Of the various icons of Extreme Championship Wrestling — Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, the Dudley Boyz, and even Paul Heyman himself — one of the most fun characters in the promotion was the Sandman. A beer-drinking lowlife armed with a Singapore Cane who chain smoked to the ring, the Sandman was ridiculously over with fans, regardless of the fact that he was never considered the promotion’s best in-ring performer.

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While he reached the top of ECW, he was never a huge player in other promotions, so fans today might not know too much about the legend. Let’s take a look at what fans should know about the Sandman, from his early days to his stints in WCW, WWE, and Impact.

10 Started Off As a Surfer

James Fullingston started his career in 1989, debuting in the pre-ECW promotion Tri-State Wrestling Alliance. Things in Philly had yet to get extreme, and Fullington wasn’t extreme yet either. Instead, he worked a surfer gimmick under the ring name Mr. Sandman, which would soon be tweaked to the Sandman. It wouldn’t be until 1994 that Sandman would really start to resemble the one that fans know and love, with ECW founder Tod Gordon reportedly encouraging Sandman to bring more of himself into the character.

9 Managed By His Real-Life Wife

The Sandman wasn’t alone in his pro wrestling endeavors, as he was joined by his real-life wife Lori, who managed him under the name Peaches in their early years. Soon enough, Peaches would become part of Sandman’s angles, turning on her husband to side with his tag team partner turned rival, Tommy Cairo while Sandman got a new manager in Woman (a.k.a. Nancy Sullivan/Nancy Benoit). Under her real name, Lori Fullington would later show up in Sandman’s feud with Raven, who brainwashed Lori into siding with him.

8 His Singapore Cane Was A Topical Reference

As fans know, the Sandman’s signature weapon was the kendo stick, referred to as a Singapore Cane in ECW, but fans might not be aware that the moniker was an extremely topical reference at the time. One of the big news stories about 1994 was about Michael P. Fay, an American citizen who was convicted of a crime in Singapore and sentenced to a caning as punishment, and thus ECW couldn’t help but capitalize on it.

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The Singapore Cane didn’t just define Sandman’s persona, but it was crucial in making Tommy Dreamer a fan-favorite. Dreamer and Sandman fought a match where the loser would get caned, and in defeat Dreamer not only took his strikes, but asked for more, earning the respect of the ECW fans who previously rejected him.

7 Five-Time ECW Champion

While he’s not considered a standout in-ring worker, the Sandman still reached the pinnacle of the company, capturing the ECW Championship a record five times during the course of his career. His first win would come fairly early in his career, as he defeated former WWE star Don Muraco to become the fifth-ever ECW Champion in 1992. Over the years, he’d capture the belt four more times, putting on matches with Mikey Whipwreck, Cactus Jack, Raven, Stevie Richards, and even Steve Austin.

6 Feuded With Raven

As alluded to above, one of the Sandman’s biggest rivalries in ECW would be with Raven, the grungy cult leader who went down as one of the promotion’s best heels. Over the course of their year-and-a-half-long feud, psychological tactics were the name of the game, with Raven not only indoctrinating Sandman’s wife Lori (as mentioned), but also their son, Tyler. On top of the personal element, Sandman and Raven would also fight over the ECW Championship, trading it on a number of occasions.

5 Crucified By Raven

The feud between the Sandman and Raven also led to one of ECW’s most controversial moments which hilariously happened at a show called High Incident. Following a post-match reconciliation between Sandman and his son Tyler, Raven and his followers the Nest staged an attack on Sandman, crucifying him and placing a barbed wire crown on his bloodied head. Not only did the crowd react poorly to this, but it also scared away Kurt Angle, who at the time was visiting ECW as an olympian looking to transition into pro wrestling.

4 Wrestled For WCW As Hak

The fall of 1998 brought a major change for the Sandman, as he left ECW to sign to WCW, debuting under the ring name Hak as ECW owned the Sandman moniker. Upon debuting, he got into a rivalry with fellow ECW alum Bam Bam Bigelow, losing to the big man on an early February episode of Nitro.

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With Hak’s presence in WCW, the promotion began featuring more hardcore matches, with highlights including a hardcore match with Bigelow at Spring Stampede ‘99 and his entry into the wild Junkyard Invitational at Bash at the Beach that same year.

3 Returned To ECW Before It Closed

While recovering from an injury sustained over the summer, Hak got released from WCW in the fall, which meant a return for the Sandman to his old home of ECW. The promotion would remain Sandman’s home until ECW itself shuttered in 2001, with Sandman’s last televised appearance being at its final pay-per-view, Guilty As Charged. There, Sandman won the ECW Championship for the fifth and final time when he defeated Justin Credible and the previous champion Steve Corino, with Rhino then beating Sandman for the belt in a previously unscheduled match to close out the show.

2 Wrestled For Impact

The year 2002 brought the birth of a new promotion, TNA — later known as Impact Wrestling — with Sandman showing up in the promotion the following year. During his year with Impact, Sandman would share the ring with old ECW compatriots like Raven and Terry Funk as well as taking on younger talent like Low Ki and AJ Styles. In 2010, Sandman would return to the Impact Zone, first as part of the ECW reunion show Hardcore Justice before forming the ECW alumni faction EV 2.0, which feuded with the stable Fortune.

1 Part Of WWE’s ECW Revival

Hardcore Justice wasn’t Sandman’s only ECW reunion show. After taking part in both iterations of the One Night Stand pay-per-views, Sandman became part of WWE’s revived ECW brand with its 2006 premiere, eventually forming a stable of ECW Originals to feud with the younger wrestlers, who were aligned as the New Breed faction. In July of 2007, Sandman moved over to Raw, where he wrestled matches with Carlito, William Regal, and Santino Marella before getting injured and subsequently released a few months later