The Sandman is the dictionary definition of a brawler, plain and simple. He has no flashy technical moves in his arsenal whatsoever. However, he got over with the ECW faithful as a regular, no bullsh*t, beer-swilling, cigarette smoking kind of guy. Raven, the drugged-up Lex Luthor to Sandmans permanently inebriated Superman, has stated in interviews that he feels that fans relate to Sandman because he is just like they are. In short, hes the ultimate wish-fulfilment for a certain type of hardcore wrestling fan. And you want to talk hardcore? Oh yeah, Sandman has been on the receiving end of some of the most brutal, bloody and downright evil beatings ever administered in the ECW arena. Yet still he came back for more... Always a little too edgy for the WWE, even during the Attitude Era, Sandman was an odd fit for mainstream wrestling, but he is still occasionally utilized for his credibility and legitimacy as a hardcore icon. In 1999, he wrestled as Hardcore Hak in WCW, where he tasted a moderate level of success, helping to ignite the companys fledgling hardcore division. He also spent a year in WWEs watered-down version of ECW and (briefly) wrestled two stints for TNA, neither of which were especially memorable, it must be said. Today, there just isnt a good, proper fit for The Sandman in mainstream wrestling (and perhaps there never was), but in ECW, The Sandman was as over with the faithful as Jesus is with Christians. It is safe to say that, without ECW, Sandman would never have been a star, but equally that Sandman did a hell of a lot to get ECW over as a brand. Whatever his in-ring shortcomings, Sandman is a five-time World Champion when all is said and done, holding the ECW belt on a record of five occasions. He was also almost certainly an influence on the character of Stone Cold Steve Austin, which is definitely worth mentioning if were talking in terms of cultural impact.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
I don't generally read or reply to comments here on What Culture (too many trolls!), but if you follow my Twitter (@heyquicksilver), I'll talk to you all day long!
If you are interested in reading more of my stuff, you can find it on http://quicksilverstories.weebly.com/ (my personal site, which has other wrestling/comics/pop culture stuff on it).
I also write for FLiCK http://www.flickonline.co.uk/flicktion, which is the best place to read my fiction work.
Oh yeah - I'm about to become a Dad for the first time, so if my stuff seems more sentimental than usual - blame it on that!
Finally, I sincerely appreciate every single read I get. So if you're reading this, thank you, you've made me feel like Shakespeare for a day! (see what I mean?)
Latcho Drom,
- CQ
The Sandman is the dictionary definition of a brawler, plain and simple. He has no flashy technical moves in his arsenal whatsoever. However, he got over with the ECW faithful as a regular, no bullsh*t, beer-swilling, cigarette smoking kind of guy. Raven, the drugged-up Lex Luthor to Sandmans permanently inebriated Superman, has stated in interviews that he feels that fans relate to Sandman because he is just like they are. In short, hes the ultimate wish-fulfilment for a certain type of hardcore wrestling fan. And you want to talk hardcore? Oh yeah, Sandman has been on the receiving end of some of the most brutal, bloody and downright evil beatings ever administered in the ECW arena. Yet still he came back for more... Always a little too edgy for the WWE, even during the Attitude Era, Sandman was an odd fit for mainstream wrestling, but he is still occasionally utilized for his credibility and legitimacy as a hardcore icon. In 1999, he wrestled as Hardcore Hak in WCW, where he tasted a moderate level of success, helping to ignite the companys fledgling hardcore division. He also spent a year in WWEs watered-down version of ECW and (briefly) wrestled two stints for TNA, neither of which were especially memorable, it must be said. 