On May 11, Durante received his first opportunity for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship at A Matter of Respect, where he faced Raven and The Sandman in a three-way dance, but failed to win the title. At Fight the Power, Durante challenged Shane Douglas to a match for the ECW World Television Championship after Douglas provoked Durante into a match by insulting him and Francine, leading to Durante defeating Douglas for the title. At Hardcore Heaven, Durante lost the title to Chris Jericho after a distraction by Shane Douglas. At Heat Wave, Durante faced Jericho, Douglas and 2 Cold Scorpio in a four-way dance for the title, which Douglas won after Francine turned on Pitbulls. Douglas broke Wolfe's neck resulting in Wolfe being sidelined and Pitbull #2 feuded with Douglas throughout the rest of the year attempting to regain the World Television Championship and avenging his tag team partner's injury. Pitbull #2 unsuccessfully challenged Douglas for the title at The Doctor Is In. At Natural Born Killaz, Durante and The Sandman defeated Douglas and Raven in a double dog collar match when Durante pinned Raven. As a result of pinning Raven, Durante earned a title shot against Raven for the World Heavyweight Championship at When Worlds Collide, which he failed to win. In early 1997, Pitbull #1 recovered from injury and the two resumed their tag team to feud with The Triple Threat (Shane Douglas, Chris Candido and Brian Lee). On April 13, Durante wrestled Shane Douglas for the World Television Championship at ECW's first pay-per-view event, Barely Legal, where he failed to win the title. Pitbulls would lose the feud against The Triple Threat at Chapter 2 and then took a hiatus in July.