The Sandman (wrestler)

Jim Fullington
Born	(1963-06-16) June 16, 1963 Sandy, Utah, United States
Website	[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	(The) Sandman Hardcore Hak
Billed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Billed weight	240 lb (110 kg)
Billed from	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Trained by	Larry Winters Tri-State Wrestling Academy Mark Tendler J.T. Smith
Debut	1992
Retired	was announced but is not retired to this date

James "Jim" Fullington (born June 16, 1963) better known by his ring name Sandman, is a retired American professional wrestler, best known for his career with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where he developed into a "Hardcore Icon" and became a five-time Champion. He also had stints in World Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and World Wrestling Entertainment.

He currently works for a small American promotion called Pro Wrestling Unplugged, and is also scheduled to appear for 1PW in the UK.

Career

Tri-State Wrestling

Fullington got his start in professional wrestling in the Philadelphia-based Tri-State Wrestling Alliance under the ring name Mr Sandman, being managed by his real-life wife Peaches. Both names were taken from the song Mr. Sandman, to which they entered the ring.

ECW (1993-1999)

Surfer gimmick

In April 1993 he arrived in Eastern Championship Wrestling (later renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling), changing his name to The Sandman and portraying the gimmick of a surfer.

He won his first ECW Championship from Don Muraco on November 16, 1992, but lost it back to Muraco on April 3, 1993. Sandman would go on to win the ECW Championship a record-setting five times.

Change in gimmick and feud with Tommy Cairo

In 1994, Sandman changed his gimmick after ECW owner Tod Gordon suggested that he channel his own personality into his character, creating an edgier gimmick.

He began a feud with Tommy Cairo over Sandman's valet Peaches. Being temporarily blinded following a match, the Sandman inadvertently struck Peaches. When a recovering Sandman saw his tag team partner, Cairo, assisting her to her feet, he attacked Cairo. Peaches, now revealed to be his wife Lori, now became Cairo's valet.

Sandman, adopting the gimmick of a pimp, claimed that Cairo had neglected to pay one of Sandman's prostitutes, Woman, who now became his new valet and convinced him that Cairo had slept with both her and Lori. The Sandman began harassing Lori and Cairo, demanding of Cairo: "Pay Your Bills!"

Following the highly-publicised caning of Michael P. Fay in Singapore on May 5, 1994, Sandman adopted another defining attribute of his new gimmick as he began wielding a kendo stick, referred to as a Singapore cane, taking delight in caning other wrestlers such as rookie Tommy Dreamer or his estranged wife.

Sandman and Woman faced Cairo and Lori in an mixed Singapore Caning match on May 14, 1994. After Cairo and Lori defeated their opponents, Lori caned Sandman's crotch until Woman threw salt in her eyes, enabling Sandman to regroup and use his cane on both Lori and Cairo.

In late 1994, The Sandman was once again (kayfabe) blinded after a lit cigarette was pushed into his eye during an "I Quit" match with Tommy Dreamer. Woman blamed Sandman for the injury and abandoned him. The Sandman subsequently claimed that he would have to retire as a result, with Dreamer responding by dedicating the remainder of his career to The Sandman. Cairo began mocking The Sandman, which led to Dreamer heavily beating him during a match at November to Remember 1994. At Sandman's retirement ceremony during the same event, an attempted reconciliation with Lori was interrupted by Woman, who caned Lori and threatened Sandman. As Dreamer came to the rescue, Sandman revealed that he was not in fact blinded and attacked Dreamer. The Sandman later revealed that his blinding had been an elaborate ruse concocted to trick Dreamer into hurting Cairo on his behalf.

ECW Champion

Sandman challenged Shane Douglas for the ECW Heavyweight Championship in April 1995, but was attacked by his own valet, Woman, who helped Shane Douglas retain the title.

In a rematch at Hostile City Showdown 1995 on April 15, 1995, Sandman faced Douglas (who had Woman in his corner) in a rematch. During the course of the match, Woman turned on the now over-confident Douglas, helping Sandman become the ECW Champion. It was revealed that the entire sequence of events was a double-cross planned all along by Woman to aid Sandman while psychologically destroying Douglas in the process.

Douglas attempted to regain the championship in the following months, but left for the World Wrestling Federation before he was able to.

Sandman's first title defenses after winning the ECW Championship were against Cactus Jack, with the latter never getting the upper hand due to interference by Woman, rival Terry Funk, 'stickler' referee Bill Alfonso, and Shane Douglas, who was bitter over losing his title.

Sandman's feud with Cactus Jack lasted throughout 1995 and culminated in a series of matches involving barbed wire. In a Texas Death match in February 1995, Sandman was hit with a heavy metal frying pan, giving Fullington a legit concussion. Throughout the remainder of the match, Fullington was visibly disoriented and forgot the scripted ending of the match: several times Cactus Jack hit Sandman with his signature double-armed DDT and again and again Sandman instinctively kicked out. This went on for about a minute before Cactus Jack delivered a legit maneuver, hoping it would keep Sandman down. After the match, Sandman asked Cactus what happened at the end of the match.

On October 25, 1995, Sandman lost the title to Mikey Whipwreck in a ladder match but won it back by defeating Whipwreck and Steve Austin in a 3-Way Dance on December 9, 1995.

On October 28, 1995, Sandman also teamed up with then ECW Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio to win the ECW Tag Team Championship from the The Public Enemy. Scorpio lost both his titles to Mikey Whipwreck in a singles match on December 29, while Sandman became embroiled in his feud with Raven.

Feud with Raven

Sandman spent the time period from December 1995 through May 1997 engaged in a bloody war with Raven. On January 27, 1996, Sandman lost the ECW Championship to Raven and the two would trade the title back and forth.

Sandman joined forces with Raven's nemesis Tommy Dreamer and on October 5, 1996, regained the title by pinning Raven's partner Stevie Richards in a tag team match pitting Sandman and Dreamer against Richards and Raven's replacement Brian Lee.

During the feud, Raven allied himself to the returned Lori Fullington and brainwashed her and Sandman's real-life son Tyler into joining his cult-like following, turning him against his father. Raven psychologically attacked Sandman by having his son deny his relationship with his father, telling Tyler that his parents' divorce was Sandman's fault, and making him perform Raven's trademark taunt and other mannerisms. This led to many bloody matches between Sandman and Raven.

On October 26, 1996, during one particularly brutal match, Sandman's son interfered to help his father. Afterward, the two embraced, but Raven came from behind with a Singapore Cane, and smacked his enemy. Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie came out with a giant wooden cross and crucified him. Later, Raven came back on stage and gave a questionable apology for his actions. To this day, Scott Levy (Raven), who came up with the idea, and, claims that the angle wasn't intended as an insult to Jesus Christ, but an insult to the Sandman, by using religious iconography to convey an artistic standpoint. The footage of the crucifixion was never used by ECW and was not publicly seen until it appeared on the WWE DVD The Rise and Fall of ECW.

On December 7, 1996 Sandman again lost the title to Raven in a barbed wire match.

Further feuds

In 1996, the team of Sandman and Tommy Dreamer became more permanent as the duo feuded with anti-ECW team of Sabu and Rob Van Dam as well as the Dudley Boyz.

World Championship Wrestling (1999)

In 1999, Fullington joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He first appeared in vignettes promoting Raven as a spoiled rich kid and Fullington as his preppy neighbor. The original plan to debut under this gimmick were scrapped. He later debuted under his longtime nickname, Hak.

In his short time there, Hak was mostly involved in angles featuring fellow ECW alumni Raven, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Raven's storyline sister Chastity, with whom he developed an on-screen relationship after she turned on Raven.

His presence also helped to bolster WCW's fledging hardcore division. WCW started promoting hardcore wrestling within their product through utilising wrestlers like Hak and Bam Bam Bigelow.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (Second run, 1999-2001)

After leaving WCW in late 1999 The Sandman returned to ECW remaining with the company until its demise in March 2001. On January 7, 2001 at ECW's last pay-per-view, Guilty as Charged, the Sandman won his fifth ECW Championship in a Tables, Ladders, Chairs, and Canes three-way dance with the champion Steve Corino and Justin Credible.

After The Sandman won, however, the ECW World Television Champion Rhino came out to the ring and challenged him to an impromtu title match. The Sandman accepted the challenge and after a 60 second match, Rhino defeated The Sandman to become ECW World Heavyweight Champion unifying ECW's two singles titles.

Independent circuit (2001-2002)

After the close of ECW The Sandman wrestled for Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) for a time. While he was there he won the XPW World Heavyweight Championship once, by defeating Johnny Webb, as well as the XPW King of the Deathmatch Championship. On a number of occasions Sandman was accompanied to the ring by former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) valet Tylene Buck. At XPW's 'Cold Day in Hell' reunion show, Sandman defeated Pogo the Clown.

Whilst at XPW Sandman also wrestled within the fledgling 3PW promotion. His most notable match was a 3-way dance with Sabu and New Jack. It is featured as a "bonus match" on the 3PW DVD Blood, Brawls & Broads.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002-2003)

In late 2002 and early 2003, The Sandman had a tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), joining former-ECW wrestlers Justin Credible and Raven along with New Jack and Perry Saturn in a stable known as "Team Extreme" and later "Extreme Revolution". He also competed in the Hard 10 Tournament, where he partly feuded with Sonny Siaki before winning the overall event.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005-2007)

It can be argued that The Sandman made his World Wrestling Federation (WWF) debut at the 1996 In Your House: Mind Games Pay-Per-View event in Philadelphia. During the event, Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Paul Heyman and a number of other ECW stars caused a storyline disturbance at ringside during a Caribbean Strap match between Savio Vega and Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. The disturbance resulted in Sandman whacking Vega over the head with his signature Singapore cane, and spitting beer in his face.This event marked the start of the on-air working relationship between Vince McMahon's WWF and Paul Heyman's ECW and eventually led to ECW appearing on the February 24, 1997 WWF program Raw.

In 2005, Sandman participated in the ECW reunion show Hardcore Homecoming against longtime rival Raven. Two nights later he appeared at WWE produced ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view event, another ECW reunion show, teaming with Tommy Dreamer to face The Dudley Boyz. The match would see Sandman and Dreamer lose to the Dudleys after Dreamer was powerbombed through a flaming table. The end of the match was highlighted with Sandman screaming "He needs help. I need beer".

ECW

File:SANDMAN247.JPG

The Sandman wielding his signature Singapore cane during ECW's return in June 2006.

In 2006, prior to the June 11 One Night Stand, The Sandman made a number of promotional appearances on WWE programming, first appearing, along with a number of other ECW stars, on Raw attacking John Cena then, two nights later, on the WWE vs. ECW Head to Head special taking part in a battle royal, in which it can be argued that he was the last ECW original eliminated. At One Night Stand, when Eugene made his way to the ring to read a poem expressing his love of ECW, The Sandman came out with his Singapore Cane and caned Eugene to the back. Sandman received a great reaction from the fans at One Night Stand but his actions were vilified by Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler the next night on Raw, thus making him a heel on Raw but a face on ECW.

On June 13, 2006 WWE officially relaunched ECW as a brand equal to Raw or SmackDown! with its own show on the Sci Fi Channel. In the new ECW, The Sandman was used for the first few weeks as a character who would emerge from the crowd when a non-ECW style character was annoying the audience. Once the character had a few minutes to talk Sandman appeared and destroyed the character with his cane, often ending the "match" with his signature White Russian Legsweep.

This gimmick escalated when Sandman confronted regular ECW fixture Mike Knox while he was attempting to stop his exhibitionist girlfriend, Kelly Kelly, in the middle of her weekly "exposé" strip show. The Sandman began a feud with Knox over this and eventually began teaming up with fellow ECW original Tommy Dreamer to take on Knox and Test in a feud that many felt symbolized the original vision of ECW (Sandman and Dreamer) versus the "new" vision of ECW (Knox and Test). At the same time Sandman was feuding with Test and Knox, a debuting Matt Striker began to rub him the wrong way and he started a secondary feud with him.

Since then, the Sandman has made several short appearances, mostly coming out through the crowd and caning someone whenever some injustice was done. After being briefly included in a feud with Elijah Burke, he became part of the ECW Originals stable and joined their feud with the New Breed. On April 1, 2007 at WrestleMania 23 he teamed with RVD, Sabu, and Dreamer to defeat Marcus Cor Von, Burke, Striker, and Kevin Thorn. On May 16, Sabu was released by the WWE and soon after Rob Van Dam left to take a sabbatical from wrestling, leaving Sandman and Tommy Dreamer alone to feud with the New Breed. Sandman and Dreamer would team up with CM Punk on multiple occasions, who was also feuding with the New Breed. On the June 4 episode of ECW, Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, and Balls Mahoney faced Bobby Lashley in a 3 on 1 Hardcore Handicap Match, in which they were defeated.

Raw

On June 17, 2007, Sandman was drafted to the Raw brand via the WWE Supplemental Draft, making him the first ever original ECW wrestler since the rebirth of ECW to be drafted away from the brand, and the first ECW original to leave the brand but still be employed by the company. On the June 18, 2007 edition of Raw, Sandman debuted, going after Carlito with his singapore cane after Carlito ran his mouth too long for Sandman to bear, but Carlito ran away quickly. On the July 2, 2007 edition of Raw, Sandman had his first match on Raw, facing Carlito. Carlito won the match due to a disqualification when Sandman struck him with his cane after Carlito tried to use it on him. This started a feud between the two. Sandman did a similar thing next week when he lost to William Regal by disqualification, after hitting Regal and Carlito with his cane. The next week, Sandman faced Carlito again, this time winning when Regal attacked him. The Sandman was saved when "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (who had a confrontation with Regal earlier that night) came down to the ring. At The Great American Bash he lost to Carlito in a Singapore Cane on a Pole Match. The Sandman lost in a battle royal to determine the new General Manager of Raw where he was the last one eliminated by William Regal who had faked an injury and was not in the match until Sandman was the only superstar in the ring; Regal then won after he snuck up on The Sandman and hit him in the back of the head with his boot. His last match was on a September 10 edition of Raw against Santino Marella which he won by disqualification. Fullington appeared to injure his ankle during a missed spot in this match.

Fullington was released from his WWE contract on September 11, 2007 after WWE's tour of South Africa during which he had an argument with a road agent over an unlit cigarette on the plane back to the United States. Fullington claims to have asked for his release after the incident, as he was unhappy in WWE.

Independent circuit

The Sandman appeared at IWA Mid-South's Ian Rotten Retirement Show in Plainfield, Indiana on December 7, 2007 in a losing effort to Drake Younger. The next night, in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania at the International Wrestling Cartel's A Call To Arms 4: Controlled Chaos, Sandman defeated Dennis Gregory in a steel cage match to capture the IWC Heavyweight Championship. On January 3, 2008, at the All Entertainment Action Wrestlng event Crucifix Bombardment 2008 Sandman defeated 'The Raging Rhino' Hans Wilkshire in a Hardcore Match to win the vacant AEAW American Heavyweight Championship and the AEAW Hardcore Wrestling Championship. On April 19, 2008, he appeared on 1PW's supershow, 'Know Your Enemy 2008', in a losing effort to Damned Nation in an 8-man tag team match, where he teamed up with El Ligero and Bubblegum (Hubba Bubba Lucha) and Iceman. The Sandman recently took part in a No Limit Wrestling special, in which he participated in a tag team match,in which he and his partner, Joe E. Legend, defeated Test and Chris Masters after a cane from Sandman allowed Legend to make the pin.

In October 2008, Sandman announced through a bulletin posted by his official Myspace account that he would be retiring from pro wrestling in the coming weeks. The bulletin stated that Sandman has a two month old child and a girlfriend to take care of, so he feels it is time to leave the wrestling business after a 20 plus year career. The bulletin also noted that he would still be accepting bookings over the next few weeks and that his official retirement date would be announced soon.

The Sandman appeared at the Armageddon convention in Auckland, New Zealand, wrestling for Impact Pro Wrestling NZ between 25-27 October 2008. He defeated Joseph Kinkade in his first match and The Machine in his second match, both with the White Russian Legsweep. He then teamed up with IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship holder "The Deal" Dal Knox in a tag match against Kinkade and The Machine, which saw Knox take the win with a Knox Out on Kinkade.

