A legend of hardcore wrestling, The Sandman made his mark in ECW as the ultimate beer-chugging dirtbag--but lines are blurred when his real family is brought into the ring.
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00:00In the 1990s, extreme championship wrestling was meaner, more aggressive and bloodier than
00:22anything audiences have seen before, as the demands of the company's rabid
00:27fanbase led to a dangerous escalation of in-ring violence.
00:32What is this?
00:33These guys are crazy.
00:34It felt so personal.
00:36And I think that's why the fans were so involved with it.
00:40People didn't know if it was scripted or not.
00:42And the more popular it got, the more they had a top the last show.
00:47An escalation embodied by the Sandman.
00:51You know, got his jeans on, his t-shirt on, his kendo stick, smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer.
00:56Fans like, I could be this guy.
00:57You might think it is because all you see is a beer drinking, cigarette smoking scumbag.
01:03Sandman's character was as organic as it could get.
01:07God, I love you.
01:08There's not a whole lot of difference between James Fullington and the Sandman.
01:12What can I do that somebody has it done?
01:14I can make myself bleed before I get into the ring.
01:17Nobody else has done that.
01:19Though a hardcore icon, countless injuries and a lawless locker room create no shortage of controversies.
01:26Leaving the Sandman with a brutal and complicated legacy.
01:30Somebody has got to stop the Sandman!
01:33I fuck with what's going on in the back.
01:36There was the coke ads, there was the pot ads, there was, you know, painkillers.
01:39We got all the alcohol, drugs, pills that you could possibly think of.
01:43I don't know if he remembers even half of the stuff that has ever happened.
01:48I told my family, I said, tell them the fucking worst.
01:52People need to know this.
01:54He should have been dead a long time ago.
02:08That entrance, let's talk about it for a second.
02:10Yeah, alright.
02:11For people who have never experienced it, like, what is the Sandman's entrance?
02:15So my music's playing, maybe some days it's 30 seconds, some days it's a minute and a half.
02:20But at the one point, it's like, alright, everybody should be clapping your hands at this point.
02:24So when I come in, I don't want everybody to see me at one time.
02:29I want, like, some people to see me and then be like, oh shit, he's over there.
02:32And then it works its way around the building.
02:35And it might take 10, 15 seconds till everybody actually figures out you're over here.
02:42And then at that point, I got him.
02:44And it's time to pop a beer.
02:46Back in the day, dude, I would drink like six beers on the way to the ring.
02:49Smash him against my head.
02:51I'll be bloody before I even get into the ring.
02:53I mean, that's his personality.
02:55He's drinking beer, spitting it out.
02:58He's pouring beer down your throat.
03:02You feel like you're part of it.
03:04And you are.
03:05If you got a Sandman shirt on, you're definitely getting a beer poured down your throat.
03:08You know what I'm saying?
03:10That's the best part of the show.
03:12Unless you're wrestling.
03:13If you're wrestling, it sucks.
03:14You got to wait for him to get to the ring.
03:15But if you're watching, it's great.
03:17You know, because he gives the fans the way he wanted.
03:19He's one of them.
03:20You know, it's a great entrance.
03:22You know what I mean?
03:23You know what I mean?
03:24I want that moment to last forever.
03:25I want to live in that moment.
03:26It's like the equivalent of getting up and putting a hat on and going and doing your errands.
03:30Except this guy was putting this shit on and going out and entertaining hundreds of thousands of people.
03:36At this point, I'm having as much fun as they're having.
03:39You know what I mean?
03:40Because this is what I want to do.
03:42This is what I worked my whole life to be in this fucking moment right now.
03:46You know what I mean?
03:47I want that moment to last forever.
03:49I want to live in that moment.
03:51It's a party.
03:52You know, his entrance is a party.
03:54And, you know, once that's over, then, you know, you got to see him wrestle.
03:59Oh!
04:00Oh, my God!
04:03Yo, I'm the Sandman.
04:04What the fuck up?
04:06But do people call you Hack?
04:08Yeah, dude.
04:09My parents call me Hack.
04:10My kids call me Hack.
04:12My granddaughter calls me Poppy Hack.
04:14I've had that name since I was five years old.
04:16My older brother gave it to me.
04:18And so what's your introduction to professional wrestling?
04:21Oh, dude, it was like Saturday afternoon.
04:23I watched WWF at 1 o'clock on Saturdays.
04:27Here goes Conrad!
04:28Dude, that's all I ever wanted to be was a professional wrestler.
04:33And the bloody Sandman pulled through that tape!
04:37Let's stick with your upbringing here.
04:39You started getting into some trouble with the law a little bit.
04:41I was all coked up and I was drunk and I burglarized the house, which is basically the only real crime crime that I ever did.
04:51And my first day in jail, I punched a guard in the face.
04:54I got in a fight with a guy over the television.
04:56I was watching something and he went to change it.
04:59And then we got in a fight.
05:00The guards went to break it up.
05:02He ducked.
05:03I punched a guard in the face.
05:04Broke his glasses.
05:06I was lucky I didn't get charged with assault on a guard.
