THE BEER SWILLING, CANE SWINGING, CIGARETTE SMOKING,EXTREME ICON KNOWN AS THE SANDMAN.
Height:6'5 Weight:265
His first gimmick beleive it or not was as a surfer typer character, he actually came to the ring with a surfboard.The fans hated it making him an instant heel .This gimmick was caried out in the first year of his nearly 5 year tenure in ECW he won the first of 3 ECW world titles that year from Don Moraco with the help of his tag team partner Tommy Cairo.He was accompnaied by his wife in real life Lori,who then was known as Peaches.but after a dipuste with Cairo over a misunderstanding Sandman turned on both Peaches and Cairo and even caned his own wife.
The Wedge was further drove into the relationship as Sandman starting in his words "Pimping out the Bitch" claiming he had no more use for her now that she had moved in with Cairo,and told Cairo he would have to pay his bills so to speak.Then it got worse when Nancy Sullivan A.K.A WOMAN entererd the already dispaired life of the Sandman.She convinced Sandman that not only was his wife holding him back, she was sleeping with Cairo while Sandman wasn't around. The former beach bum began wrestling in street clothes, and began smoking his cigarettes at ringside, even in the ring.
That same year an amercian citizen was arrested in Singapore for vandaliing a car.His punishment ,10 lashes on the behind with a Singapore Cane, well ECW being EXTREME jumped at the chance to use this in a storyline.So a mixed Tag match was signed between Sandman and Woman vs Cairo and Peaches, the loser got 10 lashes with a Singapore Cane,Sandman and Woman lost but before Peaches could get the cane to take out some frustration on her husband ,Woman threw powder in her eyes handed the cane to Sandman and he wailed on both particpants, the beating was brutal and it ran both Cairo and Peaches out of ECW.And Sandman grew very fond of the cane so fond that he started carrying it with him on a regular basis, one part of the legend was born.Now he would use this weapon to terrorize ECW.This thrust him into a bitter fued with soon to be best friend Tommy Dreamer.
Dreamer saved then-ECW Television champion Mikey Whipwreck from a caning one night at the ECW arena, and when Woman tried to intervien Dreamer kissed her, embarrassing the hell out of her. Woman demanded Sandman destroy him,but Dreamer drew first blood, hiding under the ring and attacking the Sandman with a Singapore Cane of his own at "Hardcore Heaven '94," bloodying and knocking him out. Woman placed a lit cigarette in the Sandman's mouth, and to everyone's surprise, it Revived him like spinach to Popeye.Sandman then won a match where the loser would be caned ten times. The Sandman destroyed Dreamer as Woman taunted Dreamer to kiss her feet , then the match that was that prompted the fans of the ECW to dawn the nickname and eventually he became the "Innovator of Violence"where the Sandman suffered a career setback that turned out to be a blessing in surprise.During an "I Quit" match, Dreamer caned the Sandman in the eye, knocking a lit cigarette into Sandman's eye in a freak incident, causing a severeeye injury. Sandman was rushed to the hospital, and Woman soon announced he was going to be forced into retirement . Woman blamed Sandman for the injury and announced she was dropping him .Dreamer, overcome with guilt, soon dedicated his own career to his fallen adversary, defending Sandman's honor in the ring against the returning Tommy Cairo who mocked Sandman's blinding. That same night, the Second Annual November To Remember, with his eyes still wrapped in bandages made an appearance to bid farewell to the ECW fans.Peaches came out of nowhere to reconcile with her injured husband, infuriating Woman, who came out and struck her with a Singapore cane. Woman threatened the Sandman, luring out Dreamer in his defense, but when Dreamer turned to stop her, Sandman ripped off the bandages, grabbed the cane, and attacked Dreamer: it had been a complicated setup all along!!!
The Sandman's war with Dreamer continued, and eventually involved a new enemy for the Sandman in Cactus Jack, Mick Foley. Under Woman's orders the Sandman attacked Foley after he had insulted Woman's husband, Kevin Sullivan spitting on the WCW tag belts and leaving WCW. Dreamer sided with Cactus Jack and to the disbelief of everyone, Tommy Cairo reunited with the Sandman to face them. The former best friends put their differences aside, but Cairo soon left ECW after being injured at the hands of Cactus Jack. Now left alone to face Cactus Jack, the Sandman did not fare much better initially he received a massive concussion at the hands of Cactus during a Texas Death match after being on the receiving end of dozens of brutal chairshots. He wasn't allowed to compete for several weeks due to the injury, but announced that he & Woman had found a mystery wrestler to take his place.That wrestler turned out DC Drake who Cactus promptly destroyed. Sandman attacked Cactus, and when the two brawled into the huge box that Drake was hidden in, Cactus Jack pulled Sandman back out of it with the black sheet covering it over his head. Preparing to cane Sandman, Cactus Jack pulled the sheet off, revealing his former tag team partner Terry Funk!
Funk and Sandman destroyed Jack and Dreamer, Funk's protégé, until Jack and Dreamer's best friend, the ECW World champion Shane Douglas rescued him. Woman, who had always had an crush on Douglas, sent Sandman after his ECW World Heavyweight championship April 1995. During that match, she turned on Sandman and went to Douglas' employ. The Sandman faced Shane Douglas again at "Hostile City Showdown '95" and the result turned out to be even more shocking as Woman turned on Douglas, causing him to get pinned while applying a chickenwing submission on Sandman. Even as he screamed "I Quit" the Sandman was winning the ECW World Heavyweight championship!
Then the one thing nobody ever thought would happen happend. Mikey Whipwreck, was destroyed by Sandman in a match during ECW's July Florida tour. Whipwreck challenged Sandman to a rematch with the loser being caned. Whipwreck lost again, and was destroyed with the Singapore Cane, as was Marty Janetty, who tried to save Whipwreck. Whipwreck was stretchered and Janetty immediately retreated from ECW never to be seen again. Whipwreck upset the Sandman in a non-title Caning match, and caned Sandman until Woman attacked him. Sandman destroyed his challenger.Eventually, the Public Enemy came to Mikey's aid, while Sandman aligning himself with The Gangstas. The Sandman's war with Whipwreck highlighted the fall of 1995 but in typical fashion,then Steve Austin arrived in ECW and challenged the Sandman for the ECW World Heavyweight championship. Sandman ended up in a brawl with Austin in October 1995, which in turn led into the Sandman defeating Whipwreck in a championship match.
Before the Sandman had his chance, however, he lost his ECW World Heavyweight championship to Whipwreck in a ladder match. The Sandman, however, got the last laugh on The Public Enemy as he stopped Grunge from interfering in his partner Flyboy Rocco Rock's match against ECW World Television champion 2 Cold Scorpio with the World Tag team titles on the line as well. When Scorpio won the match, he needed a partner, and picked the Sandman in gratitude. In one night, Sandman had lost his World Heavyweight championship, yet won the World Tag team title. Even more amazingly, the Sandman's popularity became absolutley unblevable as he yet again reinvented himself, coming out to METALLICAS Enter Sandman,Swilling beer and smoking unfilterd cigarettes.
At the November to Remember '95, the Sandman & Scorpio defended the belts against and defeated The Public Enemy in a match where the winner of the pinfall would gain a World championship match against Whipwreck the same night. Before he could wrestle Whipwreck, however, Sandman was jumped by Austin, who destroyed him and took his place, only to be humilated by Mikey.
In December 1995, ECW put the three of them in a triangle match, and Sandman regained the title by pinning Austin to win the match, although he broke his hand in the process. Austin fled ECW soon afterwards. Sandman immediately proved he didn't care what they thought by taking off his cast, and burning a cigarette in his palm. But then Sandman lost his ECW World Tag team championship as Woman put the belts up in a singles match between Scorpio and Whipwreck. For the first time, Sandman disagreed with his manager, as he lost a championship without losing a match. This pissed Sandman off bad and he dropped Woman , then she went on to cause him to lose the ECW World title to Raven.The Sandman confronted Raven when he and Stevie Richards were threatening long-time wrestling manager Missy Hyatt. After running off the slacker and his lackeys, he turned to Hyatt. She liked what she saw and soon signed him as a protégé.With Hyatt at his side, the Sandman's pursuit of Raven intensified,Then Shane Douglas returned to Extreme Championship Wrestling at "House Party '96" he immediately targeted the World Heavyweight championship, and cut a deal with Tommy Dreamer to help him get to Raven. When the Sandman appeared to be closer to defeating Raven.
