Shane Douglas interview, Blue Meanie chat recap
Submitted by Calvin Martin on Thursday, November 28, 2002 at 12:27 PM EST





Aaron Rift sent this in

Interview with "The Franchise" Shane Douglas
Conducted by Mike Nagel and Jeff Meacham
November 25th, 2002
Listen at: http://xtreme.themayhem.com

Mike Nagel: We are joined by a very special guest today, the Franchise of
Professional Wrestling himself, Shane Douglas. How are you doing today sir?

SD: Doing great guys, how are you doing today?

MN: Its been a long morning, to say the least.

SD: I hear that.

JM: It's that holiday time, so we're off doing our own thing (i.e.
shopping), getting things done. Very hectic time of year.

SD: Right.

MN: First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on running another successful
show two Saturdays ago at Viking Hall in Philly, PA.

SD: It was obviously a successful show from a financial standpoint, but from
the booking standpoint and a wrestler's standpoint, not nearly what I had
expected it to be, so Dec. 21st is our next show back in there, we've got a
real test put in front of us and we're really excited about it. I like to
learn from experience. The first 2 shows, I'll agree with you, were
outstanding shows, in the former ECW arena, now the XPW arena. The last show
didn't live up to our expectations and so I think we let our fans down a
little bit. So those fans who are very supportive of us in Philly are going
to see a lot of hard work and effort go into this show. Right now we have
like 10 or 12 matches signed, a lot of new talent planned and a lot of good
surprises on tap for the next show on Dec. 21st. Sort of our way of saying
Merry X-Mas to our fans. Also, it's our way of saying that we are going to
make up for the last show, which we feel we may have dropped the ball a
little on.

JM: Sounds good from here.

MN: How has it been making the transition from working with ECW, WCW and
even WWE to working for XPW?

SD: Well, in XPW between being booker and lead talent I have much more input
than I did at the other companies. Not to say that's the most important
thing to me, but to be quite honest, my style of the business, what I
envision is being the quintessential style of what's entertaining in this
business I don't thing WWE's is going that style right now. I made a
confident choice of not taking part in what they are doing there.(i.e.:
necrophilia) I think it's tasteless and pointless and non-entertaining. So
it is what they do and it's not a criticism of them, it's just to say I
differ personally from them and that's why I chose not to go to work there.
Now with XPW I have more input and I can be a lot more effective on decision
making. Well, let's say like in ECW whenever an angle was presented to me,
it's one of the things I have a little pet peave about, my personal
differences with Paul Heyman aside, Paul Hymen did some great things with
ECW, but you have to remember he surrounded himself with some great people
and although Paul Heyman was a great booker and I take nothing away from him
in that respect, for anybody who says Paul Heyman was THEE booker of the
company that's really a misconception cause I can tell you the last 2 years
I was there every angle that I was in, was conceived by me or greatly shaped
by me. Raven was the same way, he had great input on his character and his
angles, Tazz had great input on his angles. Sabu did as well. Paul was a
great concept man, but those concepts were flushed out by other people,
mainly me and Raven and some others that were there, so XPW has given me a
great chance to contribute in the same way and it's not just my match it's
8,10,12 other matches on the card that also get my input and that's sorta
fun.

MN: Now with the addition of Joey Styles it should add a little more
excitement to the matches as well.

SD: Yes, absolutely. I'm a big mark for Joey and I always have been. I think
Joey has one of greatest style voices in the history of this industry and he
brings a level of excitement just by the way he calls things. If you place
him next to a lot of the other play by play announcers, choose your name,
are good at what they do, but they do just play by play. Joey brings a level
of excitement to it that is included by the way he calls his matches. So he
can make a seemingly boring match seem very exciting by the way he calls it.
Other play by play guys simply call a boring match as a boring match. Joey
turns a boring match into an exciting match. So we are privileged to have
him on board with us and excited about it, plus Joey brings a lot more to
the table, his connections in the media division and with 1wrestling.com and
really his ideas, so we're really fortunate to have Joey on board with us.

MN: How much bigger do you see XPW getting in the upcoming months, do you
see it eventually growing into and becoming the "no. 2 company"?

SD: Absolutely, that's what we plan. The one thing we are not doing is
thinking small. There are no plans to try and ever contend with WWE, that
would be suicidal and ludicrous. I mean, it's a gigantic company backed by
millions of dollars. But much like what ECW did from 93-97 before it started
becoming financially ruined by the mismanagement, I think there was a lot of
places for ECW to profit, flying under the radar, so to speak. I think the
same can be done with XPW. Not to contend head to head with Vince, but
certainly not avoid him and you know ECW didn't play it safe. We went in
there and did what we had to do by attracting our viewers. We're going to be
doing the same thing with XPW as we point out the flaws in WWE and point out
our show's strengths. To put some real numbers to it to answer your question
we plan on taking XPW from being in 2 cities (Los Angeles and Philadelphia),
currently seen in 3 cities (L.A., Philly, and New Orleans) we are very close
to securing deals in both New York City and Pittsburgh very close as well in
Cleveland that alone would double the size of the company, which has tripled
in size in 6 months, so it's a very ambitious plan, but it's also very
expensive, so we have to be very careful in the way we execute it. People
say, you outa bring this guy in or this guy, and ideally if we had a big pot
of money we could do that, but the fact of the matter is we have a limited
amount of assets, a limited amount of capital and we will to continue to
improve our product as best we can financially. We have a lot of new talent
coming in for the next show, we've been talking to some talent who has been
released from WWE, we thought it was a big mistake by them, but we'll
certainly utilize that talent and better our product, so it's a work in
progress.

JM: What is the story with the NWA Championship, from your point of view,
when you threw it down and proclaimed yourself the new Extreme Championship
Wrestling Champion?

SD: Well, at that time it was the growing point for ECW, it was an
opportunity for us to decide whether or not to play a wheel or be the wheel
ourself. ECW chose to be the wheel and I think in the longrun it proved to
be a good decision for us for the marketing. We had decided that instead of
going in there and being a part of the NWA or NWA East or whatever they were
calling us at that point, we felt that the NWA was a dead organization that
had used up whatever life it had left up in it and whatever was left out
there being called NWA certainly didn't warrant any kind of big accolade. So
we decided whether or not it would be a positive thing to stay with them or
break from them and if we were to break from them, what would it bring to
us. We came up with the idea (Paul and I) and the idea floated very well. I
think what it did, was it identified to the fans the type of intentions we
had for ECW at that time, to have an in your face type attitude, which set
the road map for ECW was by throwing that belt down and let the fans know
what would be in the years to come.

JM: Right, because up to that point you were Eastern Championship Wrestling,
and then you threw the belt down and you proclaimed yourself the Extreme
World Champion, so...

SD: It not only put a name to the name, but it gave a meaning to the name.
It was an extreme act we did at the time so by all points it was really
successful idea that we came up with. I think it really spelled the future
out. One of the things ECW lost in the end was, if you look back at the
storylines that were being played out on TNN well after I left, Tazz left
and the Dudley Boyz left, there was no attitude to it. It was a cheap
"rasslin" show that didn't live up to the name extreme.

MN: When you worked in WCW what was the atmosphere like?

SD: The atmosphere is WCW was very positive whenever Vince Russo came on
board we really believed we had a chance at turning a corner and doing some
big things there. The problem was that Vince Russo wasn't allowed to manage
the way he wanted to, write the way he wanted to. They continued to demand
because the ratings didn't jump up immediately. They kept insisting on using
people that would put them in trouble with the ratings anyway. The Lex
Lugers, The Hulk Hogans and The Ric Flairs. At that time, the fans were
screaming to see something new. Let's face it, they had a locker room full
of talent, people like Lance Storm, Hugh Morrus, that the fans were really
clamoring to see. The Billy Kidmans, Torrie Wilsons and so forth. They would
start to use them and then the ratings would start to slide upward and then
because the rating didn't jump 5 points overnight, Brad Segal and the powers
that were at that time would come back and say that must not have worked,
but we're paying Lex this much and we want him back on the TV or Hulk Hogan
or whoever, fill in the name. At that point, what had been blind optimism
turned to blind pessimism because we realized that even with the talent that
we had and all the money that they had, ratings were staying stagnant and
not going upward then the final point being the rumors of being bought out.
I was quite frankly dumbfounded by it, for a company like AOL Time Warner,
the biggest conglomerate on the planet, for them to just walk away I felt
very embarrassed for them. I think it's why AOL Time Warner is seen as one
of the biggest corporate merger disasters in corporate history and why it is
where it is, they had the talent to turn the corner with the ratings and we
proved it, just go back and look at the quarter hours that the young talent
was involved, I know personally, the quarter hours I was involved with were
always one of the top 3 quarter hours of the show. It was clear that the
young talent wasn't the problem. It was the other way around, so it ended up
in the graveyard being sold for pennies on the dollar. The lack of
competition, however, has done more harm than good for WWE.

MN: When you were in WCW, did you get to work on your angles there as well,
like in ECW?

SD: They would give you the opportunity to contribute, but it got to the
point where I would get to TV and just be dumbfounded by what I was seeing.
I have made my name in the business the last 10 years prior to that on my
mic. skills. WWE relied heavily on their mic. skills along with in ring
work, while WCW was really lacking in mic. skills. WCW was hoping to compete
with them by sending out people like Mike Sanders, this is no slight on Mike
Sanders, but when you have a seasoned veteran on the sidelines that is
proven in the area you are trying to prove yourself, it didn't make sense to
me that The Franchise Shane Douglas character wasn't getting time on the
mic., but instead put in little preliminary matches that didn't mean a whole
lot and when they did finally put the U.S. title on me they sent Torrie
Wilson home, so even though we had been together for the past 6 months part
of my gimmick was now gone, I was not given mic time once I won the title to
establish the character the way the Franchise character needed to. Those
were all things missing from the character so to answer your question in the
longhaul no. They didn't give me the input or the opportunity to give input
and had I been given the opportunity to have mic. time and you asked the
fans if they were entertained, it would have been a resounding yes. People
love to hate the Franchise character. It really was a shame that they didn't
capitalize on their investment, considering how much they were paying me.

MN: You worked in WWE as Dean Douglas, and it is no secret that you have a
degree and are certified to teach. Who was most responsible for coming up
with the gimmick?

SD: Basically the creative department interviews you and asks you about your
education, your past, your favorite color, your favorite music, and so
forth. They literally ask you personally what you like and dislike and
create your character based on those characteristics. I was a certified
teacher and I had Master's degree in Biological science, as well as a
Bachelor's degree in history and political science. Vince had a teacher who
became a model for the Dean character, he hated teachers and Vince wanted a
character like that in the WWF at the time. It's one thing when your held
captive in a classroom, it's another when your finger is on a remote control
button and it's boring, you end up changing the channel. I tried to explain
this to Vince, but he wouldn't listen to anybody's input. Vince is very
successful business man, but always follows his own instinct, and believes
that he always has the proper instinct. I would disagree with that. Nobody
has 100% proper instinct. Vince has himself surrounded by a bunch yes-men,
which I think has led to the disaster which is the WWE right now. They are
at a 3.1 and 3.2 rating now, while they were getting a 7.0 just a year and a
half or two years ago.

MN: What do you think of Chris Nowinski using the Dean Douglas gimmick?

SD: (laughs) I don't know the kid, but I hope he has better luck with the
gimmick than I did. It's a very difficult gimmick to get over, especially
from a heel's standpoint. To play the kind of character that they have it
portrayed, I really don't think Chris has much of a chance of really getting
true heat, to draw real money for them. Heels draw heat, babyfaces draw
pops. If it's not done the right way, where the babyface just gets sort of
over and only gets small pops, they won't make any money. They let guys like
The Rock get over, and that's when he was able to draw the big bucks. They
got to do the same thing with the heels. They got to let their heels prosper
and draw heat. Vince doesn't believe in that, he likes the idea of the crowd
leaving happy all the time. Sometimes I firmly believe that the crowd should
walk out of that building pissed off, and that way they will buy a ticket
next time to come back and see their hero win.

JM: Exactly, like when HHH was always winning in 2000. The crowd was always
pissed off when he walked out as champion.

SD: Exactly right.

MN: I was watching some old ECW tapes. When you were World Champion, you had
a lot of great matches. Who would you say was your best opponent in ECW when
you were World Champion?

SD: I was fortunate enough to have a great crowd there to work with. I loved
working with Sabu, Terry Funk, and Tazz. There was a secret plan to bring
Ric Flair in when he was having troubles with Bischoff in 1998. Ric had
called very quietly and talked about the possibility of coming in. That
would have really surprised the people in ECW if that happened. But I was
very fortunate to have some strong people to work with. There was such a
good crowd of guys and all of them worked hard. It was fun working for
pretty much everyone there.

MN: Speaking of Ric Flair, you had a feud with him going on towards the end,
and what did you think of your match with him on PPV (Slamboree 2000)?

SD: I thought Ric Flair and I were capable of swinging the ratings around if
the whole angle was done the right way. The way the angle was played out,
Ric Flair was given all the mic time, and none was given to me. What Ric
Flair did with all that mic time was basically repeat things he had said
over and over prior to that: I'm a kiss-stealing, limo riding, son of a gun
and so forth. The fans that were going to buy a ticket didn't know what my
character was about and when they didn't hear that, it made for poor
television. The Nature Boy was already established, and the fans didn't get
a chance to learn about The Franchise. They weren't told the true story
about things I said about Flair, and then things he said about me in return.
Basically WCW said: Here's Ric Flair, a classic great champion. And here's
Shane Douglas, you should dislike him, so buy a ticket. That really didn't
do any justice, and that's why the angle didn't do very well. I think we had
good chemistry in our match, and it was our first time working together in
fifteen years. I think if we had worked an angle where we had several
matches around the loop together, we could have had some incredible matches.

MN: I agree. Shifting gears here a bit, I want to talk about The Radicals.
What was that whole situation about where they went to WWE and you were left
behind?

SD: We had agreed to share all of our information and work together, and
they chose at the last minute to go off on their own. They did what they
did, and they have to live that. It's interesting to know that Perry Saturn
is now looking for a job. But you know, we look at all great talent. I think
Perry Saturn is a great in-ring talent, and personal differences aside, I
certainly wouldn't allow that to persuade me from using him down the road.

MN: I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sticking around for a word
association game?

SD: OK.

MN: Let's start with Vince McMahon.

SD: Washed up.

MN: Eric Bischoff.

SD: Washed up.

MN: Paul Heyman.

SD: Washed up.

MN: (laughs)

SD: Well, all three of them are. The reason I say that is because their
better days are behind them, they are all struggling to hang on to some kind
of future there based on what they did on the past, and none of them are
coming up with anything creative. I hate to sound like I am shooting on
somebody, but honestly I believe that they are failing to live up to
anything they did in the past.

MN: Well yeah, the ratings show that to.

SD: Exactly.

MN: Tazz.

SD: Underutilized. Here's a guy, my wife said it best the other day: Here's
a guy who's there doing commentary and he's good at it, but meanwhile you
got guys like Chris Nowinski in the ring and the ratings are in the floor.
You have a guy who was being built as a giant killer at one point, and now
you got him doing commentary.

MN: Chris Jericho.

SD: Great worker. Entertaining to the fans. Really gets into his character
which makes it work.

MN: Steve Austin.

SD: Phoneme, he was the last big Hulkamania type gimmick. Somebody who made
wrestling bigger than it was before he walked in.

MN: Ric Flair.

SD: Clearly, the greatest wrestler that probably ever walked in the ring.
But someone who well over-stayed his welcome in the business. From what I
hear, he has tried to walk away from the business, but they keep pulling him
back in. If that is true, and Ric really wants to wrap it up and they won't
allow him, kudos to Ric because it's well past his time and he should be out
of the business.

JM: Francine.

SD: Way overvalued. Someone who was very fortunate to be put with the World
Champion at the time. Someone who was a nobody in the business basically,
didn't realize how fortunate she was to be put in that spot. For her to not
realize that is really unfortunate. She is out of the business now, and
really I don't see any future for her now in the business.

MN: Shawn Michaels.

SD: Great in-ring ability, terrible out-of-the-ring personality and
qualities. Somebody who uses Jesus Christ as a ploy to sell tickets, to me
that's sickening.

MN: Speaking of Shawn Michaels, what did you think of them giving him the
World Title now.

SD: Well, he's a great in-ring performer so why not? The only question I
have is that, if I'm Vince McMahon, and I've been paying him 15,000 a week
for the last two years because he might cripple himself if he wrestled, it
just seems very fishy to me that during that time guys like Austin and
Hunter were hot, and his back was so bad that he couldn't wrestle and still
got 15,000 a week. All of the sudden when things cool off, and suddenly
those back problems heal up really quickly and he's doing his thing. I'm
grateful for him that his back is fine. I don't wish bad about anybody, but
if I was Vince I would wonder why I paid him for a long time and suddenly
his back is fine. Was it hurt that badly, or was he using it as a ploy not
to earn his money?

MN: Scott Hall.

SD. Unfortunate. Differences aside, there's a guy who had a lot of
opportunity and he let his personal demons just eat him up. It's really sad.

MN: We'll finish up with Rob Black.

SD: There are things I like and dislike about Rob Black. I dislike where he
took XPW in the past, but then by the same token, I see him doing things
right. He is working so hard to bring in people like myself in to run the
company for him, which shows that he understands that he has to change his
business in order to make it work. I love him and I hate him!

MN: Would you like to plug your websites before you go?

SD: Oh sure. http://www.shanedouglas.com and "The Franchise" Shane Douglas
fan site. Both sites are places for fans to go. For anybody that went to my
website and tried to post questions, please understand that we had some
problems with the login. Please bear with me, keep the questions coming, and
I will answer them. Also, XPWrestling.com!

MN: We'd like to thank our guest Shane Douglas for joining us! For Jeff
Meacham, this is Mike Nagel and stay tuned to Xtreme Mayhem, which will
feature Bobby Hennan on our next show!

Listen at: http://xtreme.themayhem.com



---



Jason Barrett sent this in

The Blue Meanie did an online chat at the official
website of the No Holds Barred Wrestling radio show
( http://www.noholdsbarredwrestling.com ) last night. Below are
the chat's highlights. Recap provided by Devin Cutting.

Meanie revealed that 3PW's current main focus is
trying to build a fan base in Philadelphia. He then
said that he'd like to hold 3PW events in New York
someday.

Meanie plugged www.3PWrestling.com & the 3PW show at
ECW Arena on December 28th.

When asked if he plans to work for NWA-TNA in the
future, Meanie said that he wants to, but NWA-TNA
doesn't fly wrestlers to it's events because of it's
financial problems.

Meanie stated that Syxx-Pac surprised him by wrestling
at the most recent 3PW show despite being injured &
announced that Syxx-Pac will face 2 Cold Scorpio at
the 3PW show on December 28th if his injury allows him
to.

When asked for his thoughts about XPW moving it's
operations to the Philadelphia area, Meanie said "XPW
have a bad way of making friends in a new market".

Meanie said that last spring, 3PW helped Ring Of Honor
& did what was best for the fans. He then stated that
it's time for ROH to return the favor.

Meanie announced that Missy Hyatt will be back in 3PW
next month. He also said that he might bring Jerry
Lawler back to 3PW.

Meanie talked briefly about WWE, saying that WWE is in
the slump & that things should improve as the fans get
use to the new talent. He also said that SmackDown! is
mostly about wrestling & that Raw is starting to get
better. As for WWE's future, Meanie stated that he
wants WWE to improve for the fans' sake.

Meanie mentioned that he follows a few indy promotions
& that he watches several wrestling programs on
channel 48 in Philadelphia.

When asked if 3PW plans to get a TV deal, Meanie said
that 3PW will only sign a TV deal if "it's something
that feels good" & that 3PW doesn't want a TV show
just for the sake of having one.

Meanie said that Gangrel is the stiffest wrestler that
he's ever competed against.

Meanie put over Goldust, saying that he was fun to
work with & that their characters went well together.

Meanie put over Owen Hart & referred to him as the
best prankster.

When asked for his thoughts about Stephanie McMahon
being WWE's head writer, Meanie said that his stint in
WWE was prior to Stephanie joining the writing team.
He then put over SmackDown!, saying that it's the
better of WWE's two brands.

Meanie stated that he is happy with 3PW's progress.

When asked why WWE doesn't push characters that
weren't created by the WWE writers, Meanie said that
he doesn't know if WWE holds the characters back or if
WWE just doesn't understand how to use the characters.


Meanie put over ECW Arena fan "Hat Guy".

Meanie hinted that someone from the movie "Jackass"
might appear at the next 3PW event.

Meanie revealed that he wanted Joanie Laurer to work
for 3PW, but her price is too high.

Meanie joked about selling programs, doing ECW fan
cams & screwing up ECW ticket orders as ways of
getting into the wrestling business.

Meanie talked about a couple of bad business
situations that ECW encountered.

Meanie referred to The Big Show's ring attire as
"unflattering".

When asked who was the biggest jerk that he ever had
to deal with in the wrestling business, Meanie said
Bradshaw.

Meanie put over Vince McMahon & Paul Heyman.

Meanie said that WWE's schedule is hectic for the
wrestlers.

Meanie stated that he liked working for Paul Heyman
because Heyman gave him the freedom to develop his
character.

Meanie put over Chris Jericho, saying that Y2J is good
in the ring & on the microphone. He then said that Y2J
& Booker T are the most underrated workers in the
wrestling business.

Meanie said that there are a few overrated wrestlers
on the indy circuit, but he wouldn't say who.

Meanie stated that if 3PW doesn't go national, the
company will die trying.

Meanie mentioned that he hasn't spoken with Shawn
Stasiak in awhile & said that he doesn't know if 3PW
will hire Stasiak.

Meanie said that Tough Enough is a joke in some ways &
pointed out that he didn't receive a free trip to
Africa when he was learning how to wrestle.

Meanie stated that Eric Bischoff is good "if he has
someone to put his ideas in a wrestling perspective".

Meanie put over the band Familiar 48, mentioning that
his name is on the band's album cover & that one of
the band members attended a 3PW show.

Meanie revealed that he has talked to Kid Kash about
working for 3PW in the future. He also said that Balls
Mahoney is not scheduled to compete at any of 3PW's
upcoming events.

Meanie put over Christopher Daniels & mentioned that
he has known Daniels since the beginning of their
wrestling careers.

Meanie said that WWE doesn't use Raven properly & that
he'd like to see Raven working for 3PW someday.

Meanie mentioned that he was suppose to compete in St.
Louis last year, but the promoter didn't call him
back.

Meanie briefly talked about an indy wrestler that
suffered a career ending injury.

Meanie put over Saliva's new album & said that
Saliva's drummer wore a 3PW shirt during the band's
performance at Survivor Series 2002.

The chat ended with Meanie plugging
http://www.3PWrestling.com








*NEW GALLERY* The Hardy Boys X-Mas PARTY with TNA/WWE Stars! Must See!!

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