He retained his Shane Douglas ring name and was put into a tag team of skateboarders known as The Dynamic Dudes with Johnny Ace (John Laurinaitis, the younger brother of Road Warrior Animal).
[13] The Dynamic Dudes broke up in 1990 after Ace began competing progressively more for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), which was breaking its ties to the NWA.
He made his syndicated television debut on the August 26 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge, teaming with jobber Mark Thomas in a loss to The Orient Express.
At the Survivor Series '90 PPV Douglas defeated Buddy Rose in another dark match, and on January 3, 1991, at a house show in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he scored the biggest victory of his nascent WWF career when he upset Dino Bravo.
His most memorable WWF performance took place at the 1991 Royal Rumble, where he entered as the seventeenth entrant and lasted for 26 minutes and 23 seconds before being eliminated by Brian Knobbs.
He made his final televised appearance on the June 15th episode of Prime Time Wrestling, losing to Dino Bravo in a match taped at Madison Square Garden.
[19] He made his pay-per-view return at Halloween Havoc, where he teamed with Tom Zenk and Johnny Gunn to compete against Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Michael Hayes in a winning effort.
[19] The following month, Steamboat and Douglas won the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championships from Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham on the November 18 Clash of the Champions XXI.
[26][27] Martin debuted in the upstart ECW during its formative years on the August 24, 1993, episode of Eastern Championship Wrestling and solidified his status as a villain by joining Hotstuff International.
[36] Douglas developed a gimmick of a foul-mouthed, incredibly arrogant villain (an attitude that would define him permanently and give him success), and gave himself the nickname "The Franchise".
[37] Douglas gained notoriety when he wrestled Terry Funk and Sabu to a one-hour draw in the company's first-ever three-way dance for the ECW Heavyweight Championship at The Night the Line Was Crossed.
Douglas was instrumental in the development of "extreme wrestling" when he defeated The Tazmaniac, Dean Malenko and 2 Cold Scorpio to win a tournament to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion on August 27.
[40] In an angle which only he, Tod Gordon, and Paul Heyman knew about, Douglas threw down the NWA title belt and stated that he did not want to be champion of a "dead promotion".
[46] Capitalizing on the controversy that surrounded his literally "throwing down" the NWA belt and the promo following it, Douglas was encouraged to express his true feelings in interviews by the ECW bookers.
[61] His very last day working in WWF was at Madison Square Garden where he was diagnosed with a severe muscle spasm in his back that if agitated could have paralyzed him.
[63] His televised return aired on the January 9 episode of Hardcore TV, where he confronted Stevie Richards and Blue Meanie, denounced his Dean gimmick and declared "the Franchise is back!".
[30][84] In September 1997, Douglas retained the title against Tommy Dreamer at Terry Funk's WrestleFest[85] and against Phil Lafon in a no disqualification match at As Good as It Gets.
After failing in a rematch at Ultimate Jeopardy,[88] Douglas regained the title by defeating Bigelow at the November to Remember pay-per-view, beginning his fourth reign as champion.
[94] Douglas suffered an injury which prevented him from competing for a couple of months but he continued to appear on television, during which Triple Threat began feuding with Taz, Rob Van Dam and Sabu.
After the face turn, Douglas would perform in a heroic role for the first since he disrespected the ECW Television title in 1996 and continued to feud with the Impact Players.
However, after a disagreement with Paul Heyman, Douglas delivered a controversial shoot promo at the event which ended with him quitting ECW one day before its Hardcore Heaven pay-per-view.
[107] Douglas participated in a tournament for the vacated United States Heavyweight Championship on the July 18 episode of Monday Nitro, where he defeated Billy Kidman in the quarter-finals but lost to eventual winner Lance Storm in the semi-finals.
[1] After the WWF purchased both WCW and ECW in 2001, Douglas Went to Xtreme Pro Wrestling in July 2002, where he won its World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Johnny Webb at the Night of Champions event.
Under his Shane Douglas ring name, he debuted in TNA on the company's weekly pay-per-view on June 11, where he immediately reignited his feud with Raven by costing him an opportunity for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
The duo were entered into a tournament for the vacated NWA World Tag Team Championship, where they lost to Christopher Daniels and Low Ki on March 24.
[131] A few weeks later, on June 15, Shane confronted them on their recent losing streak and their squandered talent, referring to their former manager and Douglas's ex-Triple Threat teammate Chris Candido in the process.
[132] After becoming their mentor, pre-recorded videos showed Douglas training The Naturals have been shown on TNA programming, though he doesn't stand at ringside during their matches like most other managers.
On April 9, 2009, it was announced that Douglas and Nite Owl Production were to promote a follow-up to Hardcore Homecoming called November to Remember: The Final Chair Shot.
[143] Unbeknownst to WWE, Douglas appeared in the audience on the March 19, 2012, episode of Raw to promote the event, but was escorted out of the arena by security after causing a disturbance.
In 1993 during his first stint with World Championship Wrestling, he began teaching emotional support classes, economics, and the history of the United States at Beaver Area High School.