?Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com

On Monday, August 1, 2005 at 2:16 PM EST

Voice of Wrestling sent in the following:

The Voice of Wrestling radio show had the Sandman live on last week's show as he went in-depth about ECW and what it was like while it was up and running. He claims Paul Heyman doesn't deserve as much credit as he gets, that Paul E. and Tommy Dreamer weren't needed for the Hardcore Homecoming PPV to be a success, and why some of the boys wanted Paul E. to sell the company at one point. Sandman isn't known for doing a lot of interviews, but he definitely didn't hold anything back last Monday on the Voice of Wrestling. Lance Storm was also a guest on the show and you can listen to the show in its entirety by clicking the link below. Sandman is taking bookings with Corey Phillips at bookings@upcloseandpersonalbookings.com. Corey also represents other former ECW talent including Al Snow, Justin Credible, and Mikey Whipwreck (has not done indies in over three years).

Tonight, the Voice of Wrestling goes live from 7-9 EST, leading into Raw, with special guest, Bill Behrens. Bill Behrens will join Chris Cash to discuss his new position with Deep South Wrestling in Georgia and give his opinions on WWE's direction compared to that of TNA's, a company he has been closely associated with in the past. Kevin Kelly also joins the program live for his segment, "Plan B", as the topic of discussion will be the criteria for a professional wrestling Hall of Fame. Kevin also wants to address Ultimate Warrior's recent comments that hit the 'net over the weekend. Join the show live tonight and join the live chat room from 7-9 EST by visiting VoiceofWrestling.com!

To Listen to the Sandman Interview: Click Here!
To Listen Live Tonight: Click Here!

The first question addressed to Sandman by temporary co-host, Poffo (not Lanny Poffo, but someone competing for the co-host position choosing to use that as his name), was what Sandman thought of real-life family members being brought into wrestling, using the Rey Misterio/Eddie Guererro angle as an example. "Go for it," Sandman replies, "I know from talking to them when I was with them in June that they're pretty much writing their own stuff, so more power to them. I say go for it. There's only so many things you can do when it comes to two guys wrestling each other to draw some heat, so why not bring in the family members? I think it adds a third dimension to the characters".

Chris Cash quickly changed topics to ECW and brought up Paul Heyman's claim that if ECW would have had a major money-backer to assist them financially while they were running, they would still be around. Sandman cut Chris off before he actually asked a question stating that they'd be out-drawing WWE right now if they ever had the money. Chris did, however, get to ask whether ECW could last long-term given its extreme nature. "What you have to understand is in ECW...you had everything in one basket on every show," Sandman said and explained that when Tommy Dreamer started running the company more than Heyman did, they made sure to tell the guys that if they were in the first five matches, not to go outside the ring, use chairs, or get too hardcore. "We would have had no problem with continuing on with it".

Sandman claimed he doesn't drink anymore before matches. "I used to, but that was a different lifestyle back then," he explained, "I'm a little bit older, I'm a little bit wiser, so I'm not loaded before my matches anymore". He said that he drank before every match from '95 all the way until the end of ECW. "I did most of my partying when I was on the road," Sandman continued, "I didn't party when I was at home because I have three kids and I needed to spend time with them. So when I was on the road, I partied pretty hard. When I was home, I was pretty much a 'Leave it to Beaver" dad, but everybody changes. Who knows what I'll go back to, but for right now, I'm having fun being straight in the ring". He said it relaxed him in the ring and that the boys actually preferred to work with him after he had a couple drinks than when he was sober.

Chris asked Sandman why when most people think of ECW and what it was about, they tend to bring up simply "hardcore" above all else when Heyman and all the boys involved say it was much more than that. "That was the stuff that stuck out," he said, "but you gotta understand, when were doing the violence and stuff like that, there was a reason that led to the violence. Violence for no reason means absolutely nothing. You've got to have a reason to get to that point of the violence".

Sandman doesn't give Paul Heyman all the credit for the success of ECW. "You've got to give Todd Gordon half the credit," he said, "a lot of that stuff you were seeing on tv..Todd wrote also. Even though Paul E. likes to say that Todd was out of ECW from like '95, '96, whatever...I talked to Todd like ten times a day back then and every time I was on the phone with Todd, Paul was beeping in on the other line. So yeah, Paul E. gets a lot more credit than technically what he should because Todd Gordon was in on most of it".

Sandman claimed Heyman blew money too much and wasn't a good "manager". "We had just hoped that Paul would have sold the damn company," he stated. Referring to the aforementioned claim by Heyman that ECW would still be around if he had adequate funding, "Paul Heyman can put any kind of spin on anything that he wants to; he can say that TNN or whatever didn't give us a chance and didn't promo us correctly; we didn't have the time-slot; this, this this...if Paul would have had his shit together from the beginning on a managerial standpoint, instead of just the talent and the evil genius part, the company would still be running today. Paul E. made his own bed, Paul E. has to lie in it".

Chris then asked Sandman how over-rated Paul Heyman was since a lot of people think of Paul Heyman as the primary reason for ECW's success. "That's because they don't know what was really happening, because they weren't best friends with Todd Gordon like I was and still am today. It's like how much to do we really know about what's going on in Iraq right now. Hey, Bush can tell us anything he wants. That doesn't mean we know exactly what the hell is going on there". Sandman had a very short, blunt response when Chris asked him his thoughts about Heyman saying Hardcore Homecoming wasn't "ECW-authentic" because he and Dreamer were not there: "Bullshit. I love Tommy to death, but Tommy didn't make that company. That company was made by 20 different guys". He said that the two events were equally authentic, but said One Night Stand was easily the show of the year.

That last year of ECW is when Sandman said it started getting real bad financially and when people didn't start receiving their money the way they were supposed to. "You've got to understand something," Sandman said, "there was two different pay-scales in ECW. Either you were making 500 a weekend or you were making 3,000-4,000 a weekend. You had guys like me, Raven, Van Dam, Sabu..making the big money, but besides that...you had a couple guys like Justin Credible was probably doing like 1500-1800 a weekend and Jerry Lynn maybe doing about 1500...but then you had all the Roadkill's, the Dory's, the Chetti's, the Balls Mahoney's...that weren't making nothing. To me, the money wasn't really the important thing, but that was hurting a lot of guys". He continued by saying that despite the financial issues, there was still a great attitude and comradery between the boys backstage. "Paul E. was like the devil then and we all pulled together as a team, so it didn't hurt the product at all, but yeah, guys' attitudes obviously changed".

Sandman did go on to give his response to some of the critics in the business, including JBL and Kurt Angle, who feel like ECW and hardcore wrestling was killing the business, plus he gave his honest and very critical opinion of Poffo, the temporary co-host. You should definitely check this one out and when you're through, tune in live tonight from 7-9 EST as Chris Cash talks two-hours of professional wrestling and welcomes Bill Behrens to the show. Kevin Kelly will also be there in addition to the two finalists of the Co-Host Challenge. Visit www.voiceofwrestling.com at 7 EST tonight and get ready for the debut of Total Wrestling Interaction, the ultimate online community for wrestling fans and stars alike.