Let's follow it from the start:
An old school WWWF mark, he gets trained by long time low carder Dominic Denuci and is really pretty unsuccessful for years, finally getting a big break in WCW in the form of a totally tubular skateboarder dude. That flops and he tries his hand in the WWF, but flops even harder. A return to WCW has him without the gimmick, a pure wrestler, but while successful in a tag team role, he can't get past the mid card.
He then leaves and joins the fledgling ECW, where he can be the big fish he always dreamed to be. He comes to dominate the promotion, which at this point is mostly local talent and old washed up bums from the 70s and 80s. His obsession with Ric Flair begins to manifest. It's clear that he hates Ric Flair so much not because he's mad about Flair "holding him down", but because he's intensely jealous of Ric Flair. He wants to be Ric Flair so bad it defines his life. He brings in Flair's managers (both of which turn on him, naturally), he starts his own version of the Four Horsemen, he has feuds with Flair's friends and rivals. For all intents and purposes, he is the Ric Flair of ECW.
However, Ric Flair never acknowledges him, never responds. Shane isn't even a blip on his radar. He's headlining PPVs with Hulk Hogan and Sting while Shane is defending his title in a bingo hall. Shane eventually wins the NWA Championship, Flair's title, only to throw it down and declare it and its legacy dead. Yet he continues to be obsessed with Flair, despite declaring him and his legacy dead and buried, RIP. He still continues to do everything he can to become the new Ric Flair.
His entire time in ECW, he talks so much shyt about WWF and WCW, how he'd never go back to either of them, how they're full of clowns and entertainers, while he is a wrestler and is bringing wrestling back to its roots as a sport in ECW. Of course, he also spends all of 1993-1995 aligning himself with former WCW and WWF talent (Kevin Sullivan, Sensational Sherri, Woman, Mr. Hughes, Doink The Clown), and as soon as Vince came calling, he left ECW in the cold. And what happens to him? He gets a cartoony gimmick and doesn't even make it 6 months with the company. He returns to ECW where he can once again be the big fish in the small pond and resumes his role as Extreme Ric Flair, but he's been passed by and can't keep up. He's frequently injured, and much of his 400+ day title reign has him being unable to wrestle. His final angle with ECW has him portrayed as a broken down old man past his prime on his last run for glory at the age of 35.
He joins WCW again shortly after, and continues to be frequently injured, essentially becoming the JJ Dillion to his new Four Horsemen knock off of ECW friends as a result. Despite all the years of shyt talking, Shane never confronts Flair despite being in the same locker room with him, and they in fact have a courteous and professional relationship. When The Radicalz jump to WWF, Shane tried to be a part of that group, but WWF didn't want him even to hurt WCW. He was taken off TV then returned at the start of the Bischoff/Russo era to finally get his feud with Ric Flair...which lasted all of 2 matches, and immediately afterwards Ric went back to the main events while Shane again couldn't get out of the mid card and continued to get injured. He was involved in such classics as the Pittsburgh Plunge and Viagra on a pole matches. When WCW gets sold to the WWF, Vince again has zero interest in Shane Douglas. Ric Flair goes on to have a nearly decade long run with the WWF and is inducted into the WWE HOF twice.
The only place left for Shane to go was XPW, the even trashier, even more low budget ECW knock off, and as part of this the company gives him the book, is relocated to Philly and the ECW Arena to relive Shane's 1994 glory, only to almost immediately fold. He then goes to TNA, where he promptly feuds with various ECW guys, and in one of his first appearances is so out of shape he vomits from over exertion. He again can't get out of the mid card and is relegated to passing on The Franchise name and acting mostly as a manager before he's even 40.
When WWE revives the ECW brand, Shane is again not invited to participate, so he produces his own bootleg One Night Stand still trying to relive his old glory. The next decade sees him working in the same role as all those WWWF bums in the early days of ECW for various indies that he complained about in the mid 90s: An old washed up has been piece of trash who wrestles in a shirt for a decade. A lawsuit against WWE is thrown out. He's thrown out of a WWE show for causing a disturbance in the audience.
This guy in and out of character spent his whole career obsessed with being Ric Flair and failed at every turn. The only time he was anything was when he could be a big fish in a small pond, and even then he got swallowed up and spit out. He became everything he railed against: An old timer hanging on to his glory days that are well, well behind him. Flair's career in just his 50s had more success than Shane's entire career. Shane was effectively a hobbled, broken down old man while he was still in his 30s. Flair was 25 years his senior and was still going strong nearly 10 years after Shane had to go into semi-retirement.
