Taz announced the creation of the FTW (Fuck The World) Heavyweight Championship on May 14, 1998. Frustrated by his inability to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship from Shane Douglas, who was at the time absent and refusing to face him, Taz created and defended his own World Title, billing himself as the "real" World Champion.
Taz lost the title only once, intentionally pulling an unconscious Sabu over himself on December 19, 1998 (he was confident that he would defeat Shane Douglas in an upcoming title bout, and thus no longer needed the FTW Heavyweight Championship). Taz regained the title at Living Dangerously on March 21, 1999, where he unified the FTW Heavyweight Championship with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship (which he then held) by defeating Sabu in a title versus title match. Taz then began using only the ECW Heavyweight Championship title belt.