05:09That could have been a couple years, you know what I mean?
05:11But I ended up literally going to the hole for six months.
05:15I'm glad it happened because, you know, it's throwing a rock in a pond.
05:19If that ripple's not there, maybe this ripple's not here.
05:24It's just the stupid shit I walk into in my life.
05:30I get out of jail.
05:31It's like 84 and like this new club opens up.
05:37And dude, the place holds 2,000 people.
05:40It's like five stories high.
05:42It's like the greatest thing ever.
05:43So Thursday nights was 10 bucks all you could drink.
05:46So I'm out there.
05:47I'm on the dance floor.
05:48Some blonde comes up and starts dancing with me, grabs you by my hand,
05:51and starts walking me across the dance floor.
05:53I'm like, all right, where am I going to go have sex with this chick?
05:57Where is...
05:58Because that's exactly what I'm thinking.
06:00We end up going up these stairs.
06:02We're in this little frickin' office.
06:03And I'm like, well, how am I going to do this in this little office?
06:06She goes, take your shirt off.
06:07I'm thinking, how am I going to screw her?
06:09She goes, listen, I'm a producer, director for the Chippendales.
06:12I want you to be at Chippendales.
06:14I was one of those guys who wore the black pants, tight pants,
06:17the cuffs and the collar.
06:18And I just entertained the women.
06:20I don't leave the club until 2 o'clock in the morning.
06:22You know, you're snorting coke with the boys who's down in the locker room
06:25because that's just what you did back in them days.
06:28You know what I mean?
06:29And then I go out to the After Hours Club.
06:31And then I go to the club that opened up at 6 a.m.
06:33It was just crazy, man.
06:35And that was my job for the next year or so until I got fired for soliciting.
06:39You got fired for what?
06:40Soliciting.
06:41And I got...
06:42Because they weren't paying a lot of money.
06:44I had like four guys in on it with me.
06:46So it was $100 to do us.
06:48There was the Alpine Inn down the street.
06:50That was $42.50.
06:51So it would cost you $100 for us, $42.50 for the Alpine Inn for however long it took.
06:56And that lasted for about six months until, I don't know, just one day.
07:00There's a couple state troopers.
07:01They're like, listen, we can file some charges or you can quit and tell us who your boys are.
07:07I said, well, I'm not telling you who my boys are.
07:09That's your job to figure that out.
07:11But I'll quit.
07:12So I was done.
07:13He was not the type that I would have saw myself going for, really.
07:18He was very, I don't know if you want to say flamboyant, but something drew me to him.
07:24And believe it or not, that night we sat and talked and he was just like, I think I could love you.
07:31Hey, I work quick.
07:33Dude, that's kind of how I've been with, it's like I meet him and then like, I'm in.
07:38I ended up actually a few months later finding out I was pregnant and he said he'd like to get married before the child was born.
07:47So he wasn't born out of wedlock.
07:49Miss Peaches!
07:50My name is Lori Strzelecki, AKA Peaches from ECW and Sam Mann's ex-wife.
08:02He was in construction at the time and Joel Goodhart opened up a wrestling school.
08:07I had to go check it out.
08:08And then next thing you know, dude, like three days later I gave the guy like 35, 100 bucks.
08:13Three months later I was in the ring.
08:14It's not going to be pretty, there's going to be blood, there's going to be broken bones and it's me and you.
08:20When I first saw him, it was probably 1991.
08:23He was a surfer, he had white stuff on his nose, he wore a wetsuit and he carried a surfboard.
08:27From South Beach, California, this is the Sandman!
08:33My name's Sabu, I've been wrestling over 30 years and I participated in ECW.
08:38Oh my God!
08:40I remember him and he came out with Peaches, his wife.
08:43I met up with the promoter and he goes, I got your name, you're going to be Mr. Sandman.
08:47And he looks at my wife then, he goes, you're going to be Peaches.
08:50Peaches!
08:53I used to wear this God awful wetsuit that smelled horrible.
08:58I'm Kelly and the Sandman is my dad.
09:01And he would come out with my mom, Miss Peaches, and he would come out with his stupid surfboard.
09:06That was his very first gimmick.
09:08You know, it started out doing like little gymnasiums and like car dealerships.
09:13But it was like just a fresh new company.
09:17It was like everybody was just getting their bearings, you know, or feeling it out.
09:22But he was consistent with it.
09:24It was like his life's dream.
09:25It's my pleasure for being here with all you people!
09:28Because if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have this belt!
09:32The gimmick was bad.
09:34His ability was not.
09:35I mean, he was big.
09:36He was good looking.
09:37Very bright.
09:38Very athletic.
09:39My name is Todd Gordon.
09:41I'm the creator and the founder of Extreme Championship Wrestling.
09:44Well, thank heaven.
09:45Here's our commissioner.
09:46And here's Todd.
09:47Sandman and I have been best friends since we first met 30 years ago.
09:50When I started my own company, which was Eastern Championship Wrestling at the time.
09:54Which became Extreme Championship Wrestling.
09:56He was one of my first grouping of people to use.
09:59I've had that belt.
10:00I've been there before.
10:01And I'll be there again.
10:03Sandman now on top of things.
10:06Philadelphia's Eastern Championship Wrestling was a struggling indie promotion.
10:11Until the arrival of Paul Heyman transforms the company into Extreme Championship Wrestling.
10:17He's done it!
10:22Paul Heyman was the right guy because he had a great mind for the business.
10:27How to be a Rule Breaker 101.
10:30Dude, he's the greatest mind ever in the history of professional wrestling.
10:34Creatively, nobody could touch Paul Heyman and come anywhere close to that dude.
10:40I would not be sitting here right now if it wasn't for Paul Heyman giving me the ball and let me run.
10:47First night, I go in there, fucking, he sees me at the surfboard.
10:51He goes, that's getting broken over your head tonight.
10:54And then the next thing you know, I forgot my wrestling boots.
10:59I'm like, Paul, sorry dude, I forgot my wrestling boots.
11:01He goes, I don't give a fuck.
11:03And I'm like, I don't have to wear wrestling shoes no more.
11:07Dude, it was a fucking light bulb going off in my head when Paul Heyman says, I don't give a fuck if they're wearing wrestling boots.
11:18I'm like, boom, I'm not even going to change.
11:21I'm going to wear the clothes.
11:22I'm going to, I'm going to show up to the arena and dude, I'm going to be me.
11:27I'm just going to fucking be me out there.
11:29And it got to that.
11:31It was at that point.
11:32I'm like, you're never going to be able to walk through this curtain again.
11:34Like, you literally cannot enter the ring like a normal wrestler ever again, because this is what's expected of you.
11:41He will be more hardcore than the next Tracy Lords video.
11:53And as for me, Paul Heyman, you say, haven't had a shave in a couple of weeks and don't look like I really care anymore.
12:00Upon Paul Heyman's arrival, the Sandman drops his surfer look, changing with the times to reinvent himself with a whole new persona.
12:10I was always trying to figure what hasn't somebody done.
12:15Well, the good time's over.
12:16Here comes the Sandman.
12:18I'm the guy that's in the bar, loses a game of pool, and once again, into a fight with you.
12:22That was me in my life, dude.
12:24That was my regular Friday and Saturday night.
12:27You know what I mean?
12:28Like, I was a gimmick by my side.
12:30I was born as a gimmick.
12:32We got to be ourselves in the dressing room and ourselves in the ring.
12:35The beauty of Paul's intelligence is he makes you figure it out.
12:39With trial and error, that's how he became the Sandman.
12:43Hey, Daddy, my name is Bill Fonzie Alfonso, and I am a 40-year-plus veteran of sports entertainment.
12:52This is a winner!
12:53He's a winner!
12:54He's a winner!
12:55Fuck you and us!
12:57He would put things together in his head that he thought would work in ECW, and they did.
13:02Life's a bitch.
13:05And then you marry one.
13:08He's a typical Philly guy.
13:11Like, you go to a bar, you get in a brawl, you know, here's the dude.
13:14He was a relatable character.
13:16People could kind of identify with that South Philly vibe.
13:20He was your buddy who would come off the couch and just step into the ring and swing a cane and drink a beer.
13:27My name is Raven, professional wrestling superstar, but you already know that.
13:31For the first time ever, Raven goes one-on-one with the Sandman.
13:38You know, every fan says, oh, I would get in the ring.
13:41Sandman with the guillotine leg drop.
13:44But he's the guy that actually goes and does it.
13:46Part of being a good worker is knowing how to get your character over and how to keep your character over.
13:51And he's done that for, you know, 35 years now.
13:55Is there trial and error when you're coming up with stuff?
13:58Oh, yeah, and like coming through the crowd.
14:01I think I came through the crowd because me and Missy were coming through the crowd.
14:06Dude.
14:08Me and Missy.
14:13We're in fucking Queens.
14:15And there's a strip club.
14:18Me and Missy are over in the strip club and my music's playing.
14:21It's already played once this whole time.
14:23So I wasn't going fucking up through the back and doing there.
14:26I just went through the front fucking door.
14:29Boom.
14:30Light bulb.
14:31Nobody's come through the crowd before.
14:33Just drinking his beer, walking through the audience.
14:36Meanwhile, he's drunk off his ass by the injuries.
14:38Then he's drinking five on the way to the ring.
14:40We trusted him because we knew he was able to do it.
14:45My name is RVD.
14:48That stands for Rob Van Dam.
14:50Van Dam!
14:54You know, he proved himself that he was able to wrestle when he was drunk.
14:59Watching him, I would get nervous with his freaking ass climbing up on the top rope.
15:03And I'm like, is he really going to attempt this aerial maneuver right now?
15:07I know I can trust him.
15:11Drunk.
15:12Anybody drunk?
15:13No.
15:14Sandman, yes.
15:15Anybody else?
15:16I wouldn't allow it either.
15:17Sandman, you're not drunk?
15:19I'm not wrestling you.
15:20So how did the Singapore Canaan come to be?
15:23So, it's a Sunday.
15:25Paul's like, let's go outside.
15:26And we're standing next to this fucking tree.
15:28Paul goes, you know that kid overseas that got caught spray baiting the car?
15:32I'm like, yeah, the kid Michael Fay.
15:34He goes, good, you know what I'm talking about.
15:36Singapore had sentenced an 18-year-old American to six strokes with a bamboo cane.
15:41And I said, yeah, dude, you ever see that fucking cane that they use?
15:44Every shot they hit you with, it makes you bleed.
15:46He goes, you're going to start carrying a Singapore cane to the ring.
15:49I'm like, Paul, okay, what am I going to use?
15:52He goes, rips a branch off the fucking tree, rips all the little other branches off and says,
15:58get some tape wrapping around there, that's going to be your Singapore cane.
16:01I want you to cut a promo with it.
16:03The first ever Singapore canning match.
16:06May 14th, Saturday night, ECW.
16:11And now, it's the Sandman canning, Ironman Tommy Cairo.
16:16Did you hear that?
16:17And then the angle with Dreamer, just .
16:20What happened there?
16:21It went to 10 lashes.
16:23I can't look.
16:26It skyrocketed, both of our careers.
16:28He got his ass kicked, but he took it like a man.
16:31And Philly loves that.
16:32Thank you, sir. May I have another?
16:35And the Sandman takes an 11th shot.
16:38It's hardcore because it's real, and to me, you're pulling something out of the inside of somebody that they're feeling somehow what you're doing in the ring.
16:48Hardcore isn't violence to do violence.
16:51To me, like, the hardcore is violence for a reason.
16:54And then it just means more people, and you can see it in their faces, and you can see how they react.
16:59Sandman wasn't a wrestler.
17:01He was a entertainer.
17:03That's what ECW was about.
17:07Wrestling is entertainment, and you don't have to do a wristlock, a wristwatch, a moonsault to get over.
17:12It doesn't have to be wrestling.
17:14I am getting ready to take you to a new level of extreme.
17:20He got better and better and knew how to play the Sandman, and he was just acting this part out.
17:26Everybody was kind of riding that high.
17:28Everyone was like, man, like, they made it.
17:30We're in this very concentrated community, and everybody knew who he was.
17:35He dropped me off at school, and he's got gash marks on his head from, like, the beer cans.
17:40And my teacher's like, Tyler, are you all right?
17:43I'm Tyler Fullington, and the Sandman is my father.
17:47Every time he was home, you know, he made sure to spend time with us because he knew he would be on the road, you know, a lot, and be away.
17:54And he wanted to make sure that his kids were having his time when he was home, you know, hurting or not.
18:00He would just roll out of bed, throw his pants on, and, like, let's roll.
18:04Literally, he would say, let's roll.
18:06The older and older I got, I felt this is cool and all, but at times I'd rather just have my dad around.
18:13Sandman's schedule becomes even more punishing as ECW explodes in popularity by constantly pushing their own limits.
18:26Paul's show was aimed at adults.
18:30The Sandman exposes his ex-wife!
18:32And so storylines were adult.
18:35The Sandman's got a hold of his wife.
18:38He just, he just pulled up her, and woman is lashing peaches!
18:42Just thought, like, this is, like, the furthest thing from pro wrestling, but Paul would guide us the way that ECW energy needed to be.
18:52Well, I had Nancy with me, too, so that helps.
18:55Why, thank you, Sandman. And that's just the beginning. I've been known to enhance my careers.
19:00She was so smart.
19:01I would be like, yeah, I want to do it this way. She goes, no, we're not doing it that way. We're doing it this way.
19:06I'm like, all right.
19:07And so, if something happens outside of the wrestling world, they're gonna go with it.
19:17And the fans are gonna know about it anyway, because they were all what we call the smart fans, or the smarks.
19:24I walk into the building, and Paul Heyman goes to me, I've been talking to Macaulay Culkin.
19:29This is what we're gonna do. We're gonna bring him in as your kid.
19:33I'm like, dude, I have a Macaulay Culkin sitting right out in my van.
19:36He goes, great, we'll use Tyler.
19:38That's just one of Paul's lies. I had no connection to Macaulay Culkin at all.
19:42That's a lie?
19:43Yeah.
19:44Everybody thinks it's real.
19:46Of course I do.
19:47He can sell you snowballs in winter, trust me.
19:49Yeah, I was about six years old.
19:51My mom, dad came up to me.
19:53How would you like to be part of the show?
19:55I'm like, uh, I guess.
19:58What am I gonna do?
19:59I just remember he takes my wife, and then he takes my kid, and then we're off to the races.
20:04The Sandman's wife, Lori, has long been an ECW fixture as part of her husband's storylines, and now takes center stage in his latest feud with Raven.
20:19You took my child. Tonight, I'm gonna take you Raven to the extreme.
20:26But bringing his son Tyler into the mix is something the wrestling world hasn't seen and wouldn't expect.
20:32Oh dear lord, I don't even know how it all began.
