The Horace Hogan “Wrestling Salvage Yard” was so light and airy, that we’re going to do another one! This time we’ll see if Hardcore Hak, better known as the Sandman, could be salvaged in WCW.
Hak’s WCW Run
The Sandman arrived in WCW in September 1998 and was supposed to be a white-bread, middle-class neighbor who had disdain for Raven. This would’ve been an interesting character for the Sandman.
WCW scrapped that idea and just debuted him as is. He was eventually named Hardcore Hak and fought other ECW alumni in brawls and hardcore matches months before the division was established.
That was honestly all he did in WCW: fight brawlers in hardcore matches and help establish the WCW hardcore division. He was involved in some light storylines but didn’t get any actual storyline development or any of that good stuff. Hardcore Hak was an undercard talent that had something to do on TV and PPV.
By September 1999, he was axed by the company for cost-cutting purposes.
Salvaging Hardcore Hak
I enjoy the character of the Sandman and loved his feuds with Tommy Cairo and Tommy Dreamer early in ECW’s extreme years but like Horace Hogan, WCW actually put him where he belonged on the roster.
A main eventer in ECW isn’t going to be a main eventer in WCW, obviously. At least not without WCW actually pushing them in that direction. If anything, if the hardcore division had some order or one of the B-shows was made purely for the division, maybe Hak could’ve been more involved in stories and shined brighter in a smaller pond on syndicated television.
There was nothing wrong with the Hak character, it was familiar. However, there was little done—or that could be done within Turner’s restrictions back then—to really make Hak stand out among the other loud and colorful brawlers in the division.
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