Even though he would leave ECW for WCW in 1998, The Sandman would return a year later and continue the legend. However, that’s getting ahead–plus his time in WCW wasn’t really worth mentioning. Let‘s get into his further evolution of the gimmick when Raven starts to stir things up in ECW.
Swinging Canes and An Unexpected Alliance
He would set his sights on up-and-comer Tommy Dreamer and Cactus Jack. Foley was already over but, in the process, he managed to push himself and Dreamer further as major attractions in ECW. The brunt of rage was against Dreamer who was a bit of a super babyface. As I mentioned before, fans weren’t with it when it came to Dreamer’s gimmick at the time but this feud and the caning at the hands of Hak warmed everyone up to the youngster from Yonkers.
While his feud with Tommy Cairo is in my top five favorite ECW feuds, his collision with Raven is what really made him the Icon of ECW. This was in the period of a year from surfer, to a pimp fighting with a pretty boy, to feuding with this grungy, whiny guy and his gang of misfits. Oh yes, 1995 was a good year for ECW.
With Raven and his Nest, ECW had a massive heel who was able to run two of the top babyfaces at the same time and did so for the next two years. The Sandman was in the thick of the mayhem sweeping the Land of Extreme. There’s some good stuff that happens after Raven leaves for WCW but this period between 1995 and 1997 is when he really became the “Hardcore Icon.”
The Sandman As The Icon of ECW
There was no torch-passing match for him, no mentor to wrestle under, or any of that. Just beer, brawls, barbed wire, and blood and he was one of the faces of the hardcore revolution. While ECW fans were usually hostile towards people who left the company. The Sandman returned and he was welcomed back.
As the ace, it’s kind of expected that you might end up leaving the company. If you’re the standard-bearer leaving is unthinkable. You leave when the ship sinks. As the icon, you can leave, return and get a hero’s welcome, and be involved in major storylines. One of the only people in ECW not named Sabu or Tommy Dreamer who could pull this off is The Sandman.
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