Seldom will you find as fitting an example of the old adage ‘right place, right time’ than Scott Levy’s rise to prominence in Extreme Championship Wrestling. Almost as much as the company helped define his career, Levy’s portrayal of the Raven persona and how effective it was proved as important to ECW’s success as just about anything else in the promotion’s eight year history.
A fan from a young age, Scott Levy first made his name in Don Owen’s Portland territory in 1989, debuting as the obnoxious Scotty ‘The Body’ Levy. Early on, it was clear that Levy possessed one of the most important skills required to be a successful pro wrestler; the ability to talk, at least in a captivating manner which engaged his audience; because it’s one thing to talk to your audience, but making them care is a whole different ballgame. However, much of his work early on in his career was in great contrast to the style of promos he’d deliver in Extreme Championship Wrestling. He became known early on for his flamboyant, cocky attitude, something of a mix between Vanilla Ice and Mark Wahlberg during his “Marky Mark” days.
Following a brief stint at World Championship Wrestling, Levy’s prospects only seemed to grow more promising as he signed with the World Wrestling Federation in 1993. However, his stint in professional wrestling’s top promotion would ultimately leave him disillusioned, and would unknowingly provide him with much of the emotional inspiration for what would ultimately become the Raven character.
When he first got into the professional wrestling business, Levy’s dream – like most who venture into the profession – was to be a wrestler, which meant, obviously, plying his trade in the squared circle against his fellow opponents. WWF honcho Vince McMahon saw things a little differently; instead of utilising his in-ring talents, McMahon began using Levy as a producer behind-the-scenes, as well as in on-air roles such as commentary and manager, and a position as the head creative writer for the company’s B-level television shows, such as Superstars. From the outside, it appeared that Levy had been entrusted with a large degree of responsibility, and was thus at least somewhat valued by the higher-ups. However, his desire for – and ultimate denial of – consistent in-ring competition caused some friction. As a result Levy shirked many of the tasks delegated unto him, or at least didn’t apply himself wholeheartedly. “Those second-run shows took, like, no real work at all to put together” Levy recalls of his first WWF stint. “It took me about 16 hours a week to do this 60, 70-hour a week job. I used to get up, call the studio, and tell them I was at the office, call the office and tell them I was in the studio, and then go back to bed”. Despite his lackadaisical attitude and work ethic in the WWF, Levy still had a burning passion to make his mark as a wrestler. He knew what he wanted his position in the wrestling business to be, and it didn’t involve sitting behind a desk or behind a television monitor backstage. Nonetheless, one must still give Vince McMahon credit for being able to recognise early on the brilliant mind Levy became so well known for later on in his career.
After his attempts to gain recognition for his heelish abilities as a manager, which he hoped would allow him to actually wrestle, failed, Levy left the company in 1995. He later cited his relatively small size (in comparison to other stars of the era) as a major reason for McMahon’s hesitation in using him as an in-ring performer; “I was about 225, 230 pounds, and they thought I was too small…their whole attitude was, a wrestler has to be 270 pounds”. If his ultimate success later on in ECW was a matter of good timing, this was an example of the opposite as shortly after he left the company, the WWF came under tremendous scrutiny due to its performer’s use of steroids, and thus were almost forced into utilising its smaller talent, some of whom were the same size – if not smaller – than Levy.
After leaving WWF, Levy contacted Smoky Mountain promoter Jim Cornette about a job, which proved to be ultimately fruitless as Cornette failed to deliver on his initial promise to bring the former Johnny Polo into his territory. Although he didn’t have a job at the time, it was during this period that the ever creative Levy came up with the genesis for what would become one of the most memorable wrestling characters of the 90's, and the vehicle through which he’d achieve the success he’d so long yearned for. Although he’d enjoyed his stints as the cowardly heel (villain) during previous runs in various territories, Levy foresaw that wrestling was on the verge of a drastic change, influenced by the alternative trend that had become so fashionable in pop culture. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains became outlets through which a new generation of misfits and outcasts could voice their feelings of alienation, and Levy felt it necessary to create a character which reflected this cultural paradigm shift.
After seeing Patrick Swayze’s performance as a manipulative Zen master of crime in the thriller Point Break, Levy was so impressed that he took elements of Swayze’s performance, and from that foundation the pieces began to fall into place. “I saw it as a vicious alternative thing. I was pointed in the right direction, and it came to me,” Levy said. “The name, the ‘Quoth the Raven, nevermore!” catchphrase…it was just like this maelstrom of creativity”.
Not only was the Raven character a reflection of the ugliness Scott Levy saw in the world around him, but it also was also something of a cathartic release for a man who was at his lowest point professionally, which began to boil over into his personal life as well. “I had only been in the business six years…and already I felt like a complete failure” Levy says upon reflection. During that time he had bounced around from territory to territory without making any real impact, and saw the Raven character as his last chance at truly breaking through. Because of this, he needed to ensure that he develop the character properly, which mean he needed to go to a company with a television audience; “I knew I needed to be on a TV show to develop this character” he says. “There was no real way to get something over to wrestling fans on the Internet back then”.
Of course, as ridiculed and parodied as they may be by those within the business, once you impress the internet intelligentsia – who will often decry a character before it’s even given a chance – you know you’re onto something. All Levy needed was a platform.
Almost by fate, soon after he began piecing together the character of Raven, one Saturday evening Levy came across ECW, and found himself glued to the television screen; in his own words, it was unlike anything he’d seen before. Almost two decades later in an interview with fellow Extreme alumni Chris Jericho, he exclaimed “I just thought ‘wow! this is the greatest television show I’ve ever seen!” And thanks to Scott Levy himself, it was about to get a whole lot better.
“The pain and suffering of a childhood lost. An empty swing, an empty promise, a broken dream, a broken home. It’s strange how laughter looks like crying … with no sound and raindrops taste like tears … without the pain. Tommy Dreamer, you will relive the turmoil and anguish of an uncertain youth.”
· Raven on ECW Television, January 1995
At first, Paul Heyman wasn’t completely sold on Scott Levy’s vision of what Raven could be. Heyman, who had almost completely taken over the reins of Extreme Championship Wrestling by this time, thought it would be nothing more than a Johnny Polo rip-off, with a slight Gothic twist.
Although it took some time and persuasive words – as well as help from an unlikely source in their mutual friend Diamond Dallas Page (to whom Heyman owed a favour) – the two eventually agreed to terms and Raven was set to debut on ECW Television in January of 1995.
To set up Raven’s debut, wrestler Stevie Richards began having an identity crisis of sorts, only each time there were not-so-subtle references to Levy’s previous personas from earlier in his career. First there was “Stevie Flamingo”, “Stevie the Body”, and finally, “Stevie Polo”.
According to the man behind Raven, the name checking of his prior gimmicks was intentional. “I felt I couldn’t just be a new character when the fans knew about all the other roles I played,” he told a reporter for WWE Magazine in 2001. “I didn’t want to insult their intelligence the way other wrestling promotions had before. I told them, ‘You know me by these other names, but this is who I really am.’ Then I never brought up the subject again.”
Based upon Richard’s thinly veiled references, most ECW fans expected the exact same Scott Levy as they’d seen on their screens performing in the WWF and WCW; they were in for one heck of a surprise. During an interview segment between Stevie Richards and Joey Styles, a somewhat familiar face casually made his way on-screen. Everyone knew who it was, but Levy’s new appearance stunned even the most hardened of fans. Gone was the upbeat, colourful – not to mention arrogant – demeanour of the past. In his place was a long-haired, filthy man who seemed disgusted with everything and everyone around him; he said little and smiled even less. He was only on the screen for less than five minutes, yet Raven had made the biggest impact on the entire show, instantly catapulting himself into the upper echelon of ECW’s eclectic roster, at least if fan interest was anything to go by.
“You two know each other from somewhere…”
After letting the world know of the vendetta he held against ECW stalwart Tommy Dreamer, tensions between the two men escalated at the Return of the Funker show on February 4th, when Tommy Dreamer confronted him, which resulted in Raven unleashing with a barrage of punches on Dreamer. Behind the scenes, the reason Raven was paired with Dreamer right away in a story line, which would create the foundation for one of ECW’s most famous rivalries, is because once again, Scott Levy – in the form of Raven – was the right man, in the right place, at the right time.
Initially, the deal was that Raven would come in to work a two-month program with Dreamer, who Heyman had been trying to get over as a baby-face, to much resistance from the tough ECW faithful. To them, Dreamer had no substance – he was a pretty boy jock who came out in lame coloured trunks and looked like nothing more than a WWF reject. Even after agreeing upon the deal, Heyman only saw Raven as a short-term character. Levy, of course, had other ideas – “He didn’t know I was going to go out there and bare my soul. I had always been the life of the party, but that was just a shell for a lot of inner turmoil”. In order to make sure this character was a success, Levy knew that he would have to reach down into emotional depths he’d never explored, and it was a challenge he embraced.
At the aforementioned Return of the Funker show, Joey Styles had been conducting the interview which had broken down into a brawl between Raven and Dreamer, then after both men were separated he simply said, in an ominous tone “You two know each other from somewhere”. With those seven simple words, the hottest feud in the company – and the one which would put both men on the map – had begun.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the Dreamer – Raven feud was how both men reversed the stereotypical good guy/bad guy roles in the story-line at play. Over the next few weeks, it was revealed that Raven had been a bitter loner who had been bullied in his younger years by the popular kid who became Tommy Dreamer. It was typical Hollywood fare, only instead of the bully getting a taste of his medicine to the cheers of the crowd, the fans were fully in support of him as he tried to take down his former victim. More than anything, this is a testament to Levy’s commitment to portraying Raven as the cunningly manipulative, psychologically unstable madcap that he originally envisioned the character as.
Another factor in their feud which ensured the fans would continue to rally behind Dreamer was his constant failure to usurp Raven from his imaginary throne and defeat him. In fact, it wasn’t until Raven’s departure for WCW nearly two years after his ECW debut that Dreamer was able to finally beat his foe in a convincing manner. The key here was that there was never any portrayal by Heyman (who booked the large majority of the story-lines) that Dreamer was the number one guy in the company, or as good as Raven. Thus, the fans didn’t feel as though they were being forced to like Dreamer or that he was being shoved down their throats; he was simply a guy who let Raven get inside his head as punishment for past sins, and the only way to rectify it was to beat his foe, which he couldn’t do.
Many of the Tommy Dreamer – Raven ‘matches’ embodied the bloody, hardcore style ECW became famous for. Often times the ring was abandoned in favour for brawls through the crowd, where both men would use a unique array of weapons brought in by the crowd. On one occasion, unhappy at having to keep up with Dreamer and Raven as they fought their way around the arena, the security team hired for the event warned Heyman that if another match went past the guardrail (i.e. beyond the ringside area) the show would be shut down.
During the Tommy Dreamer feud, and throughout his run, Raven showed another behavioural trait that only served to add further layers to his already complex character. After being introduced by Stevie Richards, Raven would treat him with complete disdain and often berate him – physically and verbally – despite Richard’s most valiant attempts at establishing some kind of friendship. Even after winning the ECW World Tag Team Championships together, Richards was treated like nothing more than an inconvenience. Still, Raven kept him close, as well as his other underlings such as the Blue Meanie; collectively they were a part of the Raven’s Nest stable, which at various times also included The Pitbulls tag team, The Dudley Boyz, Johnny Hotbody and Tony Stetson. Despite his disdain for the members of his stable, Raven used his powers of manipulation and persuasion to keep them at his side in order to gain the numbers advantage. Raven preyed upon the weak-minded, and in turn they worshipped him. On more than one occasion, Dreamer was forced to face members of the Raven’s Nest stable in handicap or gauntlet match situations.
Although he kept his stablemates close in a physical sense, Raven’s complete lack of regard for any personal relationships was obvious, and by treating his so-called allies the way he did, Raven pushed the fans away as well. Reflecting on this ability to alienate everybody around him, Levy reflects on how important the fan’s hatred of him was in establishing Raven as a top player in ECW. “I am so proud of what I did for that company… My character became so hated that anyone who fought me was automatically a face [good guy].”
Levy claims that his brutal treatment of Richards and other ‘lackeys’ such as Blue Meanie was by design, so as to remind the crowd how much of a true bastard he was whenever they thought of cheering him. “And that’s the art of a true heel” he says. “Just when they were about to cheer me…I’d do something so insidious the crowd would say ‘Fuck him!’ and turn against me”.
Although he knew from the outset that he would face a challenge in getting the fans to hate him – especially against Tommy Dreamer – Raven was confident in his abilities to be the most hated villain in the company. “Firstly, I had to overcome the albatross of Johnny Polo” he says, referencing his old WWF gimmick. “The next albatross was, I was always about to get cheered”.
Throughout 1995, The Raven-Tommy Dreamer program played a prominent part in ECW’s programming. To keep things interesting, various characters were introduced throughout the feud. As well as the aforementioned characters which made up the Raven’s Nest stable, Dreamer would often employ the assistance of other ECW favourites such as Terry Funk and Cactus Jack to help his cause, although Jack would inevitably turn on his friend at August’s WrestlePalooza event, attacking Dreamer during an 8-Man Tag Team Match and joining the Raven’s Nest. More important than any of those names, however, was the early addition of Beulah McGillicutty to the story-line, whose involvement made the feud even more personal than it already was, and ensured plenty of twists and turns along the way.
While Beulah’s involvement and on-screen portrayal of the character only added to the story-line, the man behind Raven was hesitant at first. After introducing Beulah (real name Trisa Hayes) to Paul Heyman, Levy was disappointed when the ECW owner suggested that she be paired with Raven himself on television. “I always felt like Raven didn’t need a valet” he said. “It didn’t fit with my vision of the character as a dark loner”. Finally, he came up with the idea that would benefit not only his character but the feud itself.
On April 8, 1995 at the Three Way Dance event, Raven introduced Beulah as his girlfriend, who he’d met at summer camp. The same summer camp, in fact, that Raven had also met, and begun his deep hatred of, Tommy Dreamer. Beulah, at the time an overweight and acne-riddled teenager, had been spurned in her love-fuelled advances by Dreamer. Now a Penthouse model, she had returned to help gain revenge on Dreamer, although unlike Raven it seemed as though love was as big a part of her motivates as hatred. The story-line could have easily turned out to be as stereotypical and crass as the worst of Hollywood’s many romantic productions, but in reality, each participant played their part tremendously, helping the story-line connect with fans. In Raven’s words, it was “The simple and oldest story in the world – two best friends from childhood fight over a girl, and Dreamer
could never pin me.”
Following almost twelve months of brutal physicality and mental warfare, the ending of the first – and most memorable – chapter in the feud came with a shocking twist. As the story-line progressed, Raven and Dreamer’s rivalry became as much about Beulah as it was about their past with each other. On January 5th, 1996 at the House Party event, Beulah shockingly revealed that she was pregnant, and to add further fuel to the fire, claimed that it wasn’t Raven’s baby but, you guessed it, Tommy Dreamer’s. Nine days later, on the January 16 edition of Hardcore TV Beulah officially aligned herself with Dreamer. While Dreamer had failed to pin or defeat Raven at all during their feud to that point, one could argue that he had still, in some ways, emerged a winner, having caused Raven the same emotional turmoil that he was so adept at inflicting on other people.
Enter Sandman
While his feud with Tommy Dreamer would linger on for another couple of years, both men would temporarily venture down separate paths, even as their feud still simmered in the background. On January 27th, 1996, this path led Raven to the first major Championship victory of his career as he defeated The Sandman to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. For Raven, it was a win which further cemented his status as one of the most unique, effective characters of the modern era. For Scott Levy, however, it meant a whole lot more; the title belt was vindication for everything he’d gone through over the previous two or three years, and justified his leaving such a lucrative position in the WWF.
Raven had reached his zenith in ECW by capturing the top Championship, and in doing so he also helped kick off another intensely personal rivalry which ranks among the most memorable in the history of the company, quite the achievement considering the heights he had already reached with Tommy Dreamer. And in similar fashion to Raven’s interactions with his former high school bully, the long-haired outcast made sure to do more damage psychologically to the Sandman than he ever could physically. Raven’s emphasis on playing mind games with his opponents were critical in keeping him at odds with the audience, or in wrestling terms, ‘his heat’.
