms started out in the more rough-and-tumble world of indie wrestling. "The cruiserweight division now is pretty popular, but when I had my first match in 1991 there was no cruiserweight division," he says. "So I had to wrestle all big guys all the time, who were trying to beat me to death just because they could throw me around. I had to fight my way in a lot of matches where real punches got thrown, just to get out of there."
Helms’ work week usually begins on Saturday, building up to the week’s TV taping on Tuesday.
He speaks openly of the "predetermined" nature of the winners and losers in pro wrestling, but emphasizes the level of athleticism required to stage a half-hour match. You can’t choreograph that much action, he notes. Wrestlers have to be theatrical while also pulling off the elaborate physical stunts all without getting anyone seriously hurt.
Pro wrestling has been blamed for promoting dangerous behavior among children, a charge that Helms believes gives kids too little credit. "I can’t say for all kids ... but it was always easy for me to separate what happens on TV from real life that I probably shouldn’t go slam my best friend on his head in the back yard," he says.
If he’s lucky, the 28-year-old will get another decade out of wrestling. He admires the way The Rock has shucked off the wrestling stereotypes ("big, dumb guys in Spandex," Helms sums up) and launched his film career. Helms got his first big-screen experience as David Arquette’s stunt double in the 2000 wrestling comedy "Ready to Rumble." Los Angeles, he says, is the only place he would live if he ever left North Carolina.
With an eye toward that big-screen future, he’s currently wearing braces on his teeth. It can be tricky in the ring. "They get busted open all the time," he says. "I can’t breathe with a mouth guard, and breathing is very necessary."
Here is a quick transcript of the interview Matt & myself had the priveledge to do with "The Franchise" Shane Douglas. I STRONGLY suggest that you listen to the interview. Not only to hear him speak in greater detail on what is only highlighted below, but some interesting comments he made on various topics, not to mention the entertaining analogies he used throughout the interview.
If you want to just listen, CLICK HERE ----------------------------------------------------------- HIGHLIGHTS:
MATT - August 31st, XPW comes east to the former ECW Arena, I believe you now the booker for XPW?
SHANE - Well in a sense, yes. We do things more in XPW as a comittee. The final decisions are mine though, including product content. Ive tried to take on as much as I possibly can, but with a 16 month old son at home, makes time a luxury.
MATT - August 31st, you are defending the XPW Heavyweight Championship against the Hardcore Legend, Terry Funk.
SHANE - Its a homecoming for us, because the ECW Arena was the house that we built. Were proud of the accomplishments we made in ECW. There is almost a canonization that has been made in ECW since it is not around anymore. Its almost as if ECW is more popular now, then if it ever was. I miss ECW tremendously. I feel that XPW has a future, despite XPW having a lurid past. I met Rob Black thru Bubba Rey Dudley 2 1/2 years ago, and I was offended by their product. Not that it wasnt interesting, but in my opinion, it wasnt where wrestling needed to go. Over the last 2 years, Rob has made some huge mistakes which I believe Rob would be the first to say grudgingly.
AD - That's why I feel that XPW needs someone like you which is not only a talent in the ring, but has been around the business and has such a great knowledge for the business. It can only make it better.
SHANE - I appreciate that. I think he's exact words to me when he hired me where: "Ive spent 3 1/2 years of my life & lots of my money, running this company. Ive done everything I can think of to do with it, I dont know how to get XPW to the next level. I need Shane Douglas to do that".
Its like an alcoholic admitting to having a drinking problem. For Rob Black to admit that he doesnt know how to take it to the next level, speaks volumes. Rob & I have had some knock down dragged out fights on the content, & where the show will go, etc. The fact that I am still with this company should tell you that Rob Black is taking my advice, and is committed to taking the business to a positive future. And these are healthy arguments. Remember, in the past this was coming from a guy that announced to the world that he was going to feed a puppy to his snake.
AD - I thought that was classless. Sorry. Even for the sake of an angle.
SHANE - I agree. And for 2 1/2 months I would not even speak to him. In hindsight I believe that he did not have the business sense in the wrestling world, as he thought it would draw controversy and attention to his product. Now we can move on in a positive sense, and it starts with the August 31st show in Philly.
MATT - With a loaded card I might add. Terry Funk, Psichosis, Super Crazy, The Sandman....
SHANE - I use to sit in the back like a mark in the ECW Arena watching some of these guys perform. Im certain that our talent will put on an awesome show. People have to remember that XPW is a work in progress. Were not perfect, weve taking great strides on the business end, to make sure the product thrives. Something ECW never did, and that's why ECW is out of business. Its my job to bring XPW to the next level.
AD - That's what I try to tell the people online bashing XPW. I sent a 3 page email to Joey Styles answering his tirade he made. XPW did not have a "Shane Douglas" behind the scenes before. And, everyone should look at the talent that is on the card, rather than just looking at 3 letters.
SHANE - In the beginning of ECW, we had some horrible talent. Later on we brought in stars like Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Al Snow, Chris Benoit, and others. That's a good change in my book. I want those fans that were so kind to give ECW a chance, to do the same for XPW. The company will flourish as a positive for the fans, or I'll leave.
Here's my sales pitch to the fans. The fans of Philadelphia, New York, and the east coast, know what my career is and was. With my career, Im a man of my word, many times to my own detriment, and Im telling the fans. The show that we have lined up on August 31st, from the booking & planning aspect, we are treating as if it were a PPV. All I ask, from what Ive offered you over the years as The Franchise, give us that opportunity. If we suck at that opportunity, then you have every right on September 1st to tell the world that we blew it. But, if we come in on August 31st, give you a show that was entertaining, and if we live up to our expections that I promised you, then please go online Sept 1st and tell the world that XPW wasnt so bad. They have a shitty reputation, but last night they put on a damm good show. That's all I am asking. ==========================================================
On the subject of CZW
SHANE - For the CZW fans that go see CZW, if you feel that you cant be seen at an XPW event, then stay home. You cannot lay claim to Philadelphia, because you sell 200-300 tickets. There is an old saying I live by in my career: You can talk good about me, talk bad about my, just fu**ing talk about me! If I was CZW or any other promotion in Philly, I wouldnt have said word fu**ing one about XPW. Because now, they have made us the bad boys on the block.
Im not trying to make friends in this business. Im trying to fu**ing entertain wrestling fans. I dont care how much Zandig does or anyone does. I care what we do.
I wish every promotion out there well right now. Because I feel that wrestling needs an injection of some other kind of entertainment that Vince McMahon puts out. I, Troy Martin, doesnt buy it, what Vince is putting on. ===========================================================
ON VINCE MCMAHON & WWE
SHANE - Vince is a very intelligent man. Its obvious and he has to know that his business is going in the wrong direction. The fact that his profits are down 80% speaks volumes. In any company. If I see apples for a living, and my profits are down 80%, I am going to start looking at my pickers and how they pick their apples.
This is not to knock my old nemesis Ric Flair, actually this is kudos to Ric. But when Ric Flair is the best and greatest performer on Monday Night Raw, & he's 55 years old, that's an absolute conviction to the rest of your program. Ric Flair has it in his head, what the other guys do not. They need more guys to think and perform like Ric Flair.
- The WWE has grown so large, they cant afford to stay down in the ratings much longer. I wish Vince McMahon well. But if my wife is leaving the room in disappointment after watching their shows most of the time, the casual fan must be doing the same.
- It seems that the WWE is in need of a major heel. One that is also good on the mic that doesnt get blown away from guys like The Rock.
- Half of the guys in this fu**ing business today, would have gone thru the fu**ing door in the past. When Bruno Sammartino & Domenick DeNucci broke in, one of the first things they would do as an inside rib, is to break your ankle or wrist in your first day of training, to see if you had the fortitude& toughness to come back & have the balls to take a second ass whipping. ===========================================================
ON "TOUGH ENOUGH" & "CHEAP LABOR" IN WRESTLING
SHANE - Its a program geared towards MTV fans, and to try & get that demographic to watch WWE.
MATT - I was against Tough Enough when it first came out, but it's generating stars.
SHANE - What stars has it generated?
MATT - Maven.
AD - He's not a star. He gets pops from the girls.
SHANE - He's not a star.
MATT - But gets a good pop everytime he's out there.
SHANE - Getting a pop and drawing fans are 2 totally different things. Sting was getting a huge pop towards the end of WCW's reign, but he's wasnt filling the building. Im not being critical of the kids that were in tough enough. But from what Ive seen of the "wrestlers" that tough enough has generated, Im not impressed. I believe that Vince is using these people, because he's getting them for cheap. He's paying Rey Mysterio Jr, $75,000$. For god sake, just to cover your road expenses & hotels, hhow anyone can survive on $75,000.
