SG> I assume you are no longer under contract to AOL Time Warner?
SD> (laugh) I think today is the final day. I get to talk to Vince McMahon finally!
SG> In the final days of WCW, were you kept abreast of the pending sale?
SD> The dressing room report we got is that it was basically a done deal (the failed attempt by Fusient Media Ventures to acquire WCW), and that it basically was a question of getting everything signed. It was rumored that Vince (McMahon) was buying it, but I just figured it was just another rumor.
SG> You have been away from the wrestling scene for the last fourteen months. Have you been following the WWF closely?
SD> No, I won’t say closely. To be quiet honest with you, I bet in the last year I have probably watched maybe five episodes from start to finish. I have seen segments here and there. I have been following along on the internet.
SG> Have you had any conversations with the WWF or any other wrestling promotion?
SD> Just through various channels because of my contract, I couldn’t negotiate with XWF, XPW, WWA, Jarrett’s promotion. I wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize my contract. I have gotten phone calls today, and I will be negotiating over the next couple of days. It’s an exciting time for me.
SG> What are your immediate plans?
SD> I have excepted a few independent bookings. My first is a match in Canada against Sabu and Jerry Lynn, and I’m looking forward to it. I don’t want to except too many dates because of ring rust.
SG> I have heard a variety of rumors about you. One indicated that you would become a booker for Rob Black’s XPW?
SD> I heard that one too, but I can tell you nothing is official, although I have talked with them. I have had a chance to see their product, and they have some promising talent. I think they want to take some steps in the right direction. I have heard rumors myself, in fact, one had me teaching kindergarten and I’m certified to teach high school.
SG> How did you get started in professional wrestling?
SD> Oddly enough it started with a wrestling ring I had in eighth grade, which was a pretty good ring. It was through that ring that I met Dominic DeNucci, who was a WWWF tag team champion. I maintained a friendship with him over the next couple of years, and in my freshmen year of college, fall of 1982, he trained me under the condition that I continued working towards my college degree.
SG> Did you debut as Troy Orndorff?
SD> No, I debuted as Troy Martin. My first professional wrestling match was on Thansksgiving Day 1982, teaming with Dominic. I made $14.50.
SG> How did you get the ring name Troy Orndoff?
SD> A wrestling promoter thought I looked like Paul Orndoff and gave me that name and it stuck over the years. People started calling and asking me how my uncle was doing. Its ranged from he’s my uncle, brother, or dad.
SG> Where did the name Shane Douglas come from?
SD> Eddie Gilbert and Missy Gilbert (Hyatt) came up with that. I started working for the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1985. When I went down there, Eddie said I looked like either a Cody or a Shane. Missy suggested Douglas, and you could see the light bulb come on over Eddie’s head.
SG> In Continental wrestling, you teamed with Lord Humongous. Was that Sid?
SD> Yeah, that was Sid Eudy.
SG> How did you become associated with ECW?
SD> Eddie Gilbert called me, and I had always had a lot respect for him since he gave me by break in the business. He wanted me to work for a company called ECW. I told him no, and I think he thought I was trying to up my price. I just really had no desire to go back into professional wrestling. He kept calling and finally I said, the money is fine, I have no problem with that. The fifth or sixth phone call, he called up and said, how about you play our lead heel? And that’s what did it. After a month or two, Gilbert was replaced. He had a falling out with Tod Gordon. Paul Heyman was brought in and came up with the concept of the “The Franchise” character, and the rest is history.
SG> Did the Dean Douglas character ever really have a chance of succeeding?
SD> Dean Douglas was in concept, in looking back at the character, had no chance of succeeding in the way they presented it. I came from ECW, where I was treated like the character “The Franchise,” and put in this strange character act called Dean Douglas, and told what to say and how to say it. It became so confining and ultimately suffocating. I’m one of those guys that just needs the concept, and I’ll say it in my own words, and it will come out more naturally.
SG> You held the ECW title for more than year, and were a great champion.
SD> Thank you.
SG> In general though, do titles still have the same meaning they once had?
SD> No, not any more. The luster has been taken off the belts. Some would argue that changing the titles is better for ratings, but I would disagree. Maybe someone having a title for twelve years is too long, but someone having that title for twelve days, it just doesn’t matter. It takes the luster off your own belt. In the WWF, that sixteen pounds of gold should be the focus of every guy in the dressing room, from the first day they walk into the WWF. On television, every competitor should be scratching and clawing to get their hands on that world title.
SG> What is your assessment of the WWF product?
SD> I don't think their product is sh*t or un-fixable. They have an incredible roster of talent, absolutely incredible. One of the best rosters of talent ever put together. Its just a question when they decide to take wrestler A, B, C, D, E, F, and G as they did in 1995, and start the new generation of wrestling; when they started pushing Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Shawn Michaels. They have so many guys with so much talent.
SG> Its appears they are stuck on Triple H, Undertaker, Rock, and Austin. It’s hard to break into that top tier.
SD> Yeah, they need new and fresh matches ups. We have seen these guys wrestle each other. They need to evaluate a guy like Kurt Angle.
SG> Angle was in ECW briefly as a commentator or did some voice-overs?
SD> Yeah, he came in with the guarantee that he would be protected. His stock was very high after his Olympic success. He did a great job despite being inexperienced. The Sandman, who I understand is an atheist, and Raven, who is Jewish, had no clearance from Paul or production to do the crucifix angle. The Sandman and Raven thought nothing about it being controversial. I had my back turned to what they were doing and when I looked in the ring, my eyes about popped out of my head. I had given Kurt my word that we would be very protective of him. I hope in hindsight that he realizes that was out of my control.
SG> What were the circumstances of your departure from ECW in 1999 to WCW?
SD> I would have stayed in ECW until the last light was turned off, if I would have been treated with any ASSamblance of respect. I literally broke my body in that company. You do what you do to pay the bills, and we wrestle to pay the bills. The checks started bouncing, and the lies started coming. Paul and I had never been best of friends, we were business associates. We were good for each other in that sense. We were opposites on our political philosophies, on our personal philosophies, on everything. Paul swore on his father’s eyesight that everyone would be paid what they were owed, but the checks kept bouncing. It was a boldface lie. It just tells you what kind of human being that person is. I didn’t think any of us deserved to be lied to. If the company was going down hill, we had the right to know that so that we can make the best decisions for our own families’ welfare. I had always shown Paul the utmost respect. I never once pulled rank in ECW, I never refused to do a job in ECW, and never refused to do what they wanted me to do. My professionalism is not a question in ECW. At the time Paul called me up, even though he owed me $142,000, and he told me that I better have my ass in Poughkeepsie, New York even thought he had not bought me a plane ticket, wasn’t going to buy me a plane ticket. Hadn’t gotten me a hotel room, wasn’t going to buy me a hotel room. Hadn’t gotten me a rental car, and wasn’t going to buy me a rental car, even though those were all apart of my agreement. I know Paul Heyman better than he knows himself. He knew I would tell him to kiss my white ass. He made it appear that I somehow stiffed the ECW fans. I called Bob Ryder from the ECW Arena the night of the ‘Break the Barrier’ show and told him exactly what exactly had gone on. I told him I wasn’t going to be there. Meanwhile, Paul was still advertising that I was going to be there.
SG> In 2000, you were among a group of wrestlers unhappy with the direction of WCW, and requested your release, and if I’m not mistaken, received your request. Why ultimately did you not end up with the WWF as the Radicals did?
SD> Let me go back and clarify something. I never asked for my release, never sought my release. We had met with Bill Busch (then WCW Vice President), seven of us, Guerrero, Misterio, Juventund, Benoit, Malenko, myself, and Saturn. We talked about Kevin Sullivan’s eminent return, and told him how our feelings were. There was no way I was going to ask for my release and walk away from a $1.9 million contract without at least having some idea what the WWF might offer. Perry stated that Busch had said that if anyone was that unhappy in WCW, that he would grant them a release. Bill said no that’s not exactly what I said. Perry cut him off and said that’s exactly what he had said, and told him to be a man and not go back on his word. Bill said that he had said something like that, and that he was in agreement with that. The next words out of Perry’s mouth about dropped me over. He said he wanted his release. That took me totally off guard because that’s not the release I was in there for. Chris Benoit had repeated the sentiment right after that. I could see Bill’s face turning white, and I knew that this was totally beyond his realm of handling it. After the meeting ended, I went right back in that room and told Bill that I did not want out of my contract. I told him that if the company is paying me $1.9 million for my services, it’s my obligation to the company to protect that character and their investment in that character. He thanked me. He appreciated my candidence. He said we would meet again the following in Atlanta, and hopefully come up with some sort of resolution. My contract was a no release contract. Mine didn’t have the 90-day roll over clause. They sent me a release, but I never signed it. Bruce Pritchard (WWF agent) called, and wanted me to sign the release and said Vince can’t negotiate with you until I sign it. And I said, with all respect to Vince, I can’t sign the release unless I have some idea what kind of money I would be making. When he said Vince wouldn’t do that; that was the end of my discussions with the World Wrestling Federation.
SG> So they basically signed off on you? They sent you the release and even though you didn’t sign, in their eyes, you were done with them?
SD> Right, and they had not send paychecks and were in a world of a legal bind. They were way behind in the contract, and I could have won millions (in a lawsuit) I assume. I was in California backstage at a XPW show visiting Chris Candido when my cell phone rang. It was Vince Russo and asked if I was ready to come back. And I asked him if he was shooting, and he said absolutely. They wanted to negotiate, and as far as I was concerned there were no negotiating because my contract was still in effect. Diana Myers kept calling and saying this was their final offer, take it or leave it. Nine months into my three-year contract, they signed me to a new two-year contract, meaning I lost out on three months.
Name Association:
SG> Vince McMahon
SD> Genius. Leaning towards believing his way is the perfect way.
SG> “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert
SD> Incredibly motivated lover of the business. A great teacher. He gave me my break in the business and I will be eternally thankful and respectful of Eddie Gilbert.
SG> Eric Bischoff
SD> An enigma rapped or surrounded by a mystery. Here’s a guy that can claim he knocked Vince McMahon from the #1 spot, and yet given that opportunity to do it for a second time, made every mistake that he could have possibly made. It’s like the first time he batted a thousand, and the next time, he batted zero. Like Gilbert, I will always be thankful to Eric Bischoff having signed me to the contract that he did, when he did.
SG> Francine
SD> Most under appreciative person that I have ever met in the business.
SG> Tazz
SD> Incredible competitor in the ring. Never let his size be an impediment.
SG> Hulk Hogan
SD> The benchmark of charisma in the history of the wrestling business.
SG> Vince Russo
SD> Incredibly talented writer.
SG> Torrie Wilson
SD> The most beautiful girl in wrestling. Great attitude, great personality, great girl.
SG> Shane Douglas
SD> A person who loves the business deeply, loves entertaining. Looks forward to getting back in the ring for somebody somewhere.
