SHANE DOUGLAS: Record Gap Between WCW Tag Team Title Reigns

Published on 27 December 2024 at 15:09

Going back and researching the final days of World Championship Wrestling, I love to look up unique statistics that not many people could, or would bother to, want to verify. I, the basement wrestling version of Bill James, like to do this from time-to-time.

 

I decided to go through the history of the WCW World Tag Team Championships and review who held the belts. For the sake of this article, I will begin the list in January 1991, when WCW withdrew from the NWA and officially dubbed Doom - Ron Simmons and Butch Reed - as the WCW World Tag Team Champions (prior to this, WCW used the NWA as their sanctioned titleholders).

 

I came across men who had multiple title reigns, and I came across Shane Douglas. Doing the timeline, I added the amount of days between being a titleholder.

 

It was 2601 days. 7 years, 1 month, and 13 days. That’s a long time.

 

“The Franchise” was a part of WCW history.

 

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Shane Douglas’s first reign as WCW World Tag Team Champion began shortly after returning to the promotion on the September 19, 1992 edition of Saturday Night.

 

Initially, Shane was a part of the promotion from late 1988 to 1990, best known for being in the Dynamic Dudes tag team. He and his partner John “Johnny Ace” Laurinaitis were given the gimmick of being cool skateboarders that were meant to be loved by the fans.

 

They weren’t.

 

They were instead despised by fans (mainly because they did not know how to actually skateboard). When Jim Cornette, world-renowned manager of the Midnight Express, decided to link-up with them, the plan was for Cornette to turn on the Dudes and have the despicable Midnights destroy them. In turn, Douglas and Ace would finally gain sympathy from the WCW fans and want to see them get revenge.

 

At Clash of the Champions 9 on November 15, 1989, the complete opposite happened. Once Cornette displayed his diabolical side and sided with the Express, the fans erupted. The Dudes were hated and basically dead in the water.

 

After a year in the World Wrestling Federation, followed up by taking time off for family issues, Shane returned to WCW. Within a month, Douglas was put with Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat as a tag team. The objective was to have the veteran Steamboat mentor the young Douglas and make a run at the Tag Team Championships. 

 

Similarly, WCW did this the year earlier with “the Dragon” alongside “the Natural” Dustin Rhodes, also winning the World Tag Team Titles, defeating the Enforcers of Arn Anderson and Larry “the Cruncher” Zbyszko at Clash of the Champions 17 on November 19, 1991. This would actually play a major factor into a future match.

Days before the twenty-first Clash on November 18, 1992, Unified World Tag Team Champion Dustin offered a title opportunity to Steamboat and Douglas on WCW television. Rhodes and partner Barry Windham won the WCW and NWA belts in a classic on Saturday Night on the October 3 edition of Saturday Night against the unbeatable Miracle Violence Connection of “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy. 

 

Windham, who was having issues with Dustin previous to this, was none-too-happy about having to defend the gold against a newly formed tandem. Furthermore, in his mind, it was given, not earned, due to Dustin’s friendship with both Steamboat and Douglas.

 

In this writer’s opinion, the Unified Tag Team Title match at the Clash put the exclamation point on an excellent year of tag team matches in WCW. For sixteen minutes, all four men went full speed and pedal-to-the-metal in the spirit of competition. However, near the end of the match, controversy erupted.

 

After three straight dropdowns from Steamboat, dodging a running “Natural”, he went for a leapfrog. Not getting high enough on the jump, Rhodes accidentally headbutted “the Dragon” in the groin. Dustin, not wanting to take advantage of an errant low blow, waited for Steamboat to recover and get to his feet. Windham was incensed, demanding Rhodes continue the attack. When he was rejected, Windham tagged himself in and followed up with a reverse atomic drop to the lower extremities of Steamboat.

