7 Behind The Scenes ECW Stories That’ll Shock You

5. The Sandman = The Real ECW Zombie!

If true, then this is insane.

As the story goes, The Sandman injected a little too much Nubain (a prescription painkiller) and overdosed before a show in 1995. He was pronounced dead, but was revived in hospital and went on to wrestle that night against Tommy Dreamer. In other words, Sandman was the original ECW Zombie. 

Of course, this has been heavily debated over the years, but it sounds very original ECW. What could be more rock n'roll/extreme than one of Paul Heyman's top stars lying in hospital with no heartbeat to speak of before bursting back into life and making it to the show after all? That sounds like something out of a movie, not real life.

As aforementioned, there's been a lot of skepticism about whether or not any of this is true. Wrestling was different back then, but would doctors have really cleared someone to do anything after they'd been presumed dead? Those who choose to believe the tale point out that ECW existed in a lawless vacuum away from the corporate bright lights of the WWF and WCW. So, maybe there's some truth to it. Some.

If it's in fact true that Sandman snuffed it then came back to life and remembered his match, then he must surely go down in history as one of the most unique stars ever. Granted, that's already the case in many ways. You didn't get many workers like him. Dude was surely under the influence for most of his major matches, so it's amazing he recalls anything.