When ECW Went Too Far: The Sandman's Crucifixion At High Incident

Extreme Championship Wrestling was a promotion that often went right up to the line without crossing it, with the flouting of comfortable norms being a common occurrence in the "extreme" alternative to the more sanitised products from WWF and WCW.

That didn’t mean ECW couldn’t go too far, though. In the eyes of many, they overstepped the line on one night in the autumn of 1996, as a number of fans, some of their own performers, and even one notable guest, were shocked and offended by the lengths one particular angle went. 

It was one of the only times that ECW was ever behooved to show remorse for one of their angles, and it remains one of the most infamous moments in pro wrestling history.

Raven Vs. The Sandman’s 1996 Rivalry

By October 26, 1996, just two men had held the ECW World Heavyweight Title over the span of the calendar year in Raven and The Sandman, and both men had become synonymous with the unflinchingly gritty ECW ethos.

Heading into ECW High Incident, The Sandman was the reigning champion, and he had been on quite a journey in the promotion. James Fullington once played the role of cheerful beach bum, complete with wetsuit and surfboard, but in 1994 he turned heel, becoming a repugnant abuser that openly smoked and drank, and showed no remorse for anyone in his path, including former loved ones, like his now-estranged wife Lori.

Ugly as the character was, some of the more repulsive aspects were toned down and jettisoned throughout 1995. Sandman was repackaged as more of a straight-forward blue-collar brawler with a high tolerance for both alcohol and pain. By early 1996, Sandman was turned face, largely on the merit of his altered character direction. This more working-class version of Sandman resonated with the ECW crowds filled with adult working class males. Certainly, it was easier to cheer the man when he turned his Singapore cane onto villains that actually did deserve a beating.

Sandman's primary nemesis in 1996 was the man who won the ECW World Heavyweight Title from him that January 27 in Raven. The man once known as Scotty Flamingo and Johnny Polo had arrived in ECW one year earlier, with a very different character turn. Once prone to sophomoric and obnoxious behaviour, the portrayer of those characters was now Raven, a sullen, brooding miscreant with an icy demeanour and clear messiah complex. This Raven was a master manipulator, assembling an army of followers who surrendered their free will at the feet of their idol, and his Flock were dispatched to take out the likes of Tommy Dreamer, The Pitbulls, Shane Douglas, and The Sandman.

Not only was Raven a compelling character, but the real-life Scott Levy was a risk-taking storyteller, drawing ideas from very dark places. One of the most deeply-intense angles in wrestling history commenced that summer, during Sandman's long and winding chase to get the world title back from Raven.

In order to gain the psychological edge over Sandman, Raven enlisted back-up from two unlikely sources: Sandman's embittered wife Lori, and his six-year-old son Tyler. Lori had the obvious axe to grind against her husband from their controversial angle two years earlier, but Tyler was the bigger thorn. In storyline, Raven manipulated Tyler, assuming faux-guardianship of the boy and turning him against his father. For his part, young Tyler played the role to a hilt, coming across as eerily disenchanted as the role called for.

It was a disturbing angle for sure, one that might strike a nerve with ECW fans that had their own issues with broken homes and familial disconnect. Certainly, it was unnerving to see the steely-tough Sandman reduced to tearful disconsolation. The man that rebounded quickly from chairs to the skull and numerous flesh wounds was crumbled with a broken heart.

The twisted feud carried on for months, with Raven ratcheting up the insidious head games, using Tyler as a pawn to bring out the vulnerability in a vengeful Sandman. The world title chase really was secondary to Sandman's desire to make Raven suffer, as well as win his son back.

Nonetheless, Sandman did get the belt back from Raven, though in indirect fashion. In early October, Raven temporarily went away for a quick stint in rehab, kayfabed on TV as a foot injury, which meant it was Raven flunkie Stevie Richards that defended the title in an Ultimate Jeopardy tag team match on October 5.

Using Raven's patented Evenflow DDT, Sandman pinned surrogate defender Richards to recapture the title, scoring a small measure of revenge on the overall Flock. Those good vibes lasted all of three weeks.

The Rest of ECW High Incident

The next tri-weekly ECW Arena card occurred on October 26, entitled High Incident. The event was so named for a main event Scaffold Match between enemies Tommy Dreamer and "Primetime" Brian Lee, in which the two men would perilously fight overtop a ring filled with stacks of tables.

The remainder of the card boasted a few tag team curiosities. Perry Saturn and John Kronus of The Eliminators took on the renowned Miracle Violence Connection of Terry Gordy and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, while Sabu and Rob Van Dam had their hands full with another pair of All Japan mainstays in Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat. 

High Incident was also the night in which Chris Candido, relatively fresh on from quitting WWF, where he was BodyDonna Skip, got to restore his credibility in a match with Spike Dudley, and Taz continued establishing his image as a suplex-and-submission specialist in a brief bout with The FBI's Little Guido.

That match had a noteworthy guest as, mere months after winning a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, fresh-faced Kurt Angle appeared at the ECW Arena. Though he was two years away from actually donning the pro wrestling boots, there was consideration at the time that Angle might parlay his golden glory into the squared circle. At High Incident, ECW began establishing a business connection with the 27-year-old.

During Angle's appearance, he was confronted by an aggressive and prideful Taz. In Taz's ensuing match with Guido, Angle provided guest commentary, explaining the intricacies of mat wrestling 101.

Three matches later, The Sandman defended his newly-won ECW World Heavyweight Title against fellow babyface and former partner 2 Cold Scorpio, who was finishing up with ECW before jumping to ECW the following month. As expected, The Sandman retained his title in a competitive bout and it served the purpose of having Scorpio put over the top guy on his way out, while providing a temporary respite from the relentless Raven/Sandman feud.

It ended up being extremely temporary as the feud resumed right after the incident. 

Raven Crucifies The Sandman

Following The Sandman's victory, he was suddenly confronted by Tyler, who was dressed in attire similar to his father. It seemed, symbolically, that he had spurned Raven and was now reconciling with his dad, and the two even shared a hug.

Of course, it was all a heartless trap. Sandman was soon jumped by Raven, who was joined by Lori and his three main flunkies of Stevie Richards, The Blue Meanie, and Super Nova.

Sandman was beaten with his own Singapore cane, which opened up a wound near his eye. Raven and The Flock then sufficiently beat Sandman to a motionless pulp, which would have been typical ECW fare had the angle concluded right then.

Few individuals inside the ECW Arena knew what was coming next. ECW founder Tod Gordon claims to have not been clued in by Raven or Sandman about the forthcoming act, and added that Paul Heyman didn't know either. He chalked this up to Raven and Sandman tending to fill in the blanks with their own angles because they had the freedom to do so, within the provided creative framework.

With Sandman battered and bleeding on the arena floor, the heel contingent pulled a wooden makeshift cross from under the ring. Raven had managed to sneak the sizeable structure under the ring earlier in the day, without his peers or other ECW personnel seeing. According to Raven in a shoot interview from several years later, it was Sandman himself that built the seven-foot long perpendicular object.

Soon, Raven and company began fastening Sandman to the apparatus, tying him by the wrists and ankles to the cross. The reason this was done on the floor at ringside was so that the Flock members could block the crowd's view from seeing precisely what was being done, delaying their ultimate reactions for when the "big reveal" was executed.

That big reveal came when the cross was stood up for all to see, Sandman strung helplessly to it. To punctuate the radical act, Raven crowned his nemesis with a coil of barbed wire, standing in for thorns worn by Jesus Christ. 

In front of over 1300 fans inside the ECW Arena and a largely-unknowing staff, The Sandman had just been crucified. With blood pouring from his sunken head, Sandman remained stationary with his arms out, while Raven stood in the ring, clutching the ECW World Heavyweight Title belt, and striking the same pose.

In the near two years he had spent with ECW, Raven had made copious use of the arms-out pose, which was his go-to taunt. Innocently, the pose conjured up the image of a raven with its wings defiantly extended. More questionable, it could also resemble this crucifix pose, a martyr dying for a cause. As Raven believed his character to be an unscrupulous cult leader, it could suggest the subjectively-blasphemous image of a self-stylised martyr.

The pose was cemented as a regular part of ECW lore, as it had been central to Raven's long-running feud with Tommy Dreamer. Not only did Dreamer co-opt the pose for himself, but he even sort of "crucified" Raven at the 1995 Heat Wave, handcuffing him to a steel cage (arms straight out) before rattling his skull with a thunderous chair shot.

That enduring image remained a part of ECW's TV intro well into its dying year. Though the chair to the head doesn't age particularly well, there was no other offence taken to what is viewed as a seminal moment in ECW history, probably because there wasn't an actual cross involved.

The Aftermath 

When Raven and The Flock put Sandman on the cross, there was no insinuation as to what was being done. It was an explicit demonstration and it resulted in palpable discomfort throughout the ECW Arena.

Some attendees responded with loud negativity, but for the most part the reaction was filled with shocked silence and murmurs. For ECW Arena regulars that had witnessed the use of fire, thumbtacks, tables, barbed wire, man-on-woman violence, and all manner of obscenity, this felt like a bridge too far.

A handful of ECW personnel are reported to have taken offence. Raven claims that Taz was upset about the angle, and announcer Joey Styles called it "over the line." On the WWE-released Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, Stevie Richards spoke about his and Blue Meanie's discomfort in participating in the angle due to their own Catholic beliefs.

Also offended by the crucifixion was the evening's esteemed visitor. Kurt Angle was mortified at the sight of a man being crucified as part of a pro wrestling stunt. Angle immediately found Heyman backstage and ranted about his offence to the demonstration. As Angle revealed on the Rise and Fall documentary, he even threatened to sue Heyman if he appeared on any television program in juxtaposition with the act.

Heyman himself was upset, though the exact source of his consternation is somewhat disputed. Some say he was more worried about burning a bridge with Angle as there was hope the credible Olympic star would work for ECW in some capacity. Raven and Gordon both believe Heyman was freaked by the religious implication. After all, Raven, Gordon, and Heyman were all Jewish. 

Heyman wanted there to be some sort of olive branch to the audience, an acknowledgement that ECW understood that they had gone too far this time. According to Gordon, Heyman asked The Sandman to go back out there and say something, to which Sandman refused. Raven and Gordon were both against an apology as well, but acceding to a panicked Heyman's wishes, Gordon did ask Raven to go out and say something to satisfy all parties.

Though ECW was the Big Three promotion most likely to break from script when necessary, it was nonetheless an odd sight to see the promotion's most diabolical heel drop the act for a moment. In a calmly-delivered speech to the crowd, Scott Levy acknowledged carrying out the angle without Gordon or Heyman's blessing, and noted the religious offence taken by a number of viewers. He added that the fans were mindful of his recent rehab stint, and that his "choice" to apologise was a reciprocation of that respect.

It was clear from his disinterested tone that Raven wasn't really feeling the apology. Anybody reading between the lines could see that management had sent him out there against his will. Still, Raven did apologise, and the show went on.

The Sandman and Raven continued their feud through the end of the year. On December 7, Raven regained the title in a gruesome Barbed Wire match. The year-long angle quietly drew to a close, but not before Sandman and Tyler had an actual reunion to blow off the estrangement.

Kurt Angle never did return to Heyman's ECW. He became a WWF project in 1998 and formally debuted for the promotion the following year, kicking off an incredible career inside the ring.

As for pro wrestling crucifixions, you would think they would be a one-and-done, given how this one turned out. Not so, because in the WWF's Attitude Era, they became quite fashionable when The Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness began fastening Stone Cold and others to giant renditions of Undertaker's logo.

Of course, we were all told that the logo wasn't a cross, but rather a "symbol", and these weren't actually "crucifixions."

The Legacy Of The Sandman’s Crucifixion 

The crucifixion of The Sandman is looked back upon as one of the more controversial scenes in ECW's short history. In the moment, it was nothing more than a shocking one-time blip that the promotion deftly moved on from quickly enough. Besides, ECW found itself in much hotter water just four weeks later with the Mass Transit Incident.

Raven, to this day, doesn't believe that the crucifixion was controversial, telling Insight with Chris Van Vliet in 2026: 

"I didn't think it was pushing the envelope. I didn't think so. I understand why Paul E made me cut an apology afterwards, but partly it's because my family's Jewish. I don't follow the religion, but my family's Jewish, and my last name is Levy, so people just assume I'm Jewish, and Paul E is Jewish, and Tod's Jewish. Tod Gordon, the owner. So they thought it was a mockery of Christianity, but had nothing to do with that. I mean, Madonna mast*rbated with a crucifix on MTV. I'm thinking this is tame compared to that.

"To me, it was just a metaphor. It was a metaphor. The crucifix with Sandman was just for him to feel my pain. Because Raven was always - I considered him a martyr for society's dysfunction."

Though there weren't any real long-term ramifications, aside from maybe altering the trajectory of Kurt Angle's wrestling career, ECW's crucifixion angle provides a curious glimpse at a swift negative response to a pro wrestling moment. The immediate aftermath following the crossing of a line, and how the principals move forward when they can't hit "undo," is just as fascinating as the transgression itself.