An old school WWWF mark, he gets trained by long time low carder Dominic Denuci and is really pretty unsuccessful for years, finally getting a big break in WCW in the form of a totally tubular skateboarder dude. That flops and he tries his hand in the WWF, but flops even harder. A return to WCW has him without the gimmick, a pure wrestler, but while successful in a tag team role, he can't get past the mid card.
He then leaves and joins the fledgling ECW, where he can be the big fish he always dreamed to be. He comes to dominate the promotion, which at this point is mostly local talent and old washed up bums from the 70s and 80s. His obsession with Ric Flair begins to manifest. It's clear that he hates Ric Flair so much not because he's mad about Flair "holding him down", but because he's intensely jealous of Ric Flair. He wants to be Ric Flair so bad it defines his life. He brings in Flair's managers (both of which turn on him, naturally), he starts his own version of the Four Horsemen, he has feuds with Flair's friends and rivals. For all intents and purposes, he is the Ric Flair of ECW.
However, Ric Flair never acknowledges him, never responds. Shane isn't even a blip on his radar. He's headlining PPVs with Hulk Hogan and Sting while Shane is defending his title in a bingo hall. Shane eventually wins the NWA Championship, Flair's title, only to throw it down and declare it and its legacy dead. Yet he continues to be obsessed with Flair, despite declaring him and his legacy dead and buried, RIP. He still continues to do everything he can to become the new Ric Flair.
His entire time in ECW, he talks so much shyt about WWF and WCW, how he'd never go back to either of them, how they're full of clowns and entertainers, while he is a wrestler and is bringing wrestling back to its roots as a sport in ECW. Of course, he also spends all of 1993-1995 aligning himself with former WCW and WWF talent (Kevin Sullivan, Sensational Sherri, Woman, Mr. Hughes, Doink The Clown), and as soon as Vince came calling, he left ECW in the cold. And what happens to him? He gets a cartoony gimmick and doesn't even make it 6 months with the company. He returns to ECW where he can once again be the big fish in the small pond and resumes his role as Extreme Ric Flair, but he's been passed by and can't keep up. He's frequently injured, and much of his 400+ day title reign has him being unable to wrestle. His final angle with ECW has him portrayed as a broken down old man past his prime on his last run for glory at the age of 35.
He joins WCW again shortly after, and continues to be frequently injured, essentially becoming the JJ Dillion to his new Four Horsemen knock off of ECW friends as a result. Despite all the years of shyt talking, Shane never confronts Flair despite being in the same locker room with him, and they in fact have a courteous and professional relationship. When The Radicalz jump to WWF, Shane tried to be a part of that group, but WWF didn't want him even to hurt WCW. He was taken off TV then returned at the start of the Bischoff/Russo era to finally get his feud with Ric Flair...which lasted all of 2 matches, and immediately afterwards Ric went back to the main events while Shane again couldn't get out of the mid card and continued to get injured. He was involved in such classics as the Pittsburgh Plunge and Viagra on a pole matches. When WCW gets sold to the WWF, Vince again has zero interest in Shane Douglas. Ric Flair goes on to have a nearly decade long run with the WWF and is inducted into the WWE HOF twice.
The only place left for Shane to go was XPW, the even trashier, even more low budget ECW knock off, and as part of this the company gives him the book, is relocated to Philly and the ECW Arena to relive Shane's 1994 glory, only to almost immediately fold. He then goes to TNA, where he promptly feuds with various ECW guys, and in one of his first appearances is so out of shape he vomits from over exertion. He again can't get out of the mid card and is relegated to passing on The Franchise name and acting mostly as a manager before he's even 40.
When WWE revives the ECW brand, Shane is again not invited to participate, so he produces his own bootleg One Night Stand still trying to relive his old glory. The next decade sees him working in the same role as all those WWWF bums in the early days of ECW for various indies that he complained about in the mid 90s: An old washed up has been piece of trash who wrestles in a shirt for a decade. A lawsuit against WWE is thrown out. He's thrown out of a WWE show for causing a disturbance in the audience.
This guy in and out of character spent his whole career obsessed with being Ric Flair and failed at every turn. The only time he was anything was when he could be a big fish in a small pond, and even then he got swallowed up and spit out. He became everything he railed against: An old timer hanging on to his glory days that are well, well behind him. Flair's career in just his 50s had more success than Shane's entire career. Shane was effectively a hobbled, broken down old man while he was still in his 30s. Flair was 25 years his senior and was still going strong nearly 10 years after Shane had to go into semi-retirement.
drop the rating of a thread in one post
I thought it was a good heel character. 
