The Sandman Was Supposed To Be In Popular WCW Stable

Aside from sharing a name with Neil Gaiman's famous comic book character, The Sandman is best known for his long run in ECW, as well as later stints in WWE and TNA/Impact Wrestling. As such, it's easy to forget that Sandman was once part of WCW as well, where he wrestled under the name Hardcore Hak throughout 1999. As he tells it though, things were supposed to play out far differently for the ECW legend.

In an appearance on a virtual Captain's Corner signing, Sandman revealed what his original plans in WCW were, before a regime change instead led to him sitting at home. "They flew me to Florida to do a couple of things with Raven," Sandman said. "I was going to join his Flock. Then Kevin Nash gets the book, and I'm being paid from September 10 to March 6 [to do nothing]. Nash calls me over, I go over for his birthday and he says 'I just got the book and I want to bring you in.'

"We were taping in Tampa Bay, and I had a house in Clearwater. So they're paying me like 5 gs a week, and they're also paying me to go down to Florida so I can live in my own house." Reports at the time suggested that WCW brought Sandman in on a three year deal worth around $200,000 per year, a massive investment that WCW would discard a year after the deal when they fired Sandman. As such, it's no coincidence to the hardcore icon that WCW would meet its eventual fate soon after he was let go. "After I got fired, they were done in, like, less than a year," Sandman said.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Captain's Corner and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription