ECW Legend Hated “Soul Sucking” WWE Run

A former ECW World Champion didn’t enjoy their time with WWE.

After starting his career in 1991, The Sandman arrived in what would become Extreme Championship Wrestling a year later.

Over the next nine years via a short excursion with WCW, Sandman established himself as an ECW legend. He made his entrance to Metallica, drank beer, and caused chaos, all of which endeared him to the ECW faithful. During this period he won the company’s World Championship on five occasions while feuding with the likes of Raven, Cactus Jack, and Tommy Dreamer.

When WWE brought back ECW in 2005, Sandman signed with the company and wrestled at One Night Stand before taking a spot on the relaunched brand. The star later moved to Raw in 2007, but that September he was released.

Since then, Sandman has continued to wrestle on the independent scene and remains active in 2025.

ECW Hero The Sandman Hated WWE Run

During an appearance on the 1 Of A Kind podcast with Rob Van Dam, Sandman reflected on his short run with WWE. The star recalled one incident where he got a pay rise after trying to get his release, before admitting he hated this period of his career, describing it as “soul-sucking.”

“I assume this is like right after SummerSlam because right before SummerSlam, Johnny [Laurinaitis] calls me into his office and he goes, ‘You can’t drink the beer anymore,’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ And I’m pissed. I’m like, ‘Johnny, how about you give me my release? He’s like, ‘Hak, wait.’

And I got two raises or at least one raise out of them by asking for my release, but it was up to like $125 to $150,000, but then I find out I gotta stop drinking,” he said. “Next thing I know, Austin’s in the fing main event for SummerSlam.

So they’re taking the beer away from me so I can’t do it on my entrance. I was freaking pissed. I was hot. And I hated it there, dude. I had no friends. It was soul sucking. It honestly was soul sucking to me. I hated to get on a plane, I hated to go there. I hated to be in the locker room, I couldn’t wait to get out of the f-ing building.”

During an interview elsewhere, Rob Van Dam vowed to never retire, explaining that he didn’t want to add his name to the long list of wrestlers who came back for one more match after hanging up their boots.

H/t to Wrestle Zone