SHANE DOUGLAS MEANS MORE TO WRESTLING THAN THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR!
I suppose I should be thankful for the downtime of a Monday (and
strangely a Friday). With a youth soccer tourney coming in next weekend,
it is best to make use of my moments of sanity (especially after the
kids from the Bar Mitzvah were discouraging my limited Yidish go to
expletive phrases). Writing a new blog with this time is better than
reloading the stats page to see if I got any views for the previous
volume.
Tomorrow maybe a good time to watch the AAW matches to construct the
opening scene to the pilot I am trying to write. Then again, its my one
day off from making somebody else serious cash. Considering my stance
that I am pro-wrestling’s premier Cubs fan, it may be best that I head
up to Wrigley. Of course, as long a CM Punk is holding out on Colt
Cabana, I doubt anyone would allow him to take that claim from me.
A writer has got to write, and piss people off in the Internet age, so
again, do it when you get the chance and imagine the wage is going
towards that.
This “Real World Champ” series may not be worth much if I do not get any
discussion about it. Thankfully, I got a few likes on Twitter and
amused the newest mark at my retail job. Otherwise, the lack of
discussion is not getting to me. Until I hear people tell me that Shane
Douglas was not more important than the Ultimate Warrior, I will let my
fingers march on about this topic with the knowledge that I am right.
When I left off the last blog, I stated that Shane Douglas had elevated
the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to the most important belt of
gold in professional wrestling. Some of you may agree with the
circumstances for the claim to the title, but not for the length of his
reign. I believe he did not have a title defense between May 3, 1998 and
his loss of the title to Taz on January 10, 1999. I believe the
self-professed critic KB from KB’s Wrestling Reviews would agree with this (but his review of ECW Wrestlepalooza ‘98 shows he may not have an understanding of context).
If we cut the reign off on May 3, your championship options would be
Steve Austin (whose reign would end in a swap with Kane, to be followed
up with a vacating of the WWF Championship), Hollywood Hogan (who would
lose WCW’s Big Gold Belt to Goldberg, whom most marks would disqualify
because of his limitations) and the NWA’s Dan Severn (if it is not being
seen, is it happening?). I do not see any of these reigns as qualifying
for the Real World Championship.
A way to recognize the importance of the so called Attitude Era would be
to give the REAL title to Austin, who will lose it to Hogan. The hiccup
in Austin’s reign makes it so you cannot put the belt back on him, so
you give it to Goldberg, but he would lose it to Kevin Nash who would
lose it back to Hogan via the finger poke of doom. The Rock could not
take the title from Goldberg since his WWF title win was a sham, so
Mankind could not win the REAL title from Nash.
Five hall of famers, but no great reigns. But through all this talk, the
importance of Austin’s game-changing title win can be recognized if we
include the most extreme American version of the World Heavyweight
Championship.
1st Debatable Real World Heavyweight Champion - WWF’s Steve Austin (1)- 5/3/1998 - 6/28/98
2nd World Champion - FTW’s Taz (1) - 6/28/98 - 12/19/98
This was Paul Heyman’s best way to keep your interest in the ECW
Championship, by knowing that the baddest man would be his next
contender, and have him not be afraid to prove it by claiming he was the
champion. If your interim champ is not the top, but he is excelling,
imagine what your real champ should be capable of.
The only problem with this debate is that Taz laid down for Sabu to
assure he could challenge Douglas for the heavyweight championship. When
will pro-wrestling adopt the Interim Championship concept?
Actually, that was 2003 when the NGW Light Heavyweight Championship was
vacated. I felt justified in calling myself the NGW’s Interim Light
Heavyweight Champion (complete with Jakks Pacific toy replica of the
WWF’s Light Heavyweight Championship) since I was the ruler of Peoria’s
division at the time of “Wrestle America’s” 2004 deadline for
promotional submissions. Sadly, practicing a spot for the unification
match that afternoon with the man who won the eight-man tourney for the
belt, IWA-Midsouth’s Ryan Phoenix, broke my wrist. So the angle did not
work, but I tried.
If only WWE would have gone that route with Wrestlemania 31. Bryan v. Lesnar would not have delayed the never-to-be empire.
Until Vince McMahon watches a UFC event, we better stick to the path I have laid out thus far.
Philadelphia: The Center of the World.
25th Real World Heavyweight Champion - ECW’s Taz - 1/10/1999 - 9/19/99
More
reason to dislike the WWE, the Network has made it difficult to find
his “Living Dangerously '99” promo where he called out the WWF (Austin)
and WCW (Flair) champions. This promo made me believe he was the real
thing, and since ECW was not a land of giants, it was not until February
2000 that I realized he may suffer from leverage issues.
26th World Heavyweight Champion - ECW’s Mike Awesome - 9/19/99 - 12/17/99
He was the height and mass ECW needed.
27th World Heavyweight Champion - ECW’s Masato Tanaka - 12/17/99 - 12/23/99
No
shame in swapping the titles overseas to the home countryman. Big
Show’s title reign was a bit weird and the WCW title was either
vacant/or being vacated twice during the reign.
28th World Heavyweight Champion - ECW’s Mike Awesome (2) - 12/23/00 - 4/13/2000
The Only Game in Town
