Dark Side of the Ring Season 5 Episode 9
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00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 (alarm buzzing)
00:08 - In the 274 pounds, the Sandman!
00:13 - In the 1990s, extreme championship wrestling
00:20 was meaner, more aggressive, and bloodier
00:22 than anything audiences had seen before.
00:25 As the demands of the company's rabid fan base
00:29 led to a dangerous escalation of in-ring violence.
00:32 - What is this?
00:33 These guys are crazy.
00:35 - It felt so personal.
00:37 And I think that's why the fans were so involved with it.
00:40 - People didn't know if it was scripted or not.
00:43 - And the more popular it got,
00:45 the more they had to top the last show.
00:48 - An escalation embodied by the Sandman.
00:52 - You know, got his jeans on, his T-shirt on,
00:54 his kendo stick, smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer.
00:57 Fans like, "I could be this guy."
00:58 - You might think it is because all you see
01:00 is a beer drinking, cigarette smoking scumbag.
01:04 - Sandman's character was as organic as it could get.
01:08 - God, I love this shit.
01:09 - There's not a whole lot of difference
01:11 between James Fullington and the Sandman.
01:13 - What can I do that somebody hasn't done?
01:15 I can make myself bleed before I get into the ring.
01:18 Nobody else has done that.
01:20 - Though a hardcore icon, countless injuries
01:23 and a lawless locker room create no shortage
01:26 of controversies, leaving the Sandman
01:29 with a brutal and complicated legacy.
01:32 - Somebody has got to stop the Sandman!
01:34 - Why fuck with what's going on in the back?
01:36 - So there was the coke heads, there was the pot heads,
01:38 there was, you know, painkillers.
01:40 - Then we got all the alcohol, drugs, pills
01:42 that you could possibly think of.
01:44 - I don't know if he remembers even half
01:46 of the stuff that has ever happened.
01:49 - I told my family, I said, "Tell them the fucking worst.
01:52 "People need to know this."
01:55 - He should have been dead a long time ago.
01:57 [dramatic music]
02:00 - That entrance, let's talk about it for a second.
02:11 - Yeah, all right.
02:12 - For people who have never experienced it,
02:13 like what is the Sandman's entrance?
02:16 - So my music's playing, maybe some days it's 30 seconds,
02:19 some days it's a minute and a half.
02:21 But at the one point it's like, all right,
02:23 everybody should be clapping your hands at this point.
02:25 So when I come in, I don't want everybody
02:28 to see me at one time.
02:30 I want like some people to see me and they'll be like,
02:32 "Oh shit, he's over there."
02:33 And then it works its way around the building.
02:36 It might take 10, 15 seconds till everybody
02:39 actually figures out you're over here.
02:41 And then at that point I got him.
02:44 And it's time to pop a beer.
02:46 Back in the day, dude, I would drink like six beers
02:49 on the way to the ring.
02:51 Smash him against my head.
02:52 I'd be bloody before I even get into the ring.
02:55 I mean, that's his personality.
02:57 He's drinking beer, spitting it out.
03:00 He's pouring beer down your throat.
03:01 You feel like you're part of it and you are.
03:06 - If you got a Sandman shirt on,
03:08 you're definitely getting a beer poured down your throat.
03:10 You know what I'm saying?
03:11 - It's the best part of the show, unless you're wrestling.
03:14 If you're wrestling, it sucks.
03:15 You gotta wait for him to get to the ring.
03:16 But if you're watching, it's great.
03:18 You know, 'cause you get the fans to play wine.
03:20 He's one of them, you know.
03:22 It's a great entrance.
03:23 - With those pants and put the do-rag on,
03:26 it's like the equivalent of getting up and putting a hat on
03:29 and going and doing your errands.
03:30 Except this guy was putting this shit on
03:32 and going out and entertaining hundreds of thousands
03:36 of people.
03:37 - At this point, I'm having as much fun as they're having.
03:40 You know what I mean?
03:40 Because this is what I wanna do.
03:43 This is what I worked my whole life to be
03:45 in this fucking moment right now.
03:47 You know what I mean?
03:48 I want that moment to last forever.
03:50 You know, I wanna live in that moment.
03:52 It's a party.
03:53 You know, his entrance is a party.
03:55 And you know, once that's over,
03:57 then you know, you gotta see him wrestle.
03:59 - Oh, oh my God!
04:02 - Yo, I'm the Sandman.
04:05 What the fuck up?
04:06 - But do people call you Hack?
04:09 - Yeah, dude.
04:10 My parents call me Hack.
04:11 My kids call me Hack.
04:13 My granddaughter calls me Poppy Hack.
04:15 I've had that name since I was five years old.
04:17 My older brother gave it to me.
04:19 - And so what's your introduction to professional wrestling?
04:21 - Oh dude, it was like Saturday afternoon.
04:24 I watched WWWF at one o'clock on Saturdays.
04:28 - Here goes Conrad.
04:29 - Dude, that's all I ever wanted to be
04:33 was a professional wrestler.
04:34 - And the bloody Sandman drove through that tape.
04:38 - Let's stick with your upbringing here.
04:40 You started getting in some trouble
04:41 with the law a little bit?
04:42 - I was all coked up and I was drunk
04:44 and I burglarized the house,
04:47 which is basically the only like real crime crime
04:50 that I ever did.
04:52 My first day in jail, I punched a guard in the face.
04:55 I got in a fight with a guy over the television.
04:57 I was watching something and he went to change it.
05:00 And then we got in a fight, the guards went to break it up.
05:03 He ducked, I punched the guard in the face.
05:05 Broke his glasses.
05:07 I was lucky I didn't get charged with assault on a guard.
05:10 That could have been a couple of years,
05:11 you know what I mean?
05:12 But I ended up literally going to the hole for six months.
05:15 I'm glad it happened because, you know,
05:18 it's throwing a rock in a pond.
05:20 If that ripple's not there, maybe this ripple's not here.
05:23 It's just the stupid shit I walk into in my life.
05:28 I get out of jail, it's like 84,
05:32 and like this new club opens up.
05:34 And dude, the place holds 2000 people.
05:40 It's like five stories high.
05:42 It's like the greatest thing ever.
05:44 So Thursday nights was 10 bucks all you could drink.
05:47 So I'm out there, I'm on the dance floor.
05:49 Some blonde comes up and starts dancing with me,
05:51 grabs me by my hand and starts walking me across the dance.
05:54 So I'm like, all right,
05:55 where am I gonna go have sex with this chick?
05:58 Where is, 'cause that's exactly what I'm thinking.
06:01 We end up going up these stairs,
06:03 we're in this little fricking office.
06:04 And I'm like, why am I gonna do this in this little office?
06:07 She goes, "Take your shirt off."
06:08 Figured, how am I gonna screw her?
06:09 She goes, "Listen, I'm a producer,
06:11 "director for the Chippendales.
06:13 "I want you to be at Chippendales."
06:15 I was one of those guys who wore the black pants,
06:17 tight pants, the cuffs and the collar.
06:19 And I just entertained the women.
06:21 I don't leave the club until two o'clock in the morning.
06:23 You know, you're snorting Coke with the boys
06:25 who's down in the locker room
06:26 because that's just what you did back in them days.
06:28 You know what I mean?
06:29 And then I go out to the after hours club
06:31 and then I go to the club that opened up at 6 a.m.
06:34 It was just crazy, man.
06:36 And that was my job for the next year or so.
06:38 So I got fired for soliciting.
06:40 - You got fired for what?
06:41 - Soliciting, 'cause they weren't paying a lot of money.
06:44 I had like four guys in on it with me.
06:47 So it was a hundred bucks to do us.
06:49 There was the Alpine Inn down the street.
06:51 That was 42.50.
06:52 So it would cost you a hundred for us,
06:53 42.50 for the Alpine Inn for however long it took.
06:57 And that lasted for about six months until,
06:59 I don't know, just one day.
07:01 There was a couple of state troopers.
07:02 They're like, "Listen, we can file some charges
07:05 "or you can quit and tell us who your boys are."
07:08 I said, "Well, I'm not telling you who my boys are.
07:10 "That's your job to figure that out, but I'll quit."
07:12 So I was done.
07:14 - He was not the type
07:16 that I would have saw myself going for, really.
07:18 He was very, I don't know if you want to say flamboyant,
07:22 but something drew me to him.
07:25 And believe it or not, that night we sat and talked
07:28 and he was just like, "I think I could love you."
07:31 - Hey, I work quick.
07:33 Dude, that's kind of how I've been with,
07:36 it's like I meet him and then like I'm in.
07:39 - I ended up actually a few months later
07:42 finding out I was pregnant.
07:44 And he said he'd like to get married
07:46 before the child was born.
07:47 So he wasn't born out of wedlock.
07:50 - Miss Peaches!
07:52 - My name is Laurie Strzelecki,
07:58 AKA Peaches from ECW and Sam Manzac's wife.
08:03 He was in construction at the time
08:05 and Joel Goodheart opened up a wrestling school.
08:08 - I had to go check it out.
08:09 And then next thing you know, dude, like three days later,
08:12 I gave the guy like 3,500 bucks.
08:14 Three months later, I was in the ring.
08:16 - It's not gonna be pretty, there's gonna be blood,
08:19 there's gonna be broken bones and it's me and you.
08:21 - When I first signed, it was probably 1991.
08:24 He was a surfer, he had white stuff on his nose,
08:27 he wore a wet suit and he carried a surfboard.
08:29 - From South Beach, California, this is the Sandman!
08:34 - My name's Sabu, I've been wrestling over 30 years
08:37 and I participated in ECW.
08:39 - Oh my God!
08:41 - I remember him and he came out with Peaches, his wife.
08:44 I met up with the promoter and he goes,
08:46 "I got your name, you're gonna be Mr. Sandman."
08:48 And he looks at my wife then,
08:49 he goes, "You're gonna be Peaches."
08:51 - Peaches!
08:51 - Used to wear this God awful wet suit
08:56 that smelled horrible.
08:59 I'm Kelly and the Sandman is my dad.
09:02 And he would come out with my mom, Miss Peaches,
09:05 and he would come out with his stupid surfboard.
09:07 That was his very first gimmick.
09:09 - You know, it started out doing like little gymnasiums
09:12 and like car dealerships.
09:14 But it was like just a fresh new company.
09:18 It was like everybody was just getting their bearings,
09:21 you know, or feeling it out.
09:23 But he was consistent with it.
09:25 It was like his life's dream.
09:26 - It's my pleasure for being here with all you people!
09:29 'Cause if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have this belt!
09:32 - Irish whip!
09:33 - The gimmick was bad.
09:35 His ability was not.
09:36 I mean, he was big, he was good looking,
09:39 very bright, very athletic.
09:41 My name is Todd Gordon.
09:43 I'm the creator and the founder
09:44 of Extreme Championship Wrestling.
09:46 - Well, thank heaven, here's our commissioner, here's Todd!
09:48 - Sandman and I have been best friends
09:49 since we first met 30 years ago,
09:51 when I started my own company,
09:53 which was Eastern Championship Wrestling at the time,
09:55 which became Extreme Championship Wrestling.
09:57 He was on my first grouping of people to use.
10:00 - I've had that belt, I've been there before,
10:02 and I'll be there again!
10:05 - Sandman now on top of things!
10:07 - Philadelphia's Eastern Championship Wrestling
10:09 was a struggling indie promotion
10:12 until the arrival of Paul Heyman transforms the company
10:16 into Extreme Championship Wrestling.
10:18 - He's gonna get, he's done it!
10:21 - Paul Heyman was the right guy
10:25 because he had a great mind for the business.
10:28 - How to be a rule breaker 101.
10:32 - Dude, he's the greatest mind ever
10:33 in the history of professional wrestling.
10:36 Creatively, nobody could touch Paul Heyman
10:39 or come anywhere close to that dude.