20:37Inside this woman's body began the constant evolution of the Sandman's successor.
20:44Sandman and my feud, I would say, is one of the greatest feuds in the history of the business, but I'm partial because I was in the feud.
20:53But I really think that.
20:55Everybody knows somebody who has a marriage that got ended in divorce, where the child is used as a prop to gain concessions.
21:03All the abuse, the suffering, the emotional alienation that I took as a child is now being inflicted upon your son, Sandman.
21:12And it's the most low-down, dirty, and cruel thing you can do. So I'm like, oh, this is great.
21:17The big crux of it was that Raven and Sandman had been feuding, and they wanted to take it to the next level.
21:22So Raven, quote unquote, stole Sandman's wife.
21:25I've already picked her out through the whole locker room before!
21:29But then he stole Sandman's son, Tyler, which was really controversial because we had a kid who was like five years old in the ring.
21:36Next thing you know, here we are. He's got a little flannel shirt on, and they just coached him in the back a little bit just what to say and, you know.
21:46Don't you dare fucking smile out there. Nothing. I don't want any reaction from you on anything. This is where your face is.
21:55What do you think about that kid?
21:57That's your face, and that's the way you stay.
22:00Look at him. There's the face right there. That's the face that I always told him to have on.
22:06I can close my eyes and see him dress like Raven. It was crazy.
22:12I was young and naive. You know, me and my mom are coming down the aisle.
22:17Raven's a bloody man. He's got barbed wire in his hair or something like that. We just get in front.
22:21Raven says, Tyler, tell him.
22:23Tyler, tell him!
22:24Daddy, you're drunk! Now, I worship Raven!
22:28I hit the line and you could hear like a somberness like almost over the crowd like,
22:34boo, like, like that hurt. It wasn't like a cheer. It wasn't like a boo. Like it was like, oh shit. Like, damn.
22:43I worship Raven. And the whole place was like, oh my. Quiet. And you don't hear that in the arena.
22:56These people ate it up. They were just like, holy shit. You just hurt the Sandman.
23:00Like, Raven became the, the heel's heel. You know, now you came in and you stole his family.
23:07That shit put asses in seats.
23:09Don't do this to me!
23:13Tyler is an amazing actor.
23:15Hey, you little bastard! Why don't you shut up? The Sandman's not even your real dad!
23:21He never missed a cue. He never missed a spot.
23:24Sucks! Shut up, kid.
23:26We'd be gone doing promos after the show. And I'd be drunk and I'd screw up a promo or I'd forget to give him the line.
23:32And he would still hit the line anyway, exactly in the right spot. I mean, he was amazing.
23:36Hey kid, you know the divorce was your daddy's fault, don't you?
23:40I know.
23:41I think I know now more, like, looking back on it, like, hey, those guys were pretty fucking crazy, you know?
23:48Like, but at the time, I was just being a kid.
23:51I don't even know if I was prepared for it, and I'm like, oh my god, this is really happening.
23:56And I'm thinking, this is gonna turn my life upside down, you know?
24:00Because everything had to be separate.
24:02Travel separate, show up separate, leave separate. It was crazy.
24:07We'd be leaving the arena, separate cars, and you have a meeting spot.
24:12You'd pull up to the gas station and kind of look, like, anybody with an ECW shirt on?
24:16Like, alright, get out, switch cars, like, get back in the car, you know? Stuff like that.
24:19You know, the marks, they're always out, always looking for you.
24:23They know exactly who you are, where you go, and it's hard trying to keep that whole storyline separate for as long as we did.
24:32Me, my dad, my mom, Tyler, we did this all together. They might have been in the spotlight, but we did this all together.
24:40We're traveling to shows constantly every week. You know, that was life.
24:46Shit, there were times we'd be driving around New York and they would find this, like, playground.
24:50It's like, 2 o'clock in the morning. We were in, like, bumfuck New York and it was pouring rain and Raven was like,
24:56this is, like, the best weather to, like, we gotta shoot this Pro Bow.
25:00I am their salvation!
25:03And at the very end, they cut to me and I just hit.
25:07Quote to Raven, never more.
25:09Never more.
25:11Quote the Raven, never more.
25:16I had one line, cut it, and I guess I got to go back to sleep.
25:19You see, I control the children!
25:22I just think they got away with doing so much that other companies didn't.
25:28And they just really pushed the line. They pushed every limit that they could.
25:33This is just heartbreaking.
25:36I couldn't do it mentally anymore and I didn't want my kids to be a part of it anymore. It was too much.
25:43The Sandman and Raven storyline proves to be a massive success for the company, but their attempt to take it to the next level could end up bringing ECW down.
25:56The best way to describe Raven is he's a martyr for society's dysfunction.
26:00And he wants everyone to feel his pain.
26:02So I came up with the idea of putting Sandman up on a cross so he could feel my pain.
26:06So I'm like, I can't build a cross. He goes, I'll build it, idiot face.
26:10Dude, people don't realize that I used to build shit, dude. That's what I was. I was a roofer. I was a concrete dude. I was a carpenter.
26:18So he built his own cross and we had a thorny crown. We had a barbed wire crown to be the thorny crown.
26:25Oh, we made sure we got all the little touches on it.
26:28So we throw Sandman out to the floor, meet Stevie and Amini and Nova, and we start tying him to the cross.
26:34We start hoisting it up.
26:37And all of a sudden the place goes, oh, shit.
26:42Putting my dad on a cross that's the, it's a holy figure with barbed wire wrapped around his head as if he's, you know, this embodiment of Jesus Christ.
26:55I wasn't raised very religious, clearly, but somebody seeing that, I mean, I was like, what the fuck is going to happen now?
27:06As the Sandman and Raven steal the ECW spotlight, both are looking to shock the audience, but neither man is prepared for the backstage fallout.
27:23I'm on the cross and Stevie's like, this is fucked up. I'm like, shut the fuck up. This is great, Stevie.
27:29And then we get to the fucking, fucking back and I'm like, damn, that was fucking great, guys.
27:33And Paul, he's like, there's so much heat on this. I'm like, why?
27:36And then everything was great except fucking Kurt Angle happened to be in the fucking building that night.
27:40You know, he's this Olympian. It's his first time being around pro wrestling and shit like that.
27:44You have to understand I'm a Christian kid from Pittsburgh. And when I saw it, I was like, oh, my God, it's a crucifixion.
27:52I was really upset. And I went to Paul Heyman. I said, hey, you can't air this show with me on it. If you do, you're going to hear from my attorney.
27:59And Paul said, well, I didn't even know what's going to happen. He's the promoter. It's the main event. He's full of shit. That was my last straw.
28:08Paul wants to get this Olympic fucking champion to come work for fucking ECW. You know what I mean? So Paul's kissing his ass. So they get fucking Raven to go out in the pie.
28:17I said, that's fucking bullshit. I disagree. Fuck all you dudes. And I just walked away.
28:22And so for the people who I deeply offended, I apologize. Despite the controversy surrounding the crucifixion angle, the scandal doesn't slow the Sandman's momentum.
28:32Dude, are you kidding me? Me and my man Scorp, we have the tag team titles. I have the heavyweight title. And he's got the TV title.
28:41When you and your boy got all the titles in the company, then, you know, you're doing something right.
28:46Despite the accolades and championships, life on the road and ECW's hard-hitting style are taking a toll on the Sandman's body.
28:57Oh, my God!
28:59A lot of injuries from that hard-hitting style.
29:01What, are you kidding me? I've broken like 27 pounds. Yeah.
29:04Broken my neck, this clavicle three times. I need a new hip. I need two shoulder surgeries.
29:10Dude, a superplex off the top rope is a 30-mile-an-hour car crash.
29:14Imagine doing 10 of them every day of your life. Forget it.
29:18I got operated on. This leg is operated on that morning.
29:22They shaved my meniscus and flew back to Philly.
29:25I came into the ring with, I had crutches.
29:27You know what I'm saying? You love what you're doing so much that you just don't care.
29:33I actually was home one night, and I got a call from Todd, and he said,
29:39Hex got a concussion and he can't remember. And I was like, ah, that's a good one.
29:43You guys just go have fun and stop trying to goat me. And he's like, I'm not kidding.
29:49He got hit in the head and he doesn't remember anything. And he's like, I'm dead serious.
29:54So I had gone down. And sure enough, there he was. Who won the match? What did it look like?
30:03I said, I don't know. I wasn't there. Who won the match?
30:06It was relentless. And then that was early on. And there's countless times after that.
30:12I was like, you can't keep doing this. You're not going to be able to do things with the kids.
30:20You know, they just want to keep on going. That's all they know.
30:24You get hurt, you get hurt, so be it. Suck it the fuck up.
30:30He would never take a pill. And then it just got to the point where you're getting this pain.
30:36And well, okay. A couple leads to a couple more. And your body gets used to it. And a couple more.
30:43And then you're drinking. And then you got to go to bed. So you're taking Xanax.
30:48And then you got to be up. So you're doing cocaine. It's a vicious cycle.
30:54And once you get on it, it's very hard to get off.
30:58You know, I knew what was going on. I knew what he kept in his fanny pack.
31:03What am I going to say? I'm a kid.
31:05I don't know. I'm 12, 13 years old. Like, I don't know what a Xanax is or, you know, a PERC or whatever.
31:11At the time, like, it's pain medicine. That's all I know. And if, you know, I got to trust it.
31:16Yeah, it's to help my back, help my neck, you know.
31:19All right. You got to do what you got to do.
31:21You work 300 nights a year getting body slammed. And you tell me what you would do.
31:26You know, as time went on, of course they have the barbed wire, the chairs, the light bulbs, the tacks.
31:33So a couple perks, some somas. And it just progressed.
31:39I used to joke back then, if you pass a piss test, you can't work for us.
31:43We all got hired. We all partied. That's what we did.
31:46I remember my first bag of pills I found. I knew exactly what it was.
31:50I remember my first bag of Coke that I found. First line of Coke I found.
