Exit Sandman: Inside the unhinged final ride of a hardcore wrestling legend

The beer, the cigarette, the Metallica song , the Singapore cane — The Sandman had one of the most indelible presentations in modern pro-wrestling history. In the same way that Pedro Morales was the ethnic babyface hero to the New York Puerto Rican community, The Sandman represented the drunk Delco county guys who would throw batteries at Santa Claus. But for James “Hak” Fullington, the character everyone remembers came together in multiple phases.

“[Philadelphia wrestling promoter] Joel Goodhart comes in one day and he goes, ‘I just saw a billboard on [Interstate] 95: Mr. Sandman Box Spring and Mattress . So you are going to be Mr.

Sandman,’” Fullington, now 62 years old and freshly retired, tells Uncrowned. “So that's how I got my name. ” His first big break in wrestling came after training with Goodhart in Philadelphia and wrestling locally a year into his career, when he went down to the Memphis territory in 1991-92 to do a run against Jerry “The King” Lawler.

“They said they wanted more of a gimmick,” Fullington remembers, “so I thought, ‘Alright, well, let me get a wetsuit and a surfboard because I'm The Sandman. ’ I bought the wetsuit, no problem. “But I didn't have a surfboard, so I went to Gary [Wolfe], one of the Pitbulls, and I said, ‘Gary, where can I get a surfboard?