10:41 I would not be sitting here right now
10:44 if it wasn't for Paul Heyman giving me the ball
10:47 and letting me run.
10:48 First night, I go in there,
10:50 fucking, he sees me at the surfboard,
10:52 he goes, "That's getting broken over your head tonight."
10:55 And then the next thing you know,
10:58 I forgot my wrestling boots.
10:59 I'm like, "Paul, I'm sorry, dude,
11:01 "I forgot my wrestling boots."
11:02 He goes, "I don't give a fuck."
11:04 I'm like, "I don't have to wear wrestling shoes no more."
11:09 Dude, it was a fucking light bulb going off in my head
11:13 when Paul Heyman says, "I don't give a fuck
11:17 "if you're wearing wrestling boots."
11:19 I'm like, "Boom, I'm not even gonna change.
11:21 "I'm gonna wear the clothes.
11:23 "I'm gonna show up to the arena
11:25 "and dude, I'm gonna be me.
11:28 "I'm just gonna fucking be me out there."
11:31 - And it got to that, it was at that point,
11:32 I'm like, "You're never gonna be able
11:33 "to walk through this curtain again.
11:35 "You literally cannot enter the ring
11:38 "like a normal wrestler ever again
11:41 "because this is what's expected of you."
11:43 - He will be more hardcore
11:52 than the next Tracy Lords video.
11:54 And as for me, Paulie Dangerously,
11:56 haven't had a shave in a couple of weeks
11:59 and don't look like I really care anymore.
12:01 - Upon Paul Heyman's arrival,
12:04 the Sandman drops his surfer look,
12:07 changing with the times to reinvent himself
12:10 with a whole new persona.
12:12 - I was always trying to figure
12:14 what hasn't somebody done?
12:16 - Well, the good times over.
12:17 Here comes the Sandman.
12:19 - I'm the guy that's in the bar,
12:20 loses game of pool,
12:22 and once again, I don't fight with you.
12:24 That was me in my life, dude.
12:25 That was my regular Friday and Saturday night.
12:28 You know what I mean?
12:29 Like, I was a gimmick by my side.
12:31 I was born as a gimmick.
12:34 - We got to be ourselves in the dressing room
12:35 and ourselves in the ring.
12:36 The beauty of Paul's intelligence
12:38 is he makes you figure it out.
12:41 - With trial and error,
12:42 that's how he became the Sandman.
12:44 Hey, daddy, my name is Bill Fonzie Alfonso,
12:48 and I am a 40-year-plus veteran of sports entertainment.
12:53 - This is a winner!
12:55 He's a winner!
12:56 Fuck you, Alfonso!
12:58 - He would put things together in his head
13:00 that he thought would work in ECW,
13:02 and they did.
13:04 - Life's a bitch.
13:05 And then you marry one.
13:09 - He's a typical Philly guy.
13:11 Like, you go to a bar, you get in a brawl,
13:14 you know, here's the dude.
13:15 He was a relatable character.
13:17 People could kind of identify with that South Philly vibe.
13:21 - He was your buddy who would come off the couch
13:24 and just step into the ring
13:26 and swing a cane and drink a beer.
13:28 My name is Raven, professional wrestling superstar.
13:31 But you already know that.
13:33 - For the first time ever,
13:35 Raven goes one-on-one with the Sandman.
13:39 - You know, every fan says, "Oh, I would get in the ring."
13:42 - Sandman with the guillotine leg drop.
13:44 - But he's the guy that actually goes and does it.
13:47 Part of being a good worker
13:48 is knowing how to get your character over
13:50 and how to keep your character over.
13:52 And he's done that for, you know, 35 years now.
13:56 - So is there trial and error
13:57 when you're coming up with stuff?
13:58 - Well, yeah, and, like, coming through the crowd.
14:01 I think I came through the crowd
14:02 because me and Missy were coming through the crowd.
14:06 Me and Missy.
14:10 We're in fucking Queens.
14:16 And there's a strip club.
14:18 Me and Missy are over in the strip club
14:21 and my music's playing.
14:22 It's already played once this whole time.
14:24 So I wasn't going fucking up through the back
14:26 and doing that.
14:27 I just went through the front fucking door.
14:29 Boom, light bulb.
14:32 Nobody's come through the crowd before.
14:34 - Just drinking his beer, walking through the audience.
14:37 Meanwhile, he's drunk off his ass by then
14:38 and he's drinking five on the way to the ring.
14:41 - We trusted him because we knew he was able to do it.
14:46 My name is RVD.
14:48 That stands for Rob Van Dam.
14:51 - Damn!
14:52 - You know, he proved himself
14:57 that he was able to wrestle when he was drunk.
15:00 - Watching him, I would get nervous
15:01 with his freaking ass climbing up on the top rope.
15:04 And I'm like, is he really gonna attempt
15:06 this aerial maneuver right now?
15:08 - I know I can trust him drunk.
15:12 Anybody drunk, no.
15:14 Sandman, yes.
15:15 Anybody else, I wouldn't allow it either.
15:17 But Sandman, you're not drunk.
15:19 I'm not wrestling you.
15:21 - So how did the Singapore Cane come to be?
15:23 - So it's a Sunday.
15:25 Paul's like, let's go outside.
15:26 And we're standing next to this fucking tree.
15:29 Paul goes, you know that kid overseas
15:31 that got caught spray baiting the car?
15:33 I'm like, yeah, the kid Michael Fay.
15:34 He goes, good, you know what I'm talking about.
15:36 - Singapore had sentenced an 18 year old American
15:39 to six strokes with a bamboo cane.
15:41 - And I said, yeah, dude,
15:42 you ever see that fucking cane that they use?
15:44 Every shot they hit you with, it makes you bleed.
15:47 He goes, you're gonna start carrying
15:48 a Singapore cane to the ring.
15:50 I'm like, Paul, okay, what am I gonna use?
15:52 He goes, rips a branch off the fucking tree,
15:57 rips all the little other branches off,
15:59 and says, get some tape wrapping around there.
16:00 That's gonna be your Singapore cane.
16:02 I want you to cut a promo with it.
16:03 - The first ever Singapore Caning Match.
16:07 - May 14th, Saturday night, ECW.
16:10 - And now it's the Sandman Caning, Ironman Tommy Cairo.
16:16 (crowd cheering)
16:17 Did you hear that?
16:18 - And then the angle with Dreamer, just.
16:21 - Yeah, what happened there?
16:22 - We went to 10 lashes.
16:24 - I can't look.
16:25 - It skyrocketed both of our careers.
16:29 He got his ass kicked, but he took it like a man.
16:32 And Philly loves that.
16:33 - Thank you, sir.
16:34 May I have another?
16:36 - And the Sandman takes an 11th shot.
16:40 - It's hardcore because it's real.
16:42 And to me, you're pulling something out
16:44 of the inside of somebody that they're feeling somehow
16:48 what you're doing in the ring.
16:49 Hardcore isn't violence to do violence.
16:52 To me, like the hardcore is violence for a reason.
16:55 And then it just means more people
16:57 and you can see it in their faces.
16:58 Then you see how they react.
17:00 - Sandman wasn't a wrestler.
17:02 He was a entertainer.
17:04 - That cigarette hit on cameraman right in the eye.
17:06 - That's what ECW was about.
17:08 - Wrestling is entertainment.
17:09 You don't have to do a wrist lock, a wrist watch,
17:12 a moonsault to get over.
17:13 Doesn't have to be wrestling.
17:15 - I am getting ready to take you
17:18 to a new level of extreme.
17:21 - He got better and better and knew how to play the Sandman.
17:24 And he was just acting this part out.
17:27 - Everybody was kind of riding that high.
17:29 Everyone was like, man, like they made it.
17:31 We're in this very concentrated community
17:33 and everybody knew who he was.
17:36 - He's dropped me off at school
17:37 and he's got gas marks on his head from like the beer cans.
17:41 And my teacher's like, Tyler, are you all right?
17:43 I'm Tyler Fullington and the Sandman is my father.
17:48 - Every time he was home, you know,
17:50 he made sure to spend time with us
17:51 because he knew he would be on the road, you know,
17:54 a lot and be away.
17:55 And he wanted to make sure that his kids were having his time
17:59 when he was home, you know, hurting or not.
18:01 - He would just roll out of bed,
18:02 throw pants on and like, let's roll.
18:05 Literally he would say, let's roll.
18:07 - The older and older I got,
18:09 I felt it's just cool and all,
18:10 but at times I'd rather just have my dad around.
18:16 - Sandman's schedule becomes even more punishing
18:19 as ECW explodes in popularity
18:23 by constantly pushing their own limits.
18:25 - Paul's show was aimed at adults.
18:31 - The Sandman exposes his ex-wife.
18:33 - And so storylines were adult.
18:37 - The Sandman's got a hold of his wife.
18:39 He just pulled up her, Ed Woman is lashing peaches.
18:43 - Just thought like, this is like the furthest thing
18:46 from pro wrestling, but Paul would guide us
18:50 the way that ECW energy needed to be.
18:53 - Well, I had Nancy with me too, so that helps.
18:55 - Why, thank you, Sandman.
18:57 And that's just the beginning.
18:59 I've been known to enhance a few careers.
19:01 - She was so smart.
19:03 - I would be like, yeah, I want to do it this way.
19:04 She goes, no, we're not doing it that way.
19:06 We're doing it this way.
19:08 All right.
19:09 (crowd cheering)
19:12 - And so if something happens outside of the wrestling
19:16 world, they're going to go with it.
19:18 And the fans are going to know about it anyway,
19:20 because they were all what we called the smart fans
19:24 or the smarks.
19:25 - I walk into the building and Paul Heyman goes to me,
19:28 I've been talking to Macaulay Culkin.
19:30 This is what we're going to do.
19:32 We're going to bring him in as your kid.
19:34 I'm like, dude, I have a Macaulay Culkin
19:36 sitting right out in my bed.
19:37 He goes, great, we'll use Tyler.
19:39 - That's just what a Paul's like.
19:41 Had no connection to Macaulay Culkin at all.
19:44 - That's a lie?
19:44 - Yeah.
19:45 - Everybody thinks it's real.
19:47 - Of course they do.
19:48 He could sell you snowballs in winter, trust me.
19:50 Yeah, I was about six years old.
19:52 My mom, dad came up to me.
19:54 How would you like to be like part of the show?
19:56 Or I'm like, I guess, what am I going to do?
20:00 - I just remember he takes my wife
20:01 and then he takes my kid and then we're off to the races.
20:05 (upbeat music)
20:07 - The Sandman's wife, Lori, has long been an ECW fixture
20:15 as part of her husband's storylines.
20:17 And now takes center stage in his latest feud with Raven.
20:21 - You took my child.
20:23 Tonight, I'm going to take you Raven to the extreme.
20:27 - But bringing his son Tyler into the mix
20:30 is something the wrestling world hasn't seen
20:33 and wouldn't expect.
20:34 - Oh dear Lord, I don't even know how it all began.
20:38 - Inside this woman's body began the constant evolution
20:43 of the Sandman's successor.
20:46 - Sandman in my feud, I would say,
20:48 is one of the greatest feuds in the history of the business,
20:51 but I'm partial because I was in the feud.
20:53 But I really think that.
20:55 Everybody knows somebody who has a marriage
20:58 that got ended in divorce,
20:59 where the child is used as a prop to gain concessions.
21:04 All the abuse, the suffering,
21:06 the emotional alienation that I took as a child
21:09 is now being inflicted upon your son, Sandman.
21:13 - And it's the most low down, dirty,
21:15 and cruel thing you can do.
21:17 So I'm like, ah, this is great.
21:18 - The big crux of it was that Raven and Sandman
21:20 had been feuding and they wanted to take it to the next level
21:23 so Raven, he quote unquote, stole Sandman's wife.
21:26 - I've already picked her out
21:28 of the whole locker room before.
21:30 - But then he stole Sandman's son, Tyler,
21:32 which was really controversial
21:34 because we had a kid who's like five years old,
21:36 in the ring.
21:37 - Next thing you know, here we are.
21:39 He's got a little flannel shirt on
21:41 and they just coached him in the back a little bit,
21:44 just what to say and you know.
21:47 - Don't you dare fucking smile out there.
21:50 Nothing.
21:51 I don't want any reaction from you on anything.
21:54 This is where your face is.
21:56 - What do you think about that kid?
21:58 - That's your face and that's the way you stay.
22:01 Look at him, there's the face right there.
22:02 That's the face that I always told him to have on.
22:06 Money shot.
22:07 - I can close my eyes and see him dressed like Raven.
22:12 It was crazy.
22:13 - I was young and naive.
22:16 You know, me and my mom were coming down the aisle.
22:18 Raven's a bloody mess, got barbed wire in his hair
22:20 or something like that.
22:20 We just get in front.
22:22 Raven says, "Tyler, tell him."
22:24 - Tyler, tell him.
22:24 - Daddy, you're drunk.
22:26 Now I want your Raven.
22:29 - I hit the line and you could hear like a somberness
22:33 like almost over the crowd, like, "Ooh," like,
22:37 "That hurt."
22:39 It wasn't like a cheer.
22:40 It wasn't like a boo.
22:41 Like it was like, "Oh shit, like, damn."
22:44 - I worship Raven.
22:46 And the whole place was like, "Oh my."
22:51 Quiet.
22:54 And you don't hear that in the arena.
22:57 - These people ate it up.
22:58 They were just like, "Holy shit, you just hurt the Sandman."
23:01 Like Raven became the heel's heel.
23:04 You know, now you came in and you stole his family.
23:08 That shit put asses in seats.
23:10 - Don't do this to me.
23:14 - Tyler is an amazing actor.
23:15 - Hey, you little bastard, why don't you shut up?
23:17 The Sandman's not even your real dad.
23:20 - He never missed a cue.
23:23 He never missed a spot.
23:25 - It sucks.
23:26 - Shut up, kid.
23:27 - We'd be going and doing promos after the show
23:29 and I'd be drunk and I'd screw up a promo
23:31 or I'd forget to give him the line
23:33 and he would still hit the line anyway,
23:34 exactly in the right spot.
23:35 I mean, he was amazing.
23:37 - Hey kid, you know the divorce
23:39 was your daddy's fault, don't you?
23:41 - I know.
23:42 - I think I know now more like looking back on it,
23:45 like, "Man, those guys were pretty fucking crazy,"
23:48 you know, like, but at the time I was just being a kid.
23:52 - I don't even know if I was prepared for it.
23:54 And I'm like, "Oh my God, this is really happening."
23:57 And I'm thinking,
23:57 "This is gonna turn my life upside down," you know?
24:00 'Cause everything had to be separate.
24:03 Travel separate, show up separate, leave separate.
24:06 It was crazy.
24:08 - We'd be leaving the arena, separate cars,
24:11 and you have a meeting spot.
24:13 You pull up to the gas station and kind of look like
24:15 anybody with an ECW shirt on, like,
24:17 "All right, get out, switch cars, get back in the car,"
24:19 you know, stuff like that.
24:20 - You know, the marks, they're always out,
24:23 always looking for you.
24:24 They know exactly who you are, where you go.
24:27 And it's hard trying to keep that whole storyline separate
24:32 for as long as we did.
24:34 - Me, my dad, my mom, Tyler, we did this all together.
24:39 They might've been in the spotlight,
24:40 but we did this all together.
24:42 - We're traveling to shows constantly every week.
24:45 You know, that was life.
24:46 - Shit, there were times we'd be driving around New York
24:49 and they would find this, like, playground.
24:51 It's like two o'clock in the morning.
24:53 We're in, like, bumfuck New York,
24:54 and it was pouring rain, and Raven's like,
24:57 "This is, like, the best weather to, like,
24:59 we gotta shoot this promo."
25:01 - I am their salvation!
25:04 And at the very end, they cut to me, and I just said,
25:08 "Quote to Raven, 'Nevermore.'"
25:12 - Quote to Raven, "Nevermore."
25:13 [laughing]
25:17 I had one line, cut it,
25:18 and I guess I got to go back to sleep.
25:20 You see, I control the children!
25:24 - I just think they got away with doing so much
25:26 that other companies didn't,
25:29 and they just really pushed the line.
25:32 They pushed every limit that they could.
25:34 - This is just heartbreaking.
25:37 - I couldn't do it mentally anymore,
25:39 and I didn't want my kids to be a part of it anymore.
25:42 It was too much.
25:43 - The Sandman and Raven storyline
25:47 proves to be a massive success for the company,
25:50 but their attempt to take it to the next level
25:53 could end up bringing ECW down.
25:56 - The best way to describe Raven
25:59 is he's a martyr for society's dysfunction,
26:01 and he wants everyone to feel his pain.
26:03 So I came up with the idea of putting Sandman up on a cross
26:06 so he could feel my pain.
26:07 So I'm like, "I can't build a cross."
26:09 He goes, "I'll build it, idiot face."
26:11 - Dude, people don't realize that I used to build shit, dude.
26:13 That's what I was.
26:14 I was fuckin', I was a roofer.
26:16 I was a concrete dude, I was a carpenter.
26:19 - So he built his own cross, and we had a thorny crown.
26:22 We had a barbed wire crown that'd be the thorny crown.
26:25 Oh, we made sure we got all the little touches on it.
26:30 So we throw Sandman out to the floor,
26:31 me, Stevie, and Amini, and Nova,
26:33 and we start tying him to the cross.
26:35 We start hoisting it up.
26:37 And all of a sudden, the place goes, "Oh, shit."
26:42 - Putting my dad on a cross
26:45 that's a holy figure with barbed wire wrapped around his head
26:50 as if he's this embodiment of Jesus Christ.
