Q: You want to introduce yourself?

A: The Franchise Shane Douglas, the world heavyweight champion from Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Q: And you're temporarily out of action, aren't you?

A: Temporarily right, hopefully till about November, December. Hopefully by the beginning of the new year.

Q: When did your elbow get injured exactly?

A: Well the injury the first time came from Bam Bam Bigelow at the November to Remember when he cracked a crutch down across my arm and fractured it and caused some bone spurs. The second injury came as I was recovering from that injury, I came back a bit early and a guy named Taz decided he was going to take it upon himself and try to snap my arm a couple of times and make his point that he should be world heavyweight champion.

Q: What are you going to be doing while you're recovering?

A: Well, while I'm recovering I've actually had an opportunity to do something I've wanted to do for sixteen years. For sixteen years I've been involved in this sport. I've always been in the back, tightening my boots, putting my tape on and loosening up for my matches. For the first time in my career I've finally got the opportunity to sit back and watch my colleagues here in Extreme Championship Wrestling go out and do what they do best. And it's really a new perspective. But by the same token as much fun as it is to commentate on the matches and watch the matches, because I'm a big fan of pro wrestling, if I weren't in wrestling I'd be glued to it every time it was on television. But the down side of it is though, when you're a competitor like the Franchise is, it's very, very difficult to sit back in a broadcast booth with headset on and watching people compete at what you feel you're the best in the world at.

Q: Ok. How do you feel about Rob Van Dam?

A: I think Rob Van Dam is an unbelievable athlete. He still has some maturation to do in his product and how he presents, but I think as far as an athlete he's a stud.

Q: Now you have a video game coming out?

A: Yeah, this is something that's pretty new for ECW. ECW has never been very much of a mainstream product or very much a product that went after merchandising, but this company approached us about doing an extreme video game. I mean in the world of video games and arcades, everything is extreme and bloody and gory and violent but I think this new ECW game coming out is gonna take it to a new level. I've seen some of the preliminary graphics on it and it's tremendously done. The characters of course will have the facial features of all the ECW characters. Instead of just having the computer programming saying ok this is Shane Douglas executing the belly to belly suplex they've actually taken footage of the Franchise executing that move and have programmed it into the computer so this thing is going to be very life like. In the computer game when Taz throws the T-Bone Taz-plex, it will look exactly as Taz throws it in the ring.

Q: When's that due out?

A: It's due out hopefully by the fall, right now it's just the question of getting the graphics finalized, they have a few more facials to do on the characters and then of course the licensing is probably the biggest hurdle to it right now. But hopefully we're looking at the fall.

Q: Do you know who's gonna be in it?

A: All the ECW stars are gonna be in it. Joey Stiles will be announcing. The Franchise will be in it, Taz will be in it. Bam Bam Bigelow, Chris Candido, The Dudleys, The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, you name it. If they're a star here in ECW they're gonna be on the game.

Q: Is it gonna be able to capture everything that goes on in ECW?

A: Well, I think that's gonna be left to the imagination of the people who play it. As I said before, what you see on the television show is what will be coming across on the video game.

Q: That's gonna be impressive.

A: Yeah, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. We're all looking forward to it. It's going to be very exciting and I think our fans are really looking forward to it as well. It's going to take video games to a new level of extreme.

Q: Now you spent time in both the WCW and WWF, how would you say that differs?

A: I didn't spend time, I did time in the WWF and WCW.

Q: How would you say the organizations differ and how do they differ from ECW?

A: From here to there? First of all here the guys have 100% more passion about what they do than they do in the other big companies, WWF and WCW. The guys here are tougher than they are in the other companies. They put their bodies on the line more than they do in the other companies. The product here is 100% more realistic and more extreme than it is in the other companies, and as hard as they try to copy us, what you see is WWF loses two or three of their top stars weekly to injuries because they try to copy us. I ran into couple of executives from the World Wrestling Federation in the Pittsburgh airport a few weeks back and I told them "Leave it to the experts. If you want to watch extreme, turn on ECW." Those guys don't know how to do it, they're entertainers and they'll tell you that. They'll not beat around the bush. Vince McMahon will tell you "My guys are acting out a scenario and a script, our guys are actors." And that's the big difference.

Q: Do you regret going to the WWF from ECW?

A: No, and I'll tell you why. I did for a while. I kicked myself in the rear end for having gone up there but I'll tell you what happened. When The Franchise left here he had sort of stagnated, he had sort of gotten complacent. Being the world champion, he just sort of took it for granted. I went to the WWF and got a real healthy dose of politics by a couple of punks named of Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramone. And I came back here determined to prove not only to Vince McMahon but to the world that The Franchise was world champion caliber, a talent. And what it did was it put a fire under my ass. So in a way I'm thankful to Vince McMahon that he screwed me. What he did is he made The Franchise a much better world champion and what he did was he made a competitor much stronger. In business, if you're McDonalds that last thing you want to do is give Burger King one-up. And what he did was he gave ECW, a competitor, world champion caliber talent when he had him under his fingers. So, Vince McMahon's an idiot for having done it, but I thank him for it.

