Sandman excited by Main Event
By JON WALDMAN -- For SLAM! Wrestling
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Sandman plays to the crowd at Jabroni's Wrestling Store in Winnipeg. -- Jon Waldman
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Sandman, a long time wrestler for Extreme Championship Wrestling, is officially headed to the upstart Main Event Championship Wrestling organization.
"Somebody (Indiana lawyer John Collins) came up to me
and said they had a lot of money to back it," he told
SLAM! Wrestling during an interview on Friday in Winnipeg at Jabroni's Wrestling Store.
Sandman, real name James Fullington, will also act as
head booker for the upstart federation. He has been
influential in bringing in a lot of talent to MECW,
including Curt Hennig and Tracy Smothers. "They're all
hand-picked by myself," he said.
Many of the workers contacted for jobs with MECW are
wrestlers from ECW who have not signed with the WWF.
Another name that is being mentioned is Randy Savage.
"We have talked with Randy Savage, but we're not
exactly sure what we're going to do yet," he said.
Sandman, 38, is best known for his work with ECW,
where he was a five-time world champion, as well as a
one-time tag team champion with 2 Cold Scorpio.
Sandman looks back on his time with ECW with fondness.
"ECW was great, the locker-room was great, the
camaraderie with the guys," said Sandman. "ECW was by far the best to work for."
He has also spent time with World Championship
Wrestling and Xtreme Pro Wrestling.
Sandman's gimmick reflects his own personality. He
received advice from former boss Paul Heyman on what
to do with his gimmick. "The cigarette smoking and the
beer drinking, Paul E. just said, 'go out there and be
yourself,'" he explained.
The addition of the Singapore Cane came as a result of
the caning that American Michael Faye received in Singapore
after spray-painting cars. "It was stuff that was in
the national news, and we took it right out of the
national news and brought it into the wrestling ring."
During his career, Sandman's wife, Lori Fullington,
has participated in several angles, including taking a
piledriver from the ring apron through a table that
left her seeing the chiropracter for a month. Sandman
recognizes his wife's desire to be a part of
wrestling, and trusts the guys who work with her in
the ring. "She wants to be a star just like anybody
does, and she's willing to do what it takes to be
one," he said. "She knows those risks involved."
Sandman is optimistic about MECW's chances, and feels
that the product will be really strong. "I think we'll
be the second largest wrestling company in the United
States come September or October," he said.
"Watch out for Main Event Championship Wrestling."
RELATED LINKS
Sandman story archive
