Shane Douglas has won championship in every major company. (Facebook/ CWE)

By Nigel Maxwell

Wrestling

‘The Franchise’ ready to get extreme in Saskatchewan

Feb 2, 2024 | 5:00 PM

A man whose professional wrestling career has spanned over four decades, has said the bigger companies need to do a better job looking after their performers.

Shane Douglas, who is part of Canadian Wrestling Elite’s (CWE) latest tour across Canada, was also a part of a lawsuit in 2016 involving the WWE. The plaintiffs claimed wrestlers had incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The lawsuit was dismissed but Douglas still believes more can be done beyond giving a wrestler a final paycheque and wishing them well.

“We see the NFL do that, we see all these other major sports leagues do that. I think it’s time for our industry to step up and come into the 21st century and at least match what those other sports leagues do,” he explained.

Noting the high number of days professional wrestlers spend on the road, and the stress on family relationships, Douglas would like to see the companies show more compassion. He noted one infamous story involving Steve Williams (Stone Cold Steve Austin) who was forced to miss his father’s funeral because he was defending the title that night.

“To me that’s barbaric,” Douglas said.

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Shane Douglas as ECW Champion with Francine. (Facebook)

“Dean Douglas” won the WWE’s Intercontinental Championship and had a memorable feud with Razor Ramon. (Wikipedia)

While Douglas has held numerous championships in the WWE, WCW and TNA, he is perhaps best known for his work in ECW where he played a big role in the birth of extreme wrestling and held the record for most combined days as champion (874).

Nicknamed “The Franchise”, Douglas’s foul mouthed character used whatever means necessary to gain the upper hand, and so understandably was despised by fans. Douglas said he takes great pride when approached by a fan who tell him he is one of their favourite wrestlers.

“And that doesn’t mean they’ve morphed into believing into that guy’s qualities, they understand what I was doing as a performer and that’s pretty rewarding,” he said.

In addition to his singles career, Douglas also held tag team gold and at one time partnered with one of hs own personal heroes, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.

“He’s just like the nicest guy in wrestling but he’s also just incredibly professional,” he commented, noting Steamboat knew how to get a reaction out of every corner of the audience.

Winning the NWA World Heavyweight championship in 1994. (Facebook)

Trained by Dominic Denucci (the same man who trained Mick Foley), Douglas explained some of the men he looked up to were Bruno Sammartino, Harley Race and Terry Funk, and credits them for his own ability to get to the main event.

“I was able to take what they taught me and create a career with that. I couldn’t be knocked down and I couldn’t be by today’s words, cancelled. There was always an audience willing to watch this big mouth.”

While acknowledging he’s never performed at a Wrestlemania, Douglas said he’s good with that and added he also has no interest in being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He explained it seems strange to this day that for a billion dollar company, there is no physical hall of fame where people can go and for example see Sammartino’s belt.

CWE’s tour through Saskatchewan will include stops later this month in Saskatoon, Regina, Yorkton, Estevan, Caryle, Weyburn, North Battleford and Prince Albert. Douglas said it doesn’t matter for him whether there are 100 people in the crowd or 10,000, he gives the same amount of energy.

“You know coming from a blue collar family, I understand what it takes an average family of four to go out, especially today,” he said. “And I was want to give the hardest performance I can to pay that back to them. It’s my way of saying thank-you.”

Tickets are available through the CWE Facebook page. Prince Albert fans can also get their tickets at Collette Portamedic Services, and in North Battleford, people can go to either Home Hardware or Lifetime Fitness.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @nigelmaxwell