Q: You have a Pay-Per View coming up August 2nd?

A: Right

Q: And what Pay-Per View will this make, the sixth?

A: Gosh, you got me, it's about the fifth or sixth Pay-Per View. Paul Heyman, (calls Paul Heyman), sixth Pay-Per View?

Paul answers in background: "Number six."

Number six.

Q: And how have they been doing?

A: Each one has done better than the one before it. And this one will be seen by the entire Pay-Per-View universe. One thing to note, Paul Heyman and I had a discussion the other night and he pointed out to me that five years ago I was the guy that was clammering saying "O.k. let's not have eight out of nine matches be bloody, gory, violent matches. Let's have some wrestling." We finally have the right mix in ECG. We have some of the best wrestlers in the world today. I will stack up our stable of talent against any stable of talent. Not just in this country, but in the world. And man for man, we have a better roster of talent than any company in the world today. So on this pay-per-view that's coming up, the only thing that's missing from it is The Franchise won't be competing and it's gonna really be hard for me to sit in a broadcasting booth and watch because this is such a pertinent pay-per-view.

Q: And this is now available on all pay-per-view services.

A: This one is going to be seen everywhere. Each pay-per-view we've had has been seen by a wider and wider audience and we've and the kick pay-per-view companies dragging, screaming, tooth and nail, clawing their way to try to stop us from being on their system. Finally we've got all the cable systems across the country involved in this one and this one will be seen everywhere.

Q: And you've got a CD coming out as well.

A: We've always used canned music. It was always music you could hear on the radio. When you hear "ThunderKiss 65" by White Zombie it automatically conjures up visions of Extreme Championship Wrestling. For that reason, I think that's been part of ECW's success first of all. But for that reason, since ECW's become so hot, all these groups Rob Zombie form White Zombie, Pantera, Slayer, Anthrax, Bruce Dickinson formerly from Iron Maiden, Slash from Guns 'n Roses is in negotiations with it, so a lot of these groups that play Extreme Championship Wrestling type music that have voice an interest, or expressed in interest in putting some new music down on a CD and calling it Music From Extreme Championship Wrestling. So the problem we have right now, is as we're getting ready go to the studio and record this thing, is that we have such a demand from artists wanting to be on this thing, that it's very likely that it will turn out to be a volume two and a volume three and perhaps a volume four. I think it's going to be an ongoing thing, so when you hear the music on ECW's program you will be able to hear it also on the Music From Extreme Championship Wrestling CD.

Q: So all the music you hear now will be on the CD?

A: Well, some of the music that's on there right now, for instance Harry Flash and the Flashtones are the ones that created the extreme open song, Taz's ring music, Sabu's ring music, that will be available on there as well as well as new music being laid down by these artists. So it's going to be pretty interesting to sit and watch and hear.

Q: Will the new stuff being laid down be used in ECW?

A: Oh absolutely, if fact I know several wrestlers positioning for new ring music I know The Franchise will be repacked when he comes back in November. There will be ring entrance music, you will hear on the program. So yeah, it's going to be very synonymous. It's not like you'll hear the music on the CD and never hear it on the program. You will hear them in both places.

Q: Now I'm not mistaken, you're friends with Mick Foley, correct?

A: Yes, we broke in together a whole lot of years ago.

Q: How do you feel about the types of bumps he's took off the top of the cage and stuff.

A: You know I really draw concern for him. Being extreme is one thing but when you start to throw yourself off a 16 foot cage and if you watch that match and that tape over again, his legs come about two and a half feet from hitting the metal railing. He could have crippled himself, worse yet, he might have killed himself. I think there's a point of being extreme and there's a point of being stupid and in this case I think Mick was being stupid. I hope for his own sake that ten years from now he's not in a wheelchair or someplace, I hope he'll be more judicious in the things he does with his body. Extreme is one thing, smart is another.

Q: So do you think there's a point that shouldn't be crossed then?

A: Absolutely, we've seen New Jack jump off balconies. What's next jump off a skyscraper? We've seen Tommy Dreamer thrown through 4 or 5 tables, what's next? 25 tables? At some point, the fans desire for violence is going to have to be cut off, and not addressed because eventually, what will happen, is someone will end up crippled, or someone will end up dead with a broken neck, God forbid. I do believe that there is a limit to what we can do, and ECW pushes the envelope as far as we can, and we put our bodies on the lines as far as we possibly can, but remember, at the end of the day, we like to go home and drink a beer, and see our families, and be able to walk to the airport and hop onto the plane, as opposed to being wheeled in on a wheelchair. So yeah, I believe that there is a limit to how far and how extreme we should go.

Q: Here's a question you can have fun with. How do you feel about people who will dismiss wrestling as simply being 'fake'?

A: Well, one of the things I tell people very, very clearly, and I delineate the differences between the companies, when you go to the World Wrestling Federation matches, or WCW matches, I don't think it takes a brain surgeon to tell what they're doing there. It's a choreographed product, and again, as I said earlier, they will readily tell you that this is Sports "Entertainment", and I guess the definition of that word holds different things to different people, cause I don't find their product very entertaining. But in ECW, I tell the fans every opportunity I get, when you walk in that front door, don't leave your brains and your pessimism, bring it with you... Come into the building and bring it with you. I can't tell you how many times I've had people ask me, "Hey, how the hell did you get that fake chair to that guy in the audience, that so & so used to hit so & so?" And the answer is simple. It's not a fake chair. It's a chair someone was sitting on, it's a metal chair, and you can hear the chairs hit, you can see it bend. I saw Masato Tanaka, as a commentator, I sat and watched Masato Tanaka take 3 chair shots with a metal chair that bent around his head, ear to ear, and he was able to stand back up off of it. Now, that's not a fake chair being used, it's that Masato Tanaka is one tough SOB to get back up from it. From the television show you can kind of get an idea, but when you're in the building and watching it live, and you hear that metal smash against the skull, that's an unmistakable sound. So, the idea of wrestling being fake and all that sort of thing, what I tell those people is that I wish, that at the end of the year, I could convey to them, or sort of magically transfer to them, the pain that we feel at the end of the year, or the end of the week, or the end of the day. Keep in mind now, if wrestling is fake, I've had 8 surgeries in the last four years; 3 shoulder surgeries, 3 elbow surgeries, 2 knee surgeries, and God knows how many broken bones and sprains and contusions and cuts and stitches and staples... So if it's fake, somebody should smarten us up, cause the injuries I've been through certainly haven't been fake, and I can attest to that both by the scars on my body, and by the bills that I've paid my doctor.

Q: So are you now in ECW for good, exclusively?

A: I'm under lifetime contract to ECW, I will never ever wrestle for one of the other companies... Unless, you know, they say never to say never, and what it would take for me to be drawn to one of the other companies would be a huge, huge paycheck, and it would take me writing my own contract, because I know that Vince McMahon or Bischoff or Turner would try to screw me again. I have no faith in those people, and I don't trust them. So, the contract would have to be written by me, in my favor, so that I would know I had the power, instead of the company having the power. The other companies are not going to relinquish that kind of power, that kind of authority, so I guess the answer is pretty much written by them. I will never wrestle for the other companies. And the reason for that is real simple... For instance, when I was in WCW one time, I had a broken arm, that was in a cast up to my shoulder, and they told me I had to cut the cast off and come wrestle on the Pay Per View, and when I did that, being a stupid young man, I mean today, if somebody told me to do that, I'd tell them to go pound salt, but being a stupid young man, eager to please the boss, I did it. My stepfather and I cut the cast off, I went to work, and wrestled on a broken elbow. When I came back from the ring, the boss of the company never even said, 'Thank You'. You're a piece of meat in the other companies, and if Stone Cold Steve Austin today was unable to compete, Vince McMahon would not even know his name. The difference here in ECW is that, since I've been injured battling here in the ring, Paul Heyman has come to me and instead of saying, "Hey, Shane, we can't use you anymore", he said, "Hey, Shane Douglas has another gift, he can talk, so let's put him behind the microphone, let him color commentate, and enhance the product." This company, I really believe, has Shane Douglas' best interests at heart, not just ECW's, and that is the reason that, not just me, but the entire stable of wrestlers are so loyal to ECW.

Q: Are you making enough in ECW to live on? You were a school teacher a few years ago, were you not?

A: Yeah, I was a school teacher, taught school for 5 years. Keep in mind now, that when I did that, ECW was only running 4 to 6 shows per month. Now we're running them in the neighborhood of 15 to 18 per month, so it's impossible for me to teach school.

Q: Is the deal with FMW going to be continuing, or is it a short-time thing?

A: I think it's really a match made in heaven. They are the ECW of Japan. I don't know how long it will last, I mean, it will last as long as it's good for them, and it's good for us. Masato Tanaka is under contract with us for about the next year, I believe, so we have a real good working relationship with FMW, and I personally hope it continues, I mean if we can get Masato Tanaka out of FMW, and he's such a star for us, then I'm sure there's someone else we can find, there's another Masato Tanaka over there somewhere. I've never seen a guy in ECW, all joking aside, I've never seen a guy come to ECW and get over in front of the most discerning and demanding fans in the country, perhaps in the world, as fast as Masato Tanaka has done it, so yeah, I hope the relationship with FMW goes on for a long time, and I hope that as long as it's good for us, it's good for them, and it continues