While many less dedicated performers would’ve given in to the fans and acted in a way which would get them cheered, Raven did his all to ensure that he would be among the most hated wrestlers on the card. This was no easy feat; to many in the crowd, and watching at home, Raven was perhaps the most relatable character on the roster, particularly as his attire and ne’er do well appearance suited the mid 90s’ aesthetic more than anybody else in wrestling. Not to mention that on a weekly basis he would bare his soul in ways which almost made you want to empathise with him, despite knowing he’d throw that sympathy back in your face. Raven wasn’t out for pity; he was out for revenge – through violence, mind games and cruel manipulation.
It was the latter two forms of punishment which helped the ‘Raven’ character stand out. In a 2017 interview with ESPN.com, Levy reflected on how it was the emotional turmoil he put his opponents through which made him such a hated member of the ECW roster, and why it was more important to him than the physical damage he was able to dish out. “I was able to be in angles where I used psychological warfare, which is always more intriguing than physical warfare,” Levy said. “If I wanted to make you mad, I could beat you up. You’d be in pain, but you’d get over it. But if I took your girlfriend, that’s an emotional pain and that is so much harder to deal with. I always caused emotional pain and emotional damage to my opponents and most people didn’t do that.”
The lengths Raven was willing to go to in order to get inside The Sandman’s head made their rivalry not only one of the most memorable in ECW history, but also the most personal, as it incorporated certain aspects of The Sandman’s real life, most notably his own son Tyler. While his feud with Dreamer was of a personal nature, it didn’t necessarily reflect either man’s actual lives (i.e. meeting at the summer camp) but those of their characters. Although Raven’s inclusion of The Sandman’s real family made for uncomfortable viewing at some points, the emotional elements at play only piqued the audience’s interest further, and the longer the story-line continued, the more invested they became.
On June 22nd 1996 at Hardcore Heaven, following a match with Terry Gordy, Raven focused his attention on The Sandman’s 7 year-old son Tyler, having already brainwashed Tyler’s mother, and Sandman’s ex-wife, Lori into joining his Nest. Not only was Raven successful in luring Tyler into his stable (thus creating perhaps the youngest heel in professional wrestling history), but Tyler’s verbal attack on his father only added to The Sandman’s pain, as he called him ‘an alcoholic’ who was responsible for breaking their family apart. In many ways, Tyler was a reflection of Raven’s own upbringing.
In the ESPN interview, Scott Levy was high on praise for his feud with The Sandman. “The angle where I stole Sandman’s son was one of my all-time favourite angles,” he said. “When I took the Sandman’s kid, everybody could identify with the estranged wife using a kid as leverage to get back at the husband. It’s despicable. Nobody should ever use a kid in that way, but we did.”
Although the feud is fondly remembered, it also included its share of controversial moments, most notably the incident where Raven crucified Sandman against the ropes (for which he would be forced to apologise after the show due to negative backlash). Longtime fan John Bailey, who was a constant at ECW shows and went by the nickname of ‘Hat Guy’, bemoaned their use of religious iconography. “That was the only thing I thought was really tasteless…I thought they really crossed the line with the crucifixion angle”. Nonetheless, despite being forced to apologise afterwards, Raven made sure it came across as being intentionally disingenuous in order to stay true to his character.During his feud with Sandman, in October of 1996 Raven began to break away from his longtime allies Stevie Richards and the Blue Meanie, after Raven lost his ECW Championship to The Sandman when Richards, who had replaced a supposedly injured Raven in the title match, was defeated. Just as Raven was in the midst of damaging The Sandman’s relationships with those closest to him, Raven was also destroying his own.In December of 1996, Raven would regain his ECW Championship from Sandman following a gruelling Barbed Wire match, with the reign coming to an end at the hands of Terry Funk on a historic night for the company; on April 13, 1997 ECW staged its first ever Pay-Per-View event, Barely Legal, with Raven facing Funk in the main event.Raven’s saga with The Sandman finally came to a head in 1997, as Raven’s lack of patience and own lack of empathy toward others was finally beginning to catch up to him. On February 22, 1997 in a tag match which pitted the team of Raven and Brian Lee against Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk, a frustrated Raven hit Lori Fullington with his signature DDT. A stunned Tyler, perhaps broken from his trance at the sight of this attack, ran backstage, and re-emerged with The Sandman. Although not originally involved in the match, Sandman attacked and then pinned Raven, capping it off with an emotional post-match reunion with his son in a moment which remains a true highlight in the history of ECW.
“The best thing I ever did was my feud with Sandman,” Scott Levy told ESPN.com in 2017. “Paul E. [Heyman] gave me all the leeway I needed. I just touched a nerve in society that they’d rather disavow. I also understand how my behaviour would garner a reaction, which is psychology. I don’t think most people had the level of psychology that I did. I was able to garner the right reaction at the right time as opposed to just a reaction for reaction’s sake.”
Departure and Return
In mid-1997, Raven signed with the rival World Championship Wrestling organisation, who had offered him a far greater sum of money than the smaller ECW promotion was able to. Before departing, he would fittingly come head to head with his old rival Tommy Dreamer. At WrestlePalooza on June 6th, 1997, Dreamer finally defeated Raven in a ‘Loser Leaves ECW’ Match, after 30 months of trying. Not only did this defeat mark turnaround in fortunes for Dreamer, there was a telling moment during the match which revealed a side of Raven seldom seen by ECW fans, if at all. While Raven always had personal relationships and was never really lacking for company, he had yet to display any true yearning or desire for human affection. It seemed as though he was indifferent to the presence of those who surrounded him. From his so-called ‘lackeys’ which made up the Raven’s nest, to his new girlfriend Kimona Wonalaya, Raven gave the impression that he’d be just as happy without them. However, during his final match with Dreamer, he begged for Beulah to rejoin him and leave Dreamer, a request which was ultimately denied. It was a stunning display of emotional vulnerability which added a fascinating dichotomy to a character which would be sorely missed by ECW.
After being granted an early release from WCW in 1999, Raven returned to Extreme Championship Wrestling on August 26th of that same year. In the company’s television debut on TNN, Raven returned as Tommy Dreamer’s surprise partner against the Dudley Boyz, with the pair winning the ECW Tag Team Championships. It was yet another shocking development in their long running saga. Although Raven remained an important presence on ECW Television, by his own admission he wasn’t able to put as much creativity and energy into his efforts as he had during his first stint with the company, due to both his own personal issues as well as the accumulating stress on Paul Heyman, the head of ECW, to keep the company afloat, which negatively affected the working environment that had previously been such a creative atmosphere for many ECW talent. As a result, his return lacked substance and failed to match the impact of Raven’s halcyon years in ECW only a couple of years earlier.
After carrying their Championships into the new year, the oddly paired team of Dreamer & Raven lost the titles to The Impact Players (Lance Storm & Justin Credible), and would resume their feud soon after, albeit only briefly. Unsurprisingly, the feud failed to reach the heights it had only a few years earlier.
“I thought ECW was going to go places with them getting on TNN” he said. “I didn’t realise Paul [Heyman] was so burnt out. My drug use had gotten bad by then, too, and Paul took it as me not caring. In my mind, I thought that Paul was fumbling the ball, and if he didn’t give a shit, then I wasn’t going to give a shit. That doesn’t mean I was going to go out there and just lay down, because I’d never do that, but there’s a definite difference between bringing your A game and bringing your B game”.
On July 7th, 2000 Raven competed against Rhino for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in what would ultimately be his final match for the company, losing in just over two minutes. Two months later, he appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment), having signed with the company following his departure from Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Despite their differences toward the latter stages of Raven’s run in ECW, he still had glowing praise for Paul Heyman in an interview conducted shortly following his departure from the company. “I loved working for Paul E. Paul E. and me were like Scorsese and DeNiro. I don’t want to say I’m the equivalent of DeNiro, I don’t mean it that way except that how [in the same way] they’ve made so many movies together, me and Paul E. did so much together. I couldn’t have done it without him, he couldn’t have done it without me and we both know that. Paul E.’s insane, I’m eccentric. I still love him to death. I’ll always have a fondness for Paul E.”
In 1995, Scott Levy was hired by Heyman in what was supposed to be a short run with the company, designed to help elevate another talent in Tommy Dreamer. Not only would Levy help elevate Dreamer to another level, but he took that ‘short run’ and turned it into one of the most illustrious and memorable careers in ECW history.
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.
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