When one thinks of Extreme Championship Wrestling, many names will inevitably come to mind. For some fans, it could be the likes of Tommy Dreamer, Taz, Rob Van Dam, Sabu or the man behind the innovation himself, Paul Heyman. But for many, two names immediately pop into the front of their minds are Raven and The Sandman. After all, the intense and personal feud between the two was one of the launching pads that helped bring ECW to the mainstream, or as mainstream as the violent brand could become. 

Upon Raven’s initial arrival in ECW, he immediately began his legendary feud with Tommy Dreamer, spending months cultivating Raven’s Nest and the group of players that would all play a role throughout Raven’s ECW career. Upon the seeming end of Raven and Dreamer’s main feud in late 1995, culminating in the iconic moment where Beulah revealed that she was pregnant with Dreamer’s baby, Raven shifted gears from one ECW icon in Dreamer to another original and ECW mainstay the ECW Champion Sandman.

At the last big show of 1995, ECW Holiday Hell 1995, Raven would unsuccessfully challenge The Sandman for the title. Still, he would seemingly take the holiday season to begin regrouping and come back more twisted and evil than ever. At the beginning of 1996, Raven would replace the lost Beulah with Kimona Wanalaya (Paul Heyman was known for his subtlety at the time), making her the newest addition to the Nest. 

At 1996’s Hardcore Heaven, Raven would capture his first ECW Championship from Sandman, utilizing interference from his cronies in the Nest. This would be the official kickoff to the iconic feud between the two stars, which began with a yearning for Championship gold, but soon would become much more personal and diabolical.

The following weeks would lead into months as Raven continued successfully defending the Championship against all comers, The Sandman included. As was par for the course for Raven, he would continue treating his followers like trash, eventually leading to Kimona departing from his side. This would push Raven farther into the depths of depravity, as he would begin playing severe mind games with The Sandman, leading to arguably the most realistic storyline in professional wrestling history.

As many have said, Raven was the ‘David Koresh of professional wrestling’; using his intelligence and aura, he could make people do things and become followers that others could not do. This would lead to Raven beginning to brainwash both Sandman’s real-life ex-wife Lori and, even more depressingly the Singapore Cane swinging madman, his son Tyler. Raven would use this as the ultimate ammunition against his rival, turning the man’s family against him. They would join Raven’s Nest, frequently be at his side, and follow Raven’s every command, mentally torturing Sandman.

As the battles ensued, it would lead to a wild place, resulting in one of the most controversial and discussed angles. But first, the build-up, which included The Sandman regaining the ECW World Championship in a rather dubious fashion, winning the title in a tag team match pitting him and Tommy Dreamer against Brian Lee and Raven. However, Raven was unable to compete, leading to Stevie Richards replacing him and causing him to lose the title.

Weeks later, Raven and the Nest would lay out The Sandman following a swerve moment that seemingly saw Tyler reunite with his father, which turned out to be a cruel ploy, at ECW High Incident on October 26th, 1996. Raven would then instruct Richards and The Blue Meanie to strap Sandman to a makeshift cross and place a crown of barbed wire on his bloody head, mocking the Crucifixion of Jesus. This caused huge controversy, bringing even the ardent and vocal ECW fans to a hush.

Kurt Angle was backstage and immediately left in disgust, severing his chance of working with the company. This was one of the few times in ECW history where Paul Heyman would have kayfabe broken, ordering Raven to return to the ring and apologize, who did so with insincerity dripping from every pore.

In a shoot interview in 2019, Sandman reflected on the angle.

“The only reason it fucking blew up was because Kurt Angle was in the back. I loved it dude, I thought it was great. I made that fucking cross!.... The silence was deafening in that crowd. I’m starting to realize that if they’re not reacting it’s fucking heavy, so I’m feeling the heaviness. I get in the back, I’m loving it I’m like ‘yes!’“

In reflecting on a 2014 shoot, Raven discussed how the idea came about.

“I knew I needed to come back with some sort of impact and I thought man, why don’t I crucify Sandman, that’d be great. I’ve always said that Raven is a martyr for society’s disfunction. And so now I’ll make Sandman feel how I feel, I’ll make him a martyr for society’s disfunction now and let him feel my pain.”

Despite the controversy, the feud between the two would continue, and Sandman’s reign would be short-lived. Come Holiday Hell ’96 in December; he would again lose the title to Raven, this time in a barbed-wire match. The following weeks would also be critical for something that would happen months later. As Raven continued his abusiveness of the Nest throughout his feud with  Sandman, Stevie Richards finally had enough and turned on his abuser. This would seemingly be the end of the main feud between Raven and Sandman while simultaneously morphing into a multi-faceted feud involving Raven, Sandman, Stevie Richards and soon enough, Terry Funk, which would lead the company into their first PPV in April of 1997, the acclaimed Barely Legal. 

While the intense feud was over, they occasionally crossed paths, including some four-way matches beyond the Barely Legal match. Perhaps the most notable match between the two was their final bout during Raven’s initial ECW stay. Only days before Raven would finally take the long-awaited loss to Tommy Dreamer in a Loser Leaves ECW match, he would battle his other most hated foe in a dog collar match at an ECW event in Trenton on May 31st, 1997. As Raven was on his way out the door, he would do business and take the loss, helping elevate Sandman into his future endeavours.

Overall, the feud between the two men is undeniably one of the main cruxes of ECW’s initial explosion in the mid-90s. While many fans will look more fondly on Raven’s feud with Tommy Dreamer, it can be argued that his feud with The Sandman is much more important in the history of ECW and professional wrestling as a whole. Never before had a feud gone to the extreme, pardon the pun, lengths that their feud did. Whether it be the controversial crucifixion (something that the WWF would carbon copy only a few years later with The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin) or the inclusion and brainwashing of Lori and young Tyler. It truly helped open a new chapter in storytelling through the medium of wrestling, all while elevating nearly every talent involved.

Quoth The Raven, Nevermore.