Shane Douglas On Why He Turned Down On-Camera Interview With The NWA
On the latest episode of The Triple Threat Podcast featuring "The Franchise" Shane Douglas and The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling, Shane Douglas was asked about being featured in the latest NWA "Ten Pounds of Gold" YouTube episode after declining to speak on camera with their production team back in November at the ECW Arena. In the following excerpt, Shane details that his reason has more to do with the legacy of how his NWA title win marked the birth of ECW and that this revival of the NWA World Championship tried to capitalize on event that has nothing to do with their company. The full episode can be downloaded at this link.
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Declining to speak on camera with the NWA for their Ten Pounds of Gold YouTube series:
"To me the NWA is a thing of the past. I wish Billy Corgan and Tim Storm all the best in the future and I've always said that a rising tide rises all ships and clearly the wrestling industry right now needs as many ships rising as possible because "sports entertainment" doesn't seem to be getting the job done. So I wish them nothing but the best. But for me to comment on something from twenty-three years ago seems to be at the very least dated so that is why I declined the interview in the first place. You are talking about something that is archaic in wrestling terms for me. I don't wish them any ill will and I wish them all the best but to bring me into that fray I think is trying to capitalize on something that is part of ECW lure and that is something that I am very protective of."
"I've often said that Vince McMahon may own the name but we and the fans and "we" being the boys (and everyone knows when I say boys I mean the men and women) that made ECW wrestling and the fans own ECW. That is something that Vince can't buy and it drives him crazy. When you watch ECW on the (WWE) Network and you see Shane Douglas and you see Sandman coming out to some canned bullsh*t music and it just looks so cornball and so corporate and so cheap for a billion dollar industry to not want to spend the thirty or forty cents per airing of it. It is the same thing with Billy Corgan. To now step in and try to capitalize on what is ECW lure is something that I take um-bridge with."
Still being shown in the final frame of the video:
"It was nothing against Billy or Tim or the NWA title. But to me that is not something that I am just going to give away willy-nilly or just let somebody interview me for free and get my opinions on and that I know they are going to try and twist into their narrative. We would do the same thing and we did the same thing in ECW with the belt throw down. But why I would even take the chomp at that bit is beyond me. So for the ECW fans that remember it in almost religious overtones as to how we did it all and what we did to launch that whole extreme era because it wasn't just that night. That was just what started the whole ECW apex that came later and within a year and a half with the pay per view and changing the industry that the fans today still chant ECW in a large part because of what transpired that night. If somebody wants me to talk about that than I am going to damn well expect to have some creative control as to how it is used but not for me and not for my kids but for the ECW fans and to make damn sure that what is done pays respect and homage to what we did with ECW with all the best intentions and wishes and hopes for the NWA to do great things again in wrestling and help all the wrestlers coming up in the business today. But fome willy-nilly giving away that story to somebody that had nothing to do with it, I don't see the connection and so it is like we have two trains heading towards each other on the same track and I just don't see how it will get played out."
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