26:54 I wasn't raised very religious, clearly,
26:58 but somebody seeing that, I mean, I was like,
27:03 "What the fuck is gonna happen now?"
27:13 - As the Sandman and Raven steal the ECW spotlight,
27:18 both are looking to shock the audience,
27:20 but neither man is prepared for the backstage fallout.
27:23 - I'm on the cross, and Stevie's like, "This is fucked up."
27:27 I'm like, "Shut the fuck up, this is great, Stevie."
27:29 And then we get to the fuckin' back,
27:31 and I'm like, "Damn, that was fuckin' great, guys."
27:34 - And Paulie's like, "There's so much heat on this."
27:36 I'm like, "Why?"
27:37 - And then everything was great,
27:38 except fuckin' Kurt Angle happened to be
27:40 in the fuckin' building that night.
27:41 You know, he's this Olympian, this is his first time,
27:43 being around pro wrestling and shit like that.
27:45 - You have to understand, I'm a Christian kid from Pittsburgh,
27:49 and when I saw it, I was like, "Oh my God,
27:52 it's a crucifixion."
27:53 I was really upset, and I went to Paul Heyman,
27:56 I said, "Hey, you can't air this show with me on.
27:58 If you do, you're gonna hear from my attorney."
28:00 And Paul said, "Well, I didn't even know
28:02 what was gonna happen."
28:03 He's the promoter, it's the main event, he's full of shit.
28:08 That was my last straw.
28:09 - Paul wants to get this Olympic fuckin' champion
28:12 to come work for fuckin' ECW, you know what I mean?
28:14 So Paul's kissin' his ass.
28:16 So they get fuckin' Raven to go out in the pod,
28:18 I said, "That's fuckin' bullshit, I disagree,
28:21 fuck all you dudes," and I just walked away.
28:23 - And so for the people who I deeply offended,
28:26 I apologize.
28:27 - Despite the controversy surrounding
28:29 the crucifixion angle, the scandal doesn't slow
28:32 the Sandman's momentum.
28:34 - Dude, are you kidding me?
28:35 Me and my man Scorp, we have the tag team titles,
28:38 I have the heavyweight title, and he's got the TV title.
28:42 When you and your boy got all the titles in the company,
28:45 then you know you're doing something right.
28:47 - Despite the accolades and championships,
28:50 life on the road and ECW's hard-hitting style
28:54 are taking a toll on the Sandman's body.
28:56 - Oh my God!
28:59 - A lot of injuries from that hard-hitting style?
29:02 - What, are you kidding me?
29:03 I've broken like 27 bones.
29:05 Yeah.
29:05 I've broken my neck, this clavicle three times.
29:08 I need a new hip, I need two shoulder surgeries.
29:11 Dude, Superplex off the top rope
29:13 is a 30 mile an hour car crash.
29:15 Imagine doing 10 of them every day of your life.
29:18 Forget it.
29:18 I got operated on, this leg is operated on, that morning.
29:23 They shaved my meniscus and flew back to Philly.
29:26 I came into the ring, I had crutches.
29:28 You know what I'm saying?
29:29 You love what you're doing so much
29:32 that you just don't care.
29:35 I actually was home one night and I got a call from Todd
29:39 and he said, "Hack's got a concussion
29:41 and he can't remember."
29:42 And I was like, "Ah, that's a good one.
29:44 You guys just go have fun and stop trying to goat me."
29:48 And he's like, "I'm not kidding."
29:50 He got hit in the head and he doesn't remember anything.
29:53 He's like, "I'm dead serious."
29:55 So I had gone down and sure enough,
29:59 here he was.
30:01 Who won the match?
30:03 What did it look like?
30:04 I said, "I don't know, I wasn't there."
30:06 Who won the match?
30:07 It was relentless.
30:09 And then that was early on
30:10 and there's countless times after that.
30:14 I was like, "You can't keep doing this.
30:16 You're not gonna be able to do things with the kids."
30:21 You know, they just wanna keep on going.
30:23 That's all they know.
30:24 - You get hurt, you get hurt so bad.
30:28 Suck it the fuck up.
30:29 - He would never take a pill.
30:33 And then it just got to the point
30:35 where you get in this pain and well, okay.
30:39 Couple, leads to a couple more
30:42 and your body gets used to it and a couple more.
30:44 And then you're drinking and then you gotta go to bed.
30:47 So you're taking Xanax and then you gotta be up.
30:51 So you're doing cocaine.
30:53 It's a vicious cycle.
30:55 And once you get on it, it's very hard to get off.
30:58 - You know, I knew what was going on.
31:01 I knew what he kept in his fanny pack.
31:04 What am I gonna say?
31:04 I'm a kid.
31:05 - I don't know, I'm 12, 13 years old.
31:07 I don't know what a Xanax is or a Perc or whatever.
31:11 At the time, pain medicine.
31:14 That's all I know and I gotta trust them.
31:17 Yes, to help my back, help my neck.
31:19 All right, you gotta do what you gotta do.
31:22 You work 300 nights a year getting body slammed
31:25 and you tell me what you would do.
31:27 - You know, as time went on,
31:28 of course they have the barbed wire, the chairs,
31:31 the light bulbs, the tacks.
31:33 So a couple of Percs, some Somas,
31:37 and it just progressed.
31:40 - I used to joke back then,
31:42 if you pass a piss test, you can't work for us.
31:44 We all get high, we all party.
31:46 That's what we did.
31:47 - I remember my first bag of pills I found.
31:49 I knew exactly what it was.
31:51 I remember my first bag of Coke that I found.
31:53 First line of Coke I found.
31:55 - The older and older I got, he was taking drugs
31:58 and you know, just going down the wrong path.
32:01 - We used to go on one month, every Friday,
32:04 we'd have three doctors that we would go see
32:06 in Philadelphia.
32:07 All three doctors would give us 90 Oxycodone 80s.
32:12 So you're getting 270 Oxycodone 80s.
32:17 You're getting 300 Percocets.
32:20 You're getting 300 Somas.
32:23 And everybody would come out, we would call it all,
32:25 we would get our booty.