31:54The older and older I got, he was taking drugs and, you know, just going down the wrong path.
32:00We used to go on one month, every Friday, we'd have three doctors that we would go see in Philadelphia.
32:06All three doctors would give us 90 OxyContin 80s. So you're getting 270 OxyContin 80s.
32:16You're getting 300 Percocets. You're getting 300 somas. And everybody would come out. We would call it old. We would get our booty.
32:26There was a lot of drugs that went around addressing him. I remember one time I had a friend that had brought me some mushrooms.
32:33And I was looking forward to trying them after my match. Came for them later and my bag was empty.
32:40And I was like, man, who ate my mushrooms? And Sandman was like, oh, were those yours?
32:47And he ate the whole bag.
32:49He should be dead. Sandman should be dead.
32:52Raven, Sandman, and I was driving in a car. We're going 200 miles.
32:57Raven had gotten hurt like the week before. He had it ruptured. Just sticking out.
33:02So they gave him this highly addictive narcotic.
33:07So we have to stop at a gas station so I can go to the bathroom and so I can shoot up.
33:11Because I got to get my dose in. I had never shot anything before, but I'd seen TV shows and shit like that.
33:17I'm like, dude, what are you doing? He's like, I'm shooting an 80.
33:20He goes, it's really good. I'm like, well, damn, I want to try. I'm in.
33:23You know, because I'm a druggie.
33:25So I go to shoot a whole 80. He goes, dude, do not shoot a whole 80.
33:29You do not want it. I'm like, I just want five of these things a day. I could shoot an 80.
33:33So he shoots up the same amount, too. And we get back in the SUV and we start driving.
33:38Sandman starts going like, he can't breathe right.
33:43I said, Raven, Sandman's having trouble breathing. He said, oh, he'll be all right.
33:48About five minutes later, I said, hey, Daddy, his lips are turning blue.
33:52We're like, what? He said, his lips are turning blue.
33:55We're like, holy shit, he's ODing.
33:57Now we got a problem. He's dying.
34:00The Sandman's reckless nature and persistent drug use have landed him on the brink of death.
34:12Thank God. And they stopped. They called the ambulance. The ambulance came. The adrenaline shot a needle.
34:21They take me to the hospital. I wake up at like four in the morning.
34:25I ripped the shit out of my arms, grabbed my shit out of the hospital.
34:28Fucking went into the hotel, fell asleep, got up and went to the show the next day.
34:31And shot an Oxycontin 80 and loved it.
34:34I liked it so much. I'm like, dude, I can't do this again. I'll end up fucking really actually being dead. Never did it again.
34:42I found bills in my mail that show that he was resuscitated from shooting up and flatlining. And he never told me.
34:52I wasn't telling her. Oh yeah, I OD'd fucking on the road last week. Almost died. Yeah, I'm not coming home with that story fucking Sunday afternoon.
35:01As the Sandman struggles with his personal issues, ECW experiences a decline as its top stars leave for bigger, more mainstream promotions.
35:11Towards the end of ECW, WCW and WWF was picking our talent. They would leave us and go to WWF.
35:19So Sandman got one of those offers to go to WCW and make five times the money he was making in ECW.
35:26So why wouldn't he? And all the guys up there were huge, big monster guys.
35:31And Sandman was a big, tall kid, but not big muscle bound, but he wanted to get big.
35:37But he didn't remember he didn't work out. He didn't go to the gym at all.
35:40So he ordered all kinds of steroids called the gas.
35:44So that's the six months that I was doing the juice, the steroids and the growth hormone.
35:48And the only reason why I did it was because I was going to WCW and that was the land of the freaking giants.
35:55What was funny about when Sandman went to WCW was he got jacked, like for the first time ever.
36:01Of course we had access to the best gas on the planet from Germany or whatever, the latest shit that makes you big.
36:11So he was on it and it affects your thought. It makes you mean sometimes. It has an effect on your personality.
36:19It turned my dad into an abusive, harmful individual. And my mom turned into this almost subservient, meek woman for a little while.
36:32Breaking point for me was the abuse.
36:34So your dad was actually like getting physically abusive?
36:37Yeah.
36:38My hair pulled. I had a pillow put over my face. Not just physically abuse, but mental abuse. You're stupid. You know, a bunch of that.
36:51And sometimes the mental stuff was harder than the physical.
36:56We were at his house and we're at the table and he's being a dick to his wife. And he poured a beer on her head. He wouldn't have done it unless he was all fucking gassed up and drunk.
37:09So Sam Ann just got a shipment, $10,000 shipment of steroids and pizzas went in the refrigerator and she fucking dumped it all out in the front lawn.
37:22And he said, do you realize you just dumped $10,000 worth of shit? She said, I don't give a fuck, Sam Ann. You're acting like a dick on this shit.
37:30I don't care, you know, because it made him angry. Like he was just angry.
37:36It hurt. As much as I loved him, I hated his guts, you know, because it was difficult. It was extremely difficult to see my mom go through what she had to go through.
37:46And like, you love us so much. How could you treat somebody you love like that? He's your parent and you know it's not right, but you don't know how to help. You know, you don't know what to do.
37:55It got harder and harder to, you know, trust him and, you know, want to be around him.
38:01I put fucking Lori through hell. Now I understand like her perspective, you know what I mean? And it was all me. If I could have had my shit together, then maybe me and her would still be together. Who knows?
38:13All I can say is I stayed in too long. And there's always help to guide you to where you need to be.
38:27My mom took her a while. But she made a decision. And she decided that this is not how she wants to live her life anymore. She's got three kids.
38:40Well, it was all my fault. And I know it. Dude, she was like an angel. I was like the devil reincarnated for a little while. Maybe for a long while.
38:51In 2001 ECW closes its doors and two years later its assets are sold to Vince McMahon's WWE.
39:06Giving the Sandman one last shot in the spotlight.
39:10As the brand is relaunched. What's that smell?
39:13Sandman's character was kind of watered down, you know, no cigarette smoking, no beer.
39:19Drinking on the job? What the hell is this?
39:23Society had changed, and so he wasn't used as well as he could have been.
39:28That's not the ECW that I know, that's not the ECW that the fans know.
39:33A lot of the original ECW fans want to forget about that time.
39:40Sandman's time in the WWE is brief and unremarkable.
39:44And though his wrestling career is largely over, his troubles with addiction continue.
39:50I got a phone call. Dad just got arrested.
39:53He's going to jail. Like, I was at work. I'm like, for what?
39:58So, me and my brother packed our shit, drove up to New York.
40:02How am I gonna find a freaking lawyer? I don't even know what he did.
40:06Like, I'm in Yonkers, New York.
40:08I'd watched him wrestle for how many years?
40:10He walked into this courtroom looking like he just got put through a washing machine.
40:13He, like, physically looked hurt, and I was just like, what happened?
40:1730 Long Island ICDs, that's what happened.
40:20All right, everybody here is thinking, you know what? This guy's drunk.
40:26You're right!
40:29I got in a fight with the owner or something. He threw a bottle at me, hit me in the head.
40:32I chased him into the kitchen, broke a bunch of shit in the kitchen,
40:36and then the SWAT team came in. Took me away.
40:40Basically, I had to go through the court system. They finally set his bail.
40:44So, I remember calling this back, and I'm like, listen, I need you to authorize a $10,000 from ATMs.
40:50And she's like, well, there's only gonna be, like, a $2,000 limit for each ATM, and that's just the ATM itself.
40:56Like, if you're only allowed to take so much. So, here I am bouncing around until I got to $10,000.
41:01So, I would be on the phone with them at an ATM, because, you know, you see these kids getting money out of an ATM.
41:07They're gonna rob you!
41:09Finally, we're able to give them bail about, like, three, four or something in the morning.
41:13I remember walking into this, like, huge prison, and, like, giving them this money, and, like, out comes my dad.
41:22And I was like, get the fuck in the fucking car. We're fucking going home. I can't fucking believe.
41:27And, like, of course. Of course. Like, this is my life.
41:33No kid should have to do that.
41:35It was your life. You lived it.
41:38But you just, you know, don't know how horrible it is until later.
41:41Or how horrible you might have made it for other people that you love.
41:49Deep down, he realizes he's done a lot of bad, and that maybe this is his redemption.
41:57I would like for him to accept what was, accept what he has, and move on from here.
42:06But I think it's gonna be kind of cleansing for all of us, and hopefully himself, to just let it go.
42:18I don't know. I'm an idiot. Dude, I've been so self-sabotaging in my life.
42:24It's like there's been a lot of just personal destruction.
42:29And now it hits me a little bit different because I'm older, and you think about the stupid shit that you've done.
42:36That kind of changes everything. You know what I mean?
42:38So there's a different perspective in my head now.
42:41I want him to realize, no matter how bad things were at times, including family life,
42:47that where he came from and what he did was a lot of hard work and, you know, accomplishment.
42:53Was it perfect by any stretch of your imagination? No.
42:57He's made a lot of mistakes, and nobody wanted to tell you.
42:59But he's self-made, and it's okay to say that.
43:04He lived his life's dream. There always has to be an end for everyone.
43:08There always has to be an end to what you can do, and you've done it.
43:11A lot of people can't say that they've done that.
43:14He can still be the Sandman. He still is the Sandman. There never will be another Sandman.
43:18I really just wish that he would understand that what happened happened, and he can move forward.
43:25Sandman is an icon.
43:29Poster boy for hardcore.
43:31People love Sandman.
43:34I am the hardcore icon.
43:37I mean, who else is gonna drink beer, smoke cigarettes, swing a cane, wear sweatpants to the ring, t-shirt, and get over it?
43:46What about Sandman? What's his legacy?
43:49First person to do a lot of shit. You know, the first person to bleed before he got in the ring.
43:54The first person to come out of the crowd, you know what I mean? Smoke a cigarette.
43:58I am the king of extreme!
44:04Smoking, drinking, yeah. Cool.
44:08Wonder why I'm fucking fucked up with that.