 

Rhodes and Windham had words, and subsequently began throwing strikes at one another. After Rhodes knocked Windham loopy with a right hand, Steamboat smartly tagged out to Douglas, who was primed and ready. Windham walked right into a Douglas belly-to-belly suplex.

 

Three slaps of the mat later, and we had NEW UNIFIED WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS in Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat and Shane Douglas!

 

Windham, incensed over all of it, wound up laying out Rhodes after the match with a superplex and taking out the new champions in the locker room area with a steel chair. He also wanted revenge. At Starrcade 1992 on December 28, 1992, Barry selected “Flyin’” Brian Pillman as his partner to take on Steamboat and Douglas for the gold.

 

In a match that was so good that almost two decades later WWE included it on the “Starrcade: The Essential Collection” DVD set, Steamboat and Shane successfully retained the Unified Tag Titles when Douglas pinned Pillman with a belly-to-belly while “the Dragon” brawled with Windham on the entrance ramp.

 

While Windham moved onto becoming the NWA World Heavyweight Champion at SuperBrawl III, Pillman continued on with the Tag Team Champions, this time recruiting his pal “Stunning” Steve Austin to try and wrest the belts away from Steamboat and Douglas.

 

Throughout the first two months of 1993, Steamboat & Douglas and Pillman & Austin were joined at the hip, having classic tag team matches across the live event loop, with the champions successfully retaining, including a great contest at Clash of the Champions 22 on January 13, 1993.

 

However, the momentum shifted on the March 3 Worldwide taping at the Macon Coliseum in Macon, GA, when the newly-rechristened Hollywood Blonds shocked the world and won the Unified Tag Team Titles for the first time!

A month later, due to contractual issues with WCW, Douglas left the promotion. The tandem of Steamboat & Douglas gets lost in the annals of WCW history, but they were immensely successful and put on classic encounters every chance out.

 

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Over the next six years, Shane Douglas made quite the career for himself.

 

His throwing down of the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship brokered in Eastern Championship Wrestling becoming EXTREME on August 27, 1994. After a long and successful ECW World Heavyweight Title reign, he would leave the promotion for the greener pastures of the WWF, where he would be rechristened Dean Douglas, an evil school teacher. 

 

Following a lackluster run, including an eleven minute reign as Intercontinental Champion, Shane would return to ECW in 1996. He won two ECW World Television Titles and regained the World Heavyweight Title twice, while feuding with men like Rick Rude, Taz, Al Snow, and the Pitbulls. In fact, “the Franchise” actually broke the neck of Gary Wolfe and then, to a white hot fever pitch, started messing with Wolfe’s neck while in a surgically placed halo. Douglas was one of the top bad guys in wrestling.

 

However, by the Spring of 1999, Douglas left ECW due to contractual issues with Paul Heyman. Following his “Break the Barrier” shoot promo on May 15, 1999 in the ECW Arena, “the Franchise” signed back once more with World Championship Wrestling and made his return on the July 19, 1999 edition of Monday Nitro, forming the Revolution alongside Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn.

 

The group wasn’t given a real opportunity upon its inception, feuding with Jimmy Hart’s First Family and the West Texas Rednecks. When The Powers That Be took over the creative portion of the company in October, Benoit separated himself from the faction, added Asya as their female bodyguard, and seceded from both WCW AND the United States of America. The faction became revolutionaries, complete with a Revolution flag.

 

By Souled Out 2000 on January 16, 2000, following a rivalry with the Filthy Animals, Malenko and Saturn, alongside Eddie Guerrero and World Heavyweight Champion Benoit, left WCW. Douglas tried to leave with the future “Radicalz”, but was blocked out of the deal with the WWF. Furthermore, with The Powers That Be gone from the company and the booking team of Kevin Sullivan and JJ Dillon subsequently having nothing to do for “the Franchise”, Douglas was on the outside looking in.

 

Thank goodness for the New Blood.

 

On April 10, 2000, on “The Night The World Changed”, Shane Douglas made his return, attacking “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, his long-time rival. By attacking Flair and coincidentally linking up with Vince Russo, “the Franchise” was a part of the young talents angry at being held down.

 

With the promotion reset and all the championships vacant, Mr. Russo and Eric Bischoff decided to put Buff Bagwell and “the Franchise” together as a tandem for Spring Stampede 2000 on April 16 in Chicago, IL.

 

YOU CAN WATCH SPRING STAMPEDE 2000 ON PEACOCK…FOR NOW

 

The New Blood really stacked the deck for Flair and his partner Lex Luger - Team Package. First, “the Nature Boy” and “the Total Package” had to overcome the Harris Brothers and the Mamalukes in their semi-final match to advance to the finals, while “the Franchise” and Buff defeated Harlem Heat 2000. Then, in the finals, thanks to assistance from Mr. Russo and Adams & Clark of KRONIK, Bagwell pinned Luger to win the tournament.

 

More importantly, Buff Bagwell and Shane Douglas were the NEW WCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!

 

It was a long journey back for “the Franchise”. More importantly, for the second time, he was a holder of the Tag Team Championships. Going from being a plucky fiery white-meat babyface alongside Ricky Steamboat to a brash, cocky, arrogant “Franchise” player within the New Blood was a total night-and-day scenario. A lot can change in seven years.

 

Sadly, the reign of Douglas and Bagwell didn’t truly amount to as much as it could have. In between feuding with Ric Flair, the duo made an enemy out of Kronik. Adams & Clark, who helped the champions win the belts due to a favor Mr. Russo made with them, wanted to cash in on their receipt and gain a shot at the Tag Team Titles. In their only successful defense, thanks to interference from Russo and a baseball bat shot to the back of Clark by Douglas, Bagwell and Shane successfully defended their belts on the April 24 edition of Nitro against Kronik.

 

Ten days later, on the May 3 Thunder, Russo instituted that the entire episode would be under NEW YORK RULES, which meant no referees, no count outs, and no disqualifications. Adams & Clark challenged Bagwell & Douglas to a fight.

Following a HIGH TIMES double chokeslam, Clark counted the pin for Adams on Douglas. With no rules, Kronik decided to take the World Tag Team Titles with them. Were they the champions?

 

According to Mr. Russo, they were not. Even though there were no rules, winning the match against the Tag Team Champions did not mean they were champions. New York Rules, ladies and gentlemen.

 

Coincidentally, that would be the last time Bagwell & Douglas would team together. The following week, Bagwell was suspended due to a backstage incident with a WCW crew member. With that happening, Douglas went out and found a replacement partner with the Wall. 

 

On the May 15 edition of Nitro, Douglas and the Wall teamed up to face Adams & Clark, this time for the belts. Scared to death of Kronik, Douglas skedaddled away from the ring midway through the match and left the monstrous Wall to be placed through multiple tables and pinned, signaling that we had NEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!

 

Kronik ended the tumultuous reign of Douglas and Bagwell within 29 days. Less than a month.

 

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This was extremely interesting to go through the diversity of the two different title reigns that Shane Douglas had as WCW World Tag Team Champion. Going from the work rate machine alongside Ricky Steamboat to the brooding arrogant member of the New Blood is wild to see. It really looks like two different individuals. Luckily, Mr. Douglas is a unique part of history, and we here on the site give him his props.

 

As a follow-up, who would have the second longest gap between Tag Team Title reigns in WCW? That answer would be Barry Windham at 2286 days. From losing the belts to Steamboat and Douglas on November 18, 1992 to winning them at SuperBrawl on February 21, 1999, it was six years, three months, and three days during that time.

 

Ironically, both Douglas and Windham ended their gaps by winning tournaments to crown new WCW World Tag Team Champions. Wild the way the world works.

 

Congrats to Shane Douglas. You are in the unique history books.

 

Bankie Bruce

BankieBruce@gmail.com 

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