32:27 - There was a lot of drugs that went around the dressing room.
32:30 - I remember one time I had a friend
32:32 that had brought me some mushrooms
32:33 and I was looking forward to trying them after my match.
32:37 Came for them later and my bag was empty.
32:40 And I was like, "Man, who ate my mushrooms?"
32:44 And Sandman was like, "Oh, were those yours?"
32:47 (laughs)
32:48 And he ate the whole bag.
32:50 - He should be dead.
32:51 Sandman should be dead.
32:53 Raven, Sandman, and I was driving in a car,
32:56 we're going 200 miles.
32:58 - Raven had got hurt like the week before.
33:01 He had a ruptured, this sticking out.
33:03 So they gave him this highly addictive narcotic.
33:08 - So we have to stop at a gas station
33:09 so I can go to the bathroom and so I can shoot up
33:12 'cause I gotta get my dose in.
33:14 I had never shot anything before,
33:15 but I'd seen TV shows and shit like that.
33:18 I'm like, "Dude, what are you doing?"
33:19 He's like, "I'm shooting an 80."
33:21 He goes, "It's really good."
33:22 I'm like, "Well, damn, I wanna try."
33:23 I'm in, you know, 'cause I'm a druggie.
33:26 So I go to shoot a whole 80.
33:28 He goes, "Dude, do not shoot a whole 80.
33:30 "You do not wanna."
33:31 I'm like, "I just want five of these things a day.
33:33 "I could shoot an 80."
33:34 - So he shoots up the same amount too
33:36 and we get back in the SUV and we start driving.
33:39 - Sandman starts going like, (snorts)
33:43 he can't breathe right.
33:44 I said, "Raven, Sandman's having trouble breathing."
33:47 He said, "Oh, he'll be all right."
33:49 About five minutes later I said,
33:50 "Hey, Daddy, his lips are turning blue."
33:53 We're like, "What?"
33:54 He's like, "His lips are turning blue."
33:56 We're like, "Holy shit, he's ODing."
33:59 Now we got a problem.
34:00 He's dying.
34:01 - The Sandman's reckless nature and persistent drug use
34:10 have landed him on the brink of death.
34:12 - Thank God they stopped.
34:15 They called the ambulance.
34:16 The ambulance came, the adrenaline shot needle.
34:19 They take me to the hospital.
34:23 I wake up at like four in the morning.
34:25 I rip the shit out of my arms,
34:27 grab my shit out of the hospital,
34:28 fucking went into the hotel, fell asleep,
34:30 got up and went to the show the next day
34:32 and shot an Oxycontin 80 and loved it.
34:35 I liked it so much, I'm like, "Dude, I can't do this again.
34:37 "I'll end up fucking really actually being dead."
34:40 Never did it again.
34:41 - I found bills in my mail that show that he was resuscitated
34:47 from shooting up and flatlining and he never told me.
34:52 I wasn't telling her.
34:54 Oh yeah, I OD'd fucking on the road last week.
34:56 Almost died.
34:58 Yeah, I'm not coming home with that story
35:00 fucking Sunday afternoon.
35:01 - As the Sandman struggles with his personal issues,
35:04 ECW experiences a decline as its top stars
35:08 leave for bigger, more mainstream promotions.
35:11 - Towards the end of ECW, WCW and WWF
35:15 was picking our talent.
35:17 They would leave us and go to WWF.
35:19 So Sandman got one of those offers to go to WCW
35:23 and make five times the money he was making in ECW.
35:27 So why wouldn't he?
35:28 And all the guys up there were huge, big monster guys.
35:32 And Sandman was a big, tall kid, but not big muscle bound.
35:36 But he wanted to get big, but he didn't remember
35:38 he didn't work out, he didn't go to the gym at all.
35:40 So he ordered all kinds of steroids, called it the gas.
35:45 - So that's the six months that I was doing the juice,
35:47 the steroids and the growth hormone.
35:49 And the only reason why I did it was because
35:51 I was going to WCW and that was the land
35:53 of the freaking giants.
35:56 - What was funny about when Sandman went to WCW
35:59 was he got jacked, like for the first time ever.
36:02 - Of course we had access to the best gas on the planet
36:09 from Germany or whatever, the latest shit
36:11 that makes you big.
36:13 So he was on it and it affects your thought.
36:16 It makes you mean sometimes, it has an effect
36:19 on your personality.
36:20 - It turned my dad into an abusive, harmful individual.
36:26 And my mom turned into this almost subservient,
36:30 meek woman for a little while.
36:34 Breaking point for me was the abuse.
36:35 - So your dad was actually like getting physically abusive?
36:38 - Yeah.
36:40 - My hair pulled, I had a pillow put over my face.
36:44 Not just physically abused, but mental abuse.
36:48 You're stupid, you know, a bunch of that.
36:52 And sometimes the mental stuff was harder
36:54 than the physical.
36:57 - We were at his house and we're at the table
37:01 and he's being a dick to his wife.
37:03 And he poured a beer on her head.
37:06 He wouldn't have done it unless he was all fucking
37:08 gassed up and drunk.
37:11 So Sandman just got a shipment, $10,000 shipment
37:15 of steroids and pizzas, went in the refrigerator
37:19 and she fucking dumped it all out in the front lawn.
37:23 And he said, "Do you realize you just dumped $10,000
37:26 worth of shit?"
37:27 She said, "I don't give a fuck, Sandman,
37:28 you're acting like a dick on this shit."
37:31 - I don't care, you know, 'cause it made him angry.
37:34 Like he was just angry.
37:37 - It hurt.
37:40 As much as I loved him, I hated his guts.
37:42 You know, because it was difficult.
37:44 It was extremely difficult to see my mom go through
37:46 what she had to go through.
37:47 And like, you love us so much, how could you treat
37:49 somebody you love like that?
37:51 He's your parent and you know it's not right,
37:53 but you don't know how to help.
37:55 You know, you don't know what to do.
37:56 It got harder and harder to, you know, trust him
38:00 and, you know, want to be around him.