Here's the bottom line. If I want to drive a Lincoln Navigator, I pay for a Lincoln Navigator. I cant walk into a dealership and say "Hey, Im Shane Douglas, I want to lease that car for $200 a month". If I want it, I pay the price to use it, or the dealer will throw me out of the fu**ing store.
If Vince McMahon wants Cadillacs to drive, the seller of the car cant give it to Vince for much cheaper than what its worth.
That is what wrestlers are now doing. If a guy that is worth $650,000 accepts $75,000, it hurts the other guys that are worth the same, or even more.
If the wrestlers collectively, get up and walk out and not negotiate such a ridiculous low price to perform, then wrestlers would be looked at as comodities. Id rather walk out than get $75,000 from Vince. I could dig ditches for $75,000 and make a living without all the bullsh**.
- Im not saying that a union is needed. But if you are a commodity, you can be paid well and not thrown into the street if you get hurt and you dont have medical coverage and a big house payment.
- For guys are not producing, their paychecks should be cut. If youre producing, you should be paid for it.
- Guaranteed contracts is what made WCW Bellyup. Also, I feel that if wrestling gave a minimum base contract of $100,000 for example, there will always be the guy that will take $50,000 or $75,000 if their promised a push.
Ive never kissed an ass in this business, and not planning to start. And true many of my critics would call me a dumb fu** because I could make so much more money. But at least I can look at my son, and tell him that my lips dont taste like sh**!! =========================================================== ON SHAWN MICHAELS & RELIGION
If Shawn Michaels' new found religious beliefs are true, then good for him. Because, I can tell you that the kind of life he lived in the past,he needed to. Hopefully for his sake its true. ============================================================ ON PAUL HEYMAN
SHANE - I will ever be grateful to Paul Heyman the promoter for giving me the opportunity in 1993 to become The Franchise. He allowed me to perform, and allowed me the mic and letting myself flourish. I will never forget what he was done for me as a promoter. ECW was the first place I ever worked, where wrestlers would come out and mark out with the fans for other people's matches. Everyone would support everyone, and perform at their best, even if the match before them blew the roof off the building.
- When I came back to ECW from the WWF, I told every ECW fan I would stay until my career was over. That wasnt a "character" phrase to get me over, I Fu**ing meant it. Because of Paul Heyman's business practices, I had to go to WCW because I was on the verge of Bancruptcy. I laid out almost $140,000 for Paul Heyman which maxed out my credit, and left me with nothing.
- When your Titanic is sinking, you do not tell your crew and the passengers to go in their cabins and everything's fine. The next morning you'll then find everyone dead. That is what Paul Heyman did to ECW.
Paul Heyman's business practices were piss poor. Up to the day I left ECW, Paul Heyman ordered me to be at the ECW PPV in Schenectedy NY. I contacted Bob Ryder up to the end, and Paul Heyman never bought me a plane ticket. Paul Heyman was then going to tell the ECW fans that Shane Douglas no showed the event and fu**ed the ECW fans. That's when I knew I was gone from ECW. When someone starts to order you around, and owes you $140,000, that takes some pretty big balls.
=========================================================== ON FRANCINE & WHY THEY ARE NOT TALKING - There was a lawsuit a few years back, where I was accused of beating a fan so senseless, he required hip replacement surgery. A 15 year old girl spit in my face, which led to another fan hitting me in the face.
The police that night made a report on the incident. They also took statements from me and Francine. Later on, they took depositions from both of us as well.
I spent over $70,000 in lawyer's fees defending myself. After gone from ECW I received a call from them saying that they had a problem. They accused me of possibly lying. Then, Francine decided not to testify claiming she didnt see anything. This was after she gave a Police statement and deposition defending me. Paul Heyman ended up settling the case out of court. When I tried to contact Francine why she was refused to testify, Paul Heyman called me and told me that Francine hates my fu**ing guts. I will now make it my duty that whereever I get work, Francine will not get work.
- This matter had a small role in myself not working with NWATNA. However, there were many other factors involved, and plus I am happy in XPW. ===========================================================
There is so much in this interview that I strongly suggest that you listen or download the interview.
I thank you for reading the highlights of the interview.