Personal life

Fullington was married to Lori Fullington, and has three children; Kelly (born 1987), Tyler (born 1989), and Oliver (born 1994). Tyler would feature in ECW's Sandman vs. Raven storyline, and debuted as a wrestler himself in August 2008.

Fullington is fond of rugby and has two tattoos: a strand of barbed wire and a portrait of his own face on his right arm. Before wrestling, Fullington worked as a construction worker in his hometown of Philadelphia. It is noted that his portrayal of The Sandman is heavily influenced through his own experience and habits, namely his heavy drinking and bar fighter attitude.

On July 20, 2008, Fullington began flinging glasses at a Yonkers, New York restaurant's employees when they called the police. Upon the police's arrival, he turned on them and started throwing glasses their way, injuring two of them. He was subdued and charged with assault, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest. Fullington was taken to the county jail in Valhalla for psychiatric evaluation following the incident. He was denied bail on July 23, due to two previous convictions for burglary in 1983. The judge also issued a restraining order, barring Fullington from contacting the owner of the restaurant where the incident had occurred and Fullington was ordered to stay away from the restaurant. Fox 5 in New York showed video of the minutes leading up to Fullington's arrest. His bail was later set at $10,000. Fullington was fined $1,000, had to pay another $200 in court costs and was given a one-year conditional discharge. Fullington was also facing criminal mischief and assault charges, which were dropped in return for the guilty plea.

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves
  • DDT, usually onto a chair or barbed wire
  • Rolling Rock (Senton bomb, often on to a ladder that has been placed on the opponent's chest)
  • White Russian Legsweep (Russian legsweep sometimes with a Singapore cane across the opponent's throat)
  • Bulldog
  • Flapjack
  • Heineken-Corana (Super hurricanrana)
  • Philadelphia Jam / Bitchin' Leg Drop (Diving leg drop, sometimes to the back of the opponent's head)
  • Piledriver
  • Rapidly hitting an opponent with a Singapore Cane

• Signature foreign objects
  • Singapore cane
  • Spool of barbed wire
  • Beer can

• Managers
  • Peaches / Lori Fullington
  • Woman
  • Missy Hyatt
  • Beulah McGillicutty
  • Chastity
  • Veronica Caine
  • Allison Danger
  • Tylene Buck
  • G.Q. Money
  • Rob Van Dam
  • Tommy Dreamer
  • Sabu

Nicknames The Hardcore Icon, The Blue Collar Hero

• Entrance themes
  • Mr. Sandman by the The Chordettes
  • Surfing USA by The Beach Boys
  • Enter Sandman by Metallica
  • Enter Sandman by Motörhead
  • Nightmare by Jim Johnston
  • Twisted Transistor by KoRn
  • The Bitch Is Back by Elton John
  • Big Shot by Billy Joel

Championships and accomplishments

• All Entertainment Action Wrestling
  • AEAW American Heavyweight Championship (2 times, current)
  • AEAW Hardcore Wrestling Championship (1 time, current)

• Eastern Championship Wrestling | Extreme Championship Wrestling
  • ECW World Heavyweight Championship (5 times)¹
  • ECW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with 2 Cold Scorpio

• Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling
  • WEW World Tag Team Championship - (1 time) - with Kodo Fuyuki

• Future of Wrestling
  • FOW Hardcore Championship (1 time)

• International Wrestling Cartel
  • IWC World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Stars and Stripes Championship Wrestling
  • SSCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
  • TNA Hard 10 Tournament winner

• USA Pro Wrestling
  • USA Pro United States Championship (1 time)

• Universal Wrestling Federation
  • UWF Universal Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Westside Xtreme Wrestling
  • wXw Hardcore Championship (1 time)

• Xtreme Pro Wrestling
  • XPW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • XPW King of the Deathmatch Championship (1 time)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him # 250 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.

¹Sandman's first reign occurred while the promotion was an NWA affliate, was named Eastern Championship Wrestling, and was prior to ECW declaring the championship as a "world" title. Though he later held the title another four times after ECW declared a "world" title.

References

• Thom Loverro (2006). The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling. World Wrestling Entertainment. p. 384. ISBN 1416510583.

External links

• Audio Interview with The Sandman September 1,2008