ECW legend The Sandman recently opened up about his negative experience in WWE while appearing on 1 of a Kind with RVD. The hardcore wrestling icon, known for his beer-drinking and kendo stick-wielding persona, revealed that his time in WWE was far from enjoyable, calling it “soul-sucking.”
Sandman explained that while ECW was the most fun and TNA was the easiest job for the money, WWE was the most lucrative but also the most frustrating. He shared that the corporate structure and backstage atmosphere in WWE made him miserable, stating he dreaded traveling to shows and being in the locker room.
“I love the business… until I had to go deal with WWE,” Sandman admitted. “A week there, I’m like, I’m ready to kill myself, dude. If I didn’t have a couple of my boys with me…”
One of his biggest frustrations was WWE limiting his signature beer-drinking entrance. Before SummerSlam, he was told he could no longer drink beer on TV, which he later realized was because WWE wanted to protect Steve Austin’s beer-drinking gimmick. This decision left Sandman feeling stripped of his identity in the ring.
“Johnny [Laurinaitis] calls me into his office and goes, ‘You can’t drink the beer anymore.’ And I’m like, ‘What?!’” He later realized WWE wanted to protect Steve Austin’s beer-drinking gimmick. “I was hot, and I hated it there. I had no friends… It was soul-sucking.”
He also recalled the overwhelming environment in WWE, mentioning that there were often over 100 wrestlers backstage, but only a fraction would actually be used on shows. He preferred dressing in stairwells with Sabu to avoid the crowded locker rooms.
“There’s a hundred guys there for Raw, and they’re using like 30 of them,” he said. “I can’t be in that locker room stepping all over people… and everybody’s lying to you.”
Ultimately, Sandman admitted that he was so unhappy in WWE that he would intentionally cut his matches short just to leave the arena sooner. His time with the company ended after conflicts with management, making it clear that WWE was never the right fit for him.
“They had to tell me to stop going home early,” he revealed. “I was going in there, giving them five minutes, and getting out.”
The Sandman’s WWE career lasted approximately 15 months, from June 2006 to September 2007. While his time in WWE was relatively short compared to his legendary ECW tenure, it provided WWE fans with a glimpse of the hardcore icon who had been so instrumental in ECW’s popularity during the 1990s. After his WWE departure, The Sandman returned to the independent wrestling circuit, where he has continued to make appearances well into the 2020s, with matches documented as recently as this month.
Catch The Sandman’s comments about working for WWE on the latest episode of Rob Van Dam’s 1 of a Kind podcast:
