Shane Douglas Explains Move To WCW, Says WCW Offered Him '30 Times What The WWF' Did

During an appearance on his "Franchise University" podcast, former WWE Intercontinental Champion Shane Douglas explained why he returned to World Championship Wrestling in 1999 after leaving Extreme Championship Wrestling for the second time in his career.

"I took a ton of heat in a backward kind of way when I went to WCW instead of WWF after leaving [ECW] in 1999," Douglas said. "At that time, everybody saw that character of 'The Franchise' to be much more amenable to what WWF was doing at that time than, say, WCW. The truth be known is that [WCW] offered me 30 times what the WWF offered me ... So for my family's sake, that was why I went there. Had Vince [McMahon] matched that or topped it, I sure as hell would have ended up [back] in WWF. 

"And at that point, I wasn't really in a position to say no to the bigger pot of money. After leaving ECW, unfortunately, Paul [Heyman] had really painted me into a corner with the money I was owed."

Upon making his second return to WCW in July 1999, Douglas, who recently said that he was proud of the niche he carved out in pro wrestling without ever returning to WWE, aligned with Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn to form The Revolution. After taking a hiatus the following year between January and April, Douglas joined Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff's The New Blood stable before bringing back "The Franchise" gimmick. Douglas remained with WCW until the promotion was purchased by WWE and Vince McMahon in 2001.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Franchise University" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.