Collection: Raven

Few antagonists in the history of sports-entertainment have stirred as much controversy in the squared circle as the man from The Bowery called Raven. The grungy sociopath terrorized opponents and fans alike in major wrestling organizations, including WWE, WCW and the original incarnation of ECW.

Raven may have looked like a roadie for Pearl Jam, but he had the brains to become one of the ring’s most influential leaders. With an IQ of more than 140, the gutter punk became a member of Mensa and used his intellect to recruit a cult of followers when Stevie Richards brought him to ECW in 1995. Surrounded by converts like Richards, Blue Meanie, The Pitbulls and Cactus Jack, the sadistic messiah became a villainous idol in Philadelphia by employing a mesmerizing blend of an indomitable demeanor and glib prose. His signature signoff became Edgar Allen Poe’s elegant line, “Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore.’”

The master manipulator first targeted his former summer camp rival Tommy Dreamer, who had been a popular jock while Raven was a social outcast. “For three years, I’d never beat him,” Dreamer said of the man who once broke his fingers in the ring. “Every time I’d come so close, I’d somehow not pull it off.” It wasn’t until two years of battles later that Dreamer finally defeated his longtime rival at Wrestlepalooza 1997, Raven's final night in his first ECW tenure.