10 Awesome Ways Wrestling Champions Elevated Titles
4. Shane Douglas: Tossed The NWA Title
Rarely has a major wrestling title been disrespected like the NWA Championship was on 27 August 1994, when Shane Douglas threw down the strap after winning it in a tournament held in Philadelphia-based Eastern Championship Wrestling promotion.
Douglas, in a classic, infamous moment, reeled off a bunch of former champions (Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Harley Race, and more), then told them all to k*ss his ass. He brazenly tossed the belt and presented the brand new ECW Championship to the world, claiming he wouldn't "accept a torch handed down from an organisation that died seven years ago," vowing to usher in a new era of professional wrestling in Philly. And he did. This was a genuine paradigm shift.
Douglas became the 'Franchise' of the new Extreme Championship Wrestling, his moment of defiance immediately establishing the new strap as a bigger prize than the one he'd thrown down. He wasn't wrong when he cited the NWA's declining reputation and though many considered the act blasphemous, it was the catalyst for ECW's rebirth as a cult blood and guts promotion, its new, edgier product providing refuge to those tired of WWE and WCW's safer shows.