Raven Reflects on Controversy Over The Sandman Crucifixion Angle in ECW

During a recent interview with Insight With Chris Van Vliet, former WWE, WCW, and ECW star Raven discussed his career and some of his most memorable moments in the old ECW, including the Chair Shot around the world, and the infamous, controversial moment where Raven “crucified” The Sandman back in 1996. Below are some highlights from Insight:

On the Bands That Inspired His Raven Character

“Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, but also listen to a lot of black funk from the 70s, too. That was always one of my favorites. I find that once you reach 40 years old, 40 to 50, you stop listening to current music, and you start listening to the stuff you listen to when you’re 10 or 12. So I went back to that, and I listened to a lot of the O’Jays and The Spinners.”

On Wrestlers Taking Straight Chair Shots to the Head in ECW and If Anyone Would Put Their Hands Up

“Yeah, some guys were, but then they get chastised by the rest of the locker room. The smartest thing ever, and it’s such a great spot, is Sabu used to take the chair and he’d throw it at you. Not only could you make it make a great clattering sound and make it fly off, but it didn’t hurt, and it didn’t cause damage. We all should have been doing that, but that was brilliant to come up with.”

On the Story Behind the Chair Shot Heard Around the World

“I had beaten up Dreamer so many times that they needed to get some revenge on me, and to give the people something. You had to give them something to hope in their babyface and give them something to look like it was over the feud. I forget exactly what led up to the chair shot, but when we got there, Paul is like, ‘I’m gonna have Tommy hit you 10 times with the chair.’ I’m like, ‘No, you gotta hit me once. It’ll mean so much more.’ He goes, ‘No, 10 times. You got to take it 10 times.’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m not going to do it, Paul.’ He goes, ‘What are you scared of?’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’ll take nine chair shots back here, but I’m only taking one out there, because it’ll mean more if you hit me with a bunch of them.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, but Axl Rotten is hitting three chair shots in his match, and New Jack’s hitting five in his.’ I’m like, it doesn’t matter. This is something Roddy Piper taught me: doesn’t matter what happens in anybody else’s match, as long as they believe in your stuff. So I said, ‘I’m just taking one.’ He finally goes, ‘All right, I trust you.’ So if Dreamer gave me the one shot and it’s remembered. Imagine if there was five more coming after it, it wouldn’t have meant anything.”

On the Controversy of the Crucifixion Angle

“I didn’t think it was pushing the envelope. I didn’t think so. I understand why Paul E made me cut an apology afterwards, but partly it’s because my family’s Jewish. I don’t follow the religion, but my family’s Jewish, and my last name is Levy, so people just assume I’m Jewish, and Paul E is Jewish, and Todd’s Jewish. Todd Gordon, the owner. So they thought it was a mockery of Christianity, but had nothing to do with that. I mean, Madonna masturbated with a crucifix on MTV, I’m thinking this is tame compared to that. To me, it was just a metaphor. It was a metaphor. The Crucifix with Sandman was just for him to feel my pain. Because Raven was always. I considered him a martyr for society’s dysfunction.”

Some fans might recall that Olympic gold medal winner and later WWE Superstar and Hall of Famer Kurt Angle was in attendance the night of the Sandman crucifixion angle, and he was deeply offended by it. Of course, WWE would run its own crucifixion angles during the Attitude Era, including The Undertaker crucifying Steve Austin on Undertaker’s emblem on Monday Night Raw on December 7, 1998.