Shane Douglas. Who hasn’t heard the stories of the nightmares he has caused backstage in every promotion he has ever been in? From ECW to WCW to the WWF, it seems as though he has caused chaos everywhere. And so it is almost poetic that he was handed one of the lamest gimmicks around: that of a know it all professor. (Actually, Douglas had TWO of the lamest gimmicks around…)
The thinking behind the gimmick was that of a worked shoot. Douglas really WAS a teacher of some sort in Pennsylvania somewhere (yeah, we’re being vague). So Vince decided that Douglas should take that persona, add some of his natural arrogance, and become DEAN Douglas.
Douglas would lecture the fans and his opponents, and basically try to use his intelli-arrogance as a tool to get heat. Of course, if the WWF was really serious about getting Douglas over, they’d have just let him use his big yap the way he did in ECW as “The Franchise.”
Douglas had a very brief run as the Dean. Backstage politics, including run-ins with the Clique and Vince McMahon, served to shorten Douglas’ reign. He returned to ECW, and then went to WCW, where he was involved in even more backstage turmoil.