38:02 - I put fucking Lori through hell.
38:04 Now I understand like her perspective,
38:06 you know what I mean?
38:07 And it was all me.
38:08 If I could have had my shit together,
38:11 then maybe me and her would still be together.
38:13 - Very nice.
38:15 - All I can say is I stayed in too long
38:18 and there's always help to guide you
38:25 to where you need to be.
38:27 - My mom took her a while, but she made a decision
38:33 and she decided that this is not how she wants
38:38 to live her life anymore.
38:39 She's got three kids.
38:42 - Well, it was all my fault.
38:44 I know it.
38:45 Dude, she was like an angel.
38:47 I was like the devil reincarnated for a little while.
38:49 Maybe for a long while.
38:52 - In 2001, ECW closes its doors and two years later,
39:03 its assets are sold to Vince McMahon's WWE,
39:07 giving the Sandman one last shot in the spotlight
39:10 as the brand is relaunched.
39:12 - What's that smell?
39:14 - Sandman's character was kind of watered down,
39:17 you know, no cigarette smoking, no beer.
39:20 - Drinking on the job?
39:22 What the hell is this?
39:23 - Society had changed and so he wasn't used
39:27 as well as he could have been.
39:29 - The zombie!
39:30 - That's not the ECW that I know.
39:31 That's not the ECW that the fans know.
39:34 A lot of the original ECW fans
39:37 want to forget about that time.
39:39 - It may not be ECW for long.
39:41 - Sandman's time in the WWE is brief and unremarkable.
39:45 And though his wrestling career is largely over,
39:48 his troubles with addiction continue.
39:51 - I got a phone call.
39:52 Dad just got arrested.
39:54 He's going to jail.
39:55 Like I was at work.
39:56 I'm like, for what?
39:57 So me and my brother packed our shit,
40:01 drove up to New York.
40:03 How am I gonna find a freaking lawyer?
40:05 I don't even know what he did.
40:07 Like I'm in Yonkers, New York.
40:09 I'd watched him wrestle for how many years?
40:11 Walked into this courtroom looking like
40:12 he just got put through a washing machine.
40:14 He like physically looked hurt.
40:16 And I was just like, what happened?
40:18 - 30 Long Island iced teas, that's what happened.
40:22 - All right, everybody here is thinking,
40:24 you know what, this guy's drunk.
40:27 You're right.
40:28 - Got in a fight with the owner or something.
40:31 He threw a bottle at me, hit me in the head.
40:33 I chased him into the kitchen,
40:36 broke a bunch of shit in the kitchen
40:37 and the SWAT team came in.
40:39 Took me away.
40:41 - Basically had to go through the court system.
40:43 They finally set his bail.
40:45 - So I remember calling this back and I'm like, listen,
40:47 I need you to authorize a $10,000 from ATMs.
40:51 And she's like, well, there's only gonna be
40:53 like a $2,000 limit per each ATM
40:55 and that's just the ATM itself.
40:57 Like if you're only allowed to take so much.
40:59 So here I am bouncing around till I got to 10 grand.
41:02 - So I would be on the phone with them at an ATM
41:05 'cause you know, you see these kids getting money
41:07 out of an ATM, they're gonna rob you.
41:10 - Finally, we're able to give him bail
41:11 about like three, four or something in the morning.
41:14 - I remember walking into this like huge prison
41:18 and like giving them this money and like out comes my dad.
41:22 And I was like, get the fuck in the fucking car.
41:25 We're fucking going home.
41:26 I can't fucking believe.
41:27 And like, of course, of course, like this is my life.
41:34 No kid should have to do that.
41:35 - It was your life.
41:37 You lived it.
41:38 But you just, you don't know how horrible it is until later
41:42 or how horrible you might've made it for other people
41:46 that you love.
41:47 - Deep down, he realizes it's done a lot of bad
41:54 and that maybe this is his redemption.
41:58 I would like for him to accept what was,
42:03 accept what he has and move on from here.
42:07 But I think it's gonna be kind of cleansing for all of us
42:12 and hopefully himself to just let it go.
42:17 - I don't know, I'm an idiot.
42:20 I, dude, I've been so self-sabotaging in my life.
42:25 It's like, there's been a lot of just personal destruction.
42:30 And now it hits me a little bit different
42:32 because I'm older and you think about the stupid shit
42:36 that you've done, that kind of changes everything.
42:38 You know what I mean?
42:39 So there's a different perspective in my head now.
42:42 - I want him to realize no matter how bad things were
42:45 at times, including family life,
42:48 that where he came from and what he did
42:51 was a lot of hard work and accomplishment.
42:54 Was it perfect by any stretch of the imagination?
42:57 No, he's made a lot of mistakes
42:59 and nobody wanted to tell you, but he's self-made
43:02 and it's okay to say that.
43:05 - He lived his life's dream.
43:06 There always has to be an end for everyone.
43:08 There always has to be an end to what you can do.
43:11 And you've done it.
43:12 A lot of people can't say that they've done that.
43:15 - He can still be the Sandman.
43:16 He still is the Sandman.
43:18 There never will be another Sandman.
43:19 I really just wish that he would understand
43:21 that what happened happened and he can move forward.
43:27 - Sandman is an icon.
43:31 - Poster boy for hardcore.
43:32 - People love Sandman.
43:35 - I am the hardcore icon.
43:38 - I mean, who else is gonna drink beer,
43:40 smoke cigarettes, swing a cane,
43:42 wear sweatpants to the ring, T-shirt, and get over it?
43:47 - What about Sandman?
43:49 What's his legacy?
43:50 - First person to do a lot of shit.
43:52 You know, the first person to bleed
43:54 before he got in the ring.
43:55 The first person to come out of the crowd.
43:57 You know what I mean?
43:58 Smoke a cigarette.
43:59 - I am the king of extreme!
44:03 - Smoking, drinking, yeah.
44:07 Cool.
44:08 Wonder why I'm fucking fucked up with that.
44:11 (dramatic music)
44:14 (music fades)
44:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]