Many people thought that former ECW World Champion Shane Douglas would be a part of the TNA "Hardcore Justice" pay-per-view this Sunday night. After all, he was a big part of the original ECW and it would seem natural for him to be on this reunion show.
That's not the case though as he turned down an offer to be there. The reason: he only wants to get in the ring against Ric Flair and that was not offered. Douglas and Flair have a long history of not liking one another for a variety of reasons going back to when Douglas started in WCW back in the late-1980s. Since then, there have been comments made from both men but things had simmered down over the past few years.
However, "The Franchise" has been revved up lately by several things he alleges that Flair has said about him. The first being that Flair insulted him on a WWE 24/7 roundtable discussion for working in retail while the "Nature Boy" was still in wrestling (Several years ago, Douglas left wrestling and was working at a Target store). Douglas also alleges that Flair told fans at a convention that Shane has a temper and is a wife-beater.
FanHouse recently spoke with the always-opinionated Douglas, who commented on the "Hardcore Justice" show and had some choice words for Flair, TNA and company president Dixie Carter. An attempt to get a response from TNA to Douglas' remarks was unsuccessful on Thursday.
So here's the big question: are you going to be at the TNA "Hardcore Justice" pay-per-view on Sunday and were you offered to be on that show?
I was offered to be on the show. I would love to be on the show. I put one stipulation forward -- that I get Ric Flair. It's come to my understanding that Ric, rather than talk about his illustrious career or the Four Horsemen or his infamous run-ins with Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan, he decided to talk about me and say some things that my lawyers consider to be bordering on slanderous and libelous. This is no work, this is no joke. I want to get this guy in the ring so I can knock him around a little bit for my own satisfaction and I'm sure the fans would like to see it as well.
Ric Flair is Ric Flair -- you can't take that away from him, except he's taken that away from him. He's made a caricature of his career on camera and I say that because behind the camera, the stories I could tell and will tell at some point about this jackass making a total mockery of our sport, of himself as a man which I say that with very small letters. You want to go out and talk about me, that's fine. Say what you want about me. Back them up. Otherwise, don't say them. I've been as gracious as I can be to him over the last five years since I left the ring. I've had differences with him but he's the icon of our sport and so forth. But if he wants to make statements about me, I would suggest you start backing them up or stop saying them, because I would say he has a better chance of fighting his wife or one of the prostitutes that rolled him for his Rolexes than he has of getting in the ring and making a statement with me.
That's my one and only demand of TNA: give me Ric Flair and I would think that Dixie Carter, after paying a 61-year-old piece of garbage a half-million dollars a year in the financial shape that they're in, that she would order this piece of garbage into the match but apparently not. Apparently she must be buddies with him. I haven't seen that Ric Flair has been anything positive for TNA that would warrant her taking any preferential treatment for Dic Flair, any more than anyone else. Ric has made these statements -- back them up. If not, shut up. It's one or the other. It's a very simple demand that I have of TNA. As much as I love and respect and value and cherish working with Raven and Al Snow and Taz and all of the rest of the classic talents from ECW that I have, I honestly, truthfully in my heart believe the fans of ECW that want to give a final sendoff to this company as Tommy Dreamer has said this show is supposed to be, that they would rather see me versus Ric Flair than me versus anybody fill-in-the-blank. I may be wrong on that but let's let the fans decide. Like I said in my statement on FranchiseFansite.com, what do the fans think? If the fans think they'd rather see me against Chris Chetti or some other ECW talent, I'll take that into consideration. But I think the true ECW fan would buy a TNA pay-per-view to see me versus Dic Flair more so than anything else that they could offer up. So, the ball's in their court. If they give a 61-year-old man a half-million dollars a year, 60-year-old man $750,000 a year or whatever the hell it was for (Hulk) Hogan, whatever it was for (Eric) Bischoff and (Vince) Russo and Sting and all the rest of them over the years.
The ratings have proven that this ECW angle means something to the fans. Apparently the Carters -- namely Dixie Carter -- is unable to identify what those numbers mean or would be willing to give the fans what the fans clearly want to see. As a promoter of a federation, whether it's TNA or WWE or some fill-in-the-blank name, you give the fans what they want and that's what equals success. TNA has never done that. That's the reason they're in the condition that they're in today, breathing on life support. I would suggest, as humbly as I could suggest from New Brighton, Pennsylvania, if Dixie Carter and TNA want to see some sort of a buyrate on Sunday, August 8th, put me and Dic Flair in the ring. If Dic Flair is man enough -- and we both know the answer to that -- if he's man enough to step into the ring. What a great opportunity to smack around a guy that works retail now, which hasn't been true for a couple of years. But those are Dic Flair's conversations and words, not mine. I'm more than willing to step into the ring with the, uh hum, man and beat the man and prove that he's a jackass that I've always said he is. The rest falls in Dixie Carter's lap. Dixie Carter can flip a middle finger to the fans of TNA and the ECW fans or she can order this 61-year-old piece of garbage into the ring on Sunday, August 8th and let the fans decide what happens.
So when you were contacted to do the show, you said I will do it under one stipulation: I want to work Ric Flair. What was the answer from TNA about that? Did they give any kind of reason on why that would not happen?
The first two people -- and I'll keep their names to myself because, hey, we love to keep secrets in this business -- the first two people I spoke to were marks for the idea, loved the idea, thought it would be great for the pay-per-view. Somebody since then -- and you can only guess who -- has pulled the strings and said it's not going to happen. It can't happen. Even after I suggested a storyline that would be incredibly entertaining for the fans, incredibly telegenic for the fans and incredibly positive, bottom line, for TNA. This to me is a no-brainer. I can't figure it out. If I say to you, you can sell your car for $1,000 right now or with a little bit of showmanship and a little bit of finagling we could sell it for $100,000, you would be a blithering idiot to sell it for $1,000 right now rather than take the $100,000 option. And I think with the scenario we are presenting here with the amount, I think it's $29.95 or $39.95 of whatever the number may be [Ed. Note: The list price is $34.95], this could equal out to many, many more thousands for TNA in their pocket.
We saw a pay-per-view four or five years ago from the WWF (sic) that in hindsight fell far short from being an ECW show. It was cool at the time. We're getting ECW for another night, whatever. But in hindsight, most of the conversation has been that "Hardcore Homecoming" (an ECW reunion show that Douglas ran in 2005) was the true ECW reunion and Vince's (McMahon) was pretty much what you'd expect it to be: a Vince McMahon promoted product that put over his guys. I think -- and I hope I'm dead wrong on this -- but I hope TNA gives ECW the right that Dixie Carter said in the promo she would do. And that would be downright give the proper sendoff. I've been around the business long enough to know better. I know what's going on and I have a pretty strong suspicion as to what's going on here. I would hope that ECW fans would see fit to tune out of this show as opposed to tune in whenever they consider that guys like Ric Flair are paid a half-million dollars a year, Sting's been paid God knows how many millions of dollars over the past five years, Hogan's been paid 750 this year. But then they'll throw Axl Rotten or Balls Mahoney or some of these other brothers of mine $500 a night or a $1,000 for the weekend. To me, that's repugnant.
Just because you're in a position to pay those guys ... And I'm not suggesting for a moment that TNA should offer these guys a half-million dollars or three-quarter million dollar contracts. But why not pay these guys something so they can go home and pay maybe an electric bill? Or whatever the case may be. I have no insight on any of these guys' personal lives, but to see the prices that TNA is throwing out to these guys is disgusting to me. When a company that is $120 million in debt or thereabouts -- well over $100 million at this point in the red -- and they offer up pennies to the ECW guys that have apparently, from what I understand and reading on the Internet, turned the ratings around for a small semblance of time. Then to see them offered these pennies, to me it's disgusting. That to me is what someone in the street does that sells drugs or somebody that takes advantage of other people does. I would hope that the Carters, mainly Dixie Carter as the head of TNA, would see fit to maybe have a little more charity in her heart and be a little more forthcoming than saying we can take advantage of this guy or that guy or this talent.
The whole idea to me seems to be repugnant. The person I spoke to, I asked him, if you can explain to me why TNA is holding an ECW pay-per-view, I'd love to hear it. And this person told me they would if they could but they can't so they won't. This is a person that works in the office for TNA explaining to me that they can't explain why TNA is having an (ECW) pay-per-view. They'd love to if they could but they can't so they don't even try. And I think that speaks volumes and way more than anything I can say here above and beyond what we already said.
It's pretty simple: I want Ric Flair one final time. This is a jackass that is still in the ring putting on fights, should be wearing a bra if anything else, and calling other people names and saying things, saying he's still Space Mountain or whatever else. What about the three prostitutes that rolled him for Rolexes? If they would like to spend the night with Space Mountain or whatever his wives or ex-wives -- his many ex-wives -- would like to talk about Space Mountain. These are things I'm talking about and have talked about for years. This guy's hollow as a human being. He's hollow as a man and I'm more than willing, retail and all, to step in the ring with the man of the business and prove to him, ECW fans, the TNA fans and anybody else that wants to spend their money that night, that he's far below being the man that Shane Douglas is. And I'm far from perfect. That's the statement I'll make on that.
One more thing when it comes to this show -- was there any scenario outside of working Ric Flair where you would have agreed to be a part of the show? It's an ECW reunion show, they're trying to do it the right way, they want this to be closure and you were a huge part of the original ECW.
I would love for it to be the final epitaph for ECW. If I felt for one second that TNA was going to do it right then a) the pay they're offering out to the guys is telling me they're far from doing it right, and b) the storylines and lack of promotion, true promotion -- true, real push for the show ... I've been around the business for almost three decades now. I know (the difference between) a show being pushed and not being pushed. This show is far from being pushed. I haven't seen an ad any place outside of TNA's website. So, I don't know if Dixie is trying to get Spike (TV) over her back for Paul Heyman or if she's trying to pull a smoke-and-mirrors with ECW fans.
My understanding of ECW fans is they were a very intelligent group of fans that understood great wrestling when they saw it, great storylines when they got it, and fell in line lock-and-step behind that in supporting the company. I don't believe ECW fans are going to fall in line lock-and-step behind this, because it's not a true ... I mean, what connection does TNA, do the Carters, do any of the talent in TNA -- no disrespect to any of them, they're all great talent -- but what do any of them have to do with ECW? The answer is nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Zippo. There's no connection whatsoever, so this is either a grab -- a desperate grab -- for a rating on a pay-per-view buyrate for a company that does traditional six-to-eight thousand buys, paltry by any measurement, even by the old ECW measurement. And the person who heads TNA told me one time, 'Well, we don't want to copy ECW, after all, they failed.' And now, here we are five years later and that person is now trying to conduct a pay-per-view to get some kind of ratings, some kind of cash flow into their company's pockets. I find that just disgusting at every level.
They can hand me Flair, fantastic. I'll be there with bells on and prove to Dic Flair who the real man is. Otherwise, I'd rather not take part in it because I know their intention has nothing to do with the ECW legacy that we all bled for, broke bones for, ripped tendons for, and had surgeries and now bear the scars today for them to profit from. I have no desire to put money in a billionaire's pocket or someone who sucked on a silver spoon in their mouth their entire life so they can have some kind of a reliving of their greatness in wrestling from the ECW legacy. For me, the ECW legacy is far too sacred and far too precious to the fans, to the guys who have lived it, to those brothers of ours who are now in graves for us to just say, 'OK, we'll come down for $500 to see what you guys can get off of it.' To me, it's repugnant on every level.
at the quotes Chase mentioned last thread.
ing way!!!! holy shit
k
