4. Shane Douglas Trashes The NWA World Heavyweight Championship
In the tradition of Lou Thesz; in the tradition of Jack Brisco; all of the Brisco Brothers; of Dory Funk Jr, of Terry Funk, the man who will never die; and the real Nature Boy Buddy Rogers upstairs tonight. From the Harley Races, to the Barry Windhams, to the... Ric Flairs, I accept this heavyweight title. Wait a second... wait a second, of Kerry Von Erich, of the fat man himself Dusty Rhodes... this is it tonight Dad, God that's beautiful...and Rick Steamboat... and they can all kiss my ass! In August 1994, a tournament was held to crown the new NWA Champion, and Paul Heyman was looking for ways to expand NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling into something more than a regional territory. The NWA settled on ECW Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas as the man to carry the gold, and the tournament was hosted by ECW. Only Paul Heyman, Tod Gordon and Shane Douglas knew what would happen from there. Douglas threw the title to the ground, and christened himself the first ECW World Heavyweight Champion. This move shocked the wrestling world, and put ECW on the map instantly, and set the standard for the ECW product going forward for the rest of the decade. Not long after this incident, they would rebrand as Extreme and never look back to their time in the NWA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kpEjrKqf3s
