The following are highlights of a new Busted Open Radio interview with Tommy Dreamer:
With the Seth Rollins turn, is it hard to shock fans these days? “Oh yeah. I mean, that was my job back in the original ECW with the rise of the Internet. The Internet has so…. hurt as well as helped professional wrestling. When you talk to a lot of people, especially with me and I’m always known for having surprises at shows and people are like ‘You