Troy Martin

Born

1964-11-21

Birthplace

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Biography

Troy Allan Martin is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name "The Franchise" Shane Douglas. In the course of his career, which has spanned over three decades, Douglas has wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) before later working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as both a wrestler and amanager. Martin held major championships in ECW, WCW and the WWF and is a five-time world champion: a four time ECW World Heavyweight Champion and one time NWA World Heavyweight Champion. On the May 28, 2009 episode of Impact!, Douglas returned to TNA and attacked Christopher Daniels after his match with A.J. Styles. The following week on Impact!, Douglas again attacked Daniels during his match before subsequently stating that he wanted a second chance in TNA like Daniels received, after the latter was, in storyline, fired from TNA. He was granted a second chance on the June 11 episode of Impact!, where he was given a match with A.J. Styles which he lost, only to attack Styles after the match. Daniels would come out to help Styles, only to have Douglas hit him with a towel containing a pair of handcuffs. At the Slammiversary pay-per-view, Douglas lost to Daniels in a second chance match, resulting in Daniels retaining his spot on the TNA roster.Following the match, Douglas left TNA once again, although asked by TNA to participate in their ECW reunion show Hardcore Justice, he refused the invitation. On March 13, 2009, Douglas returned to the National Wrestling Alliance for the first time in nearly fifteen years, wrestling for the On Fire territory in a singles match, defeating Little Guido. On March 24, 2017 at a Pro Wrestling All-Stars of Detroit event, Douglas defeated The Great Akuma in Melvindale, Michigan to become the Pro Wrestling All-Stars Heavyweight Champion. On April 21, Douglas defeated Paul Bowser by countout in an "Extreme Rules" match to successfully defend the title. He lost the title on May 12, 2017 when Breyer Wellington beat Douglas, Paul Bowser, and Atlas Hytower in a Fatal Four-Way match. Douglas was scheduled to headline the Extreme Reunion event scheduled for April 28, 2012.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 an interview on April 6, 2014, Douglas said that he had partnered with a wealthy investor and was looking into creating a brand new wrestling promotion. Douglas said in the interview that they were offering health insurance, revenue sharing, 401K and pension plans and he hoped the promotion would start up within the next year. Martin produced, choreographed and played himself in the 2013 film Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies. In July 2016, Martin was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit is litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE