Before “Stone Cold” Steve Austin hit the scene, the man in pro wrestling who was most associated with beer-drinking was ECW’s The Sandman. According to fellow ECW alum D-Von Dudley, it wasn’t just a gimmick for the wrestler, whose real name is James Fullington. Speaking on his own YouTube channel, Dudley made a surprising claim about working matches with Sandman.
“I liked drunk Sandman a lot better than sober Sandman,” Dudley said. “I loved working with Sandman when he was drunk. When he was drunk, it was easy, but man, when he wasn’t drunk, his mind would go 1,000 miles an hour and he would want to do this crazy stuff that he knew he couldn’t do, yet in his mind, he could do it. But drunk Sandman would’ve did it and never said nothing.”
Sandman and Dudley wrestled many times in ECW, both in singles action and in the tag team division. Even years later, when WWE brought ECW back for the first One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2005, D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley took on Sandman and Tommy Dreamer in the main event. Sandman’s exact level of sobriety on that night isn’t entirely clear, but he did drink at least one beer during a memorable entrance before he and Dreamer eventually lost to D-Von and Bubba Ray.
Earlier this year, Sandman made the decision to hang up his boots, bringing a career of more than 35 years to a close. His final match was fittingly bizarre, as Sandman wrestled The Invisible Man at the 10th edition of Joey Janela’s Spring Break, allowing Sandman to put on a showcase performance.
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