The Sandman recently appeared as a guest on the popular INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling, ECW and WWE.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
How did you get Metallica’s Enter Sandman? “So I had a job working for the Philadelphia Inquirer. I had a thing we called the Sandman van. It was a custom van. There’s like four captains chairs, a bed in the back, TV and everything. I would pile 10-12 kids in there and drop them off in a neighborhood. They would knock on doors, and they would get people to sign up for The Philadelphia Inquirer. So one of those kids that work for me, he keeps telling me about the song, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. Then he got a tape. It was like an eight-track. I hear it, and I’m like, boom. I think I was coming out, the Big Shot to Billy Joel, and then I switched over to that. Look how great that worked out.”
The entrance you did at ECW One Night Stand is legendary. Do you remember before your music hit that night? “You know what I always regret? I should have surfed that crowd. I could have surfed that goddamn crowd all over the place. I wish I would have done that. I never even thought. I just saw it because it’s been years since I saw it. I guess I saw it in the last couple of years. I’m like, damn it, should have surfed the ground. That would have been nasty. To me, that would have been epic.”
When ECW goes under. Was there talk of you going right to WWE at that time? “No.”
Why not? “I don’t think I was interested in them right then, and I don’t think they were interested in me. I had a reputation at that point, though, too. They were trying to do everything away. At that point, are they testing guys? I don’t know where their health freaking policies were at that point. They’re probably like, No, we ain’t touching that.”
Do you remember Raven telling you about this idea of him wanting to crucify you? “No, I can’t remember, but I made it. I made it out of wood. If you guys go back and you watch Tommy Dreamer against Brian Lee in the scaffold match, I built that scaffold. It’s hanging down by chains from the ceiling, made out of the same four-by-fours that this thing’s made out of. So I made that thing too. So this thing was easy. I thought this was great.”
Did you think that doing that crucifixion angle crossed the line? “Well, yes, that’s why I did it, but I didn’t care. I don’t know. I’ve never been a God-fearing person. I think there’s something, but I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe in like, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost kind of part of it. So to me, it wasn’t really blasphemous, for one, and for two, it’s professional wrestling, you know what I mean, and for three, f*ck anybody that didn’t like it.”
Do you think Raven shouldn’t have gone out and apologized? “Oh, no, I told him not to. I told everybody. It’s Paul [Heyman], Todd Gordon, Shane [Douglas], Kurt Angle me and Raven. I told all of them, ‘You’re all f*cking assholes. This is bullsh*t.’ He should not be going out there, and walked away.”
Wasn’t this a big reason Kurt Angle was like, I cannot be seen on this? “I can’t blame Kurt. First of all, I can’t blame anybody for the father and son the Holy Spirit sh*t. It’s his first delve into professional wrestling, and I could see how he’s a little bit aghast at it. He’s trying to dip his foot into the waters. ‘I’m not sure I want to be involved with this.’ So I can understand his perspective. I can’t understand Paul’s perspective of even considering letting Raven go and doing that. That’s f*cking bullsh*t.”
