Shane Douglas On Bam Bam Bigelow's Strength, November To Remember 97, Promoting ECW

Today The Triple Threat podcast featuring the Franchise Shane Douglas and the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling is back and back with a two hour plus retrospective of ECW November to Remember 1997. This podcast completely covers the entire build-up through the eyes of The Franchise to the third ever ECW pay per view and all the events leading to show that of course is main evented by Shane's emotional championship victory over Bam Bam Bigelow. We also find out what exactly was going on behind the scenes as The Franchise not only was the in the main event of the show but also the promoter that night of The Golden Dome venue and how ECW managed to break the attendance record for the building that night. Frankly, if you miss today's episode "it is a regret you will never forget." The full episode is available for download at this link.

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Being the promoter of November to Remember 97 and the stress of performing that night in the main event:

"About halfway through the day it was getting so hectic for me because Scott (Bam Bam) and I were trying to talk about the match and my concession manager would come over and say they are running low on ice and twenty minutes later say we are low on hot dogs, we need more nacho chips and we need more this and we need more that and I also had security saying we don't have room for more people. So there were all of these things coming to me (as the promoter) and my co-promoter Cody Michaels said that me and Bammer should go out to Sabu's Winnebago trailer and he'll take care of everything inside. He took care of everything in the building as far as the running of the physical show. Scott and I went out to Sabu's Winnebago and closed the curtains and the odd thing was (and I was just telling Francine about this) we didn't talk about the match. We just sat around and bull sh*tted and I think that calmed the both of us down and helped us get our heads right.

Creating the perfect story for the Franchise / Bam Bam Bigelow title match:

"I knew Scott was going to be able to deliver. He had been in that position before having been on WrestleMania and several other high profile pay per views and I had been on many pay per views too so it wasn't as if it was anything nerve wracking to either one of us. We were able to just sit around as we were and that is just two best friends bull sh*tting and we did prior to that day talk about what we wanted to use as a road map for the match and the template for our match was Vader versus Flair 1993 Starrcade match in Charlotte. I was there that night and watched and I remember the hairs on my arms standing up while watching it because it is just a really incredible match and the two of us lined up pretty closely with Flair and Vader having the big monster and the wrestling technician / big mouth. The only real direction we said going into the match was no matter what I come firing with just keep cutting me off. I knew Scott was professional enough and damn good enough to know how much to give me and to let the crowd get excited before he would cut me off."

The excitement of the crowd leading up to the opening bell:

"Paul took me upstairs to an area we had curtained off for the boys to watch the matches and he gave me a big kiss on my cheek and asked if I had seen it out there yet. He led me to the curtain and I remember it looking like a bowl filled with ants. You didn't see any of the building it was just heads and bodies. They were throwing beach balls around and it looked like a rock concert. The people that were there were excited and were dying for the show to start. When you have that kind of chemistry in the building you can see that as long as you deliver the goods you are going to succeed. At that point I got excited and couldn't wait to get out there because I knew being the home town guy and that everyone in the building knew me either personally or indirectly. Several of my students that I had taught years earlier were there and I was excited to go out. I didn't feel pressure at that point. Up to the show I did but once we got into the building and once I saw that crowd as performers you want to get out in front of that crowd and apply your trade. One little side note that I am just remembering is when we went upstairs to look out of the curtain, Bam Bam went to sit down on a couch in a small workout area of the Golden Dome where the students that go to the college could hang out and Bam Bam sat on the couch and the couch broke in half. He sat down and it just snapped right in half and he had sort of a red faced embarrassed look as to say God damnit I broke another couch (laughing) but overall it was an exciting and good night."

What sticks out to him about the match itself:

"There was one thing that once we got into the match that if you haven't noticed it pay attention when you watch the match. Keep in mind that in the building back then we didn't have high def cameras and red cameras and things like that. We had to light the place up like the sun just to be able to televise it. Plus the building had no air conditioning at that point, it does now but back then it didn't. Even being November 30th with 5,000 plus people in that building, plus all of the personal, plus all the doors were closed because college was in session and we didn't want people coming in the doors and getting a free show it was now extraordinarily hot in the Golden Dome that night."

"For about the first 15-20 minutes of the match he throws me around like a rag doll. At that point he presses me over his head and throws me out to security in the aisle way like ten or fifthteen feet out. He walks back to face the hard camera and puts his elbows on the top rope and looks dead set into the hard-cam. Watch it back the next time when does that and how he is barely breathing and barely even sweating and to me that just stuck out and always has every time I watch that match. It just grabs me that this big bastard was throwing me around in that thick and hot sweaty air and he's breathing like that? He looks like he got up from watching a TV show. Another testament to Scott's in ring ability and that he was able to keep himself at that size that well winded and keep himself under control."
For this and every other episode of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling and The Triple Threat Podcast featuring "The Franchise" Shane Douglas please subscribe to us on iTunes, Podomatic, Player FM, Tune In Radio and Podbean. Also follow us on Twitter @TwoManPowerTrip