I'm a big fan of Douglas in ECW, he was one of the few actual wrestlers in the company that was a natural fit for his role. He had been kicked around by both the major promotions and was pissed off so he built a character around his frustrations.
HHH did the same thing just on a larger scale. "The Game" was built from his frustrations over being buried for two years.
To be honest they bruh needed it. Sometimes you have to let guys blow off steam and it changes fan perception...whether it should change or not.
I remembered Dean Douglas, as I was pretty much a WWF fan, and if it wasn't for Shane going hard on the Fed and WCW I wouldn't have taken him seriously as a main event guy. Him throwing the NWA title down to me was the first major pipebomb promo, you got to give him credit for that. His character peeled back the curtain a bit and gave fans a peek into the devious and overly political world of professional wrestling, it's the stuff dirtsheets are made of these days.
It was refreshing then, so you got to give Douglas more credit for that, HHH did the same thing but because it was after Douglas, it was after the damn near shoot promos HBK and Bret were doing on each other it wasn't as original but there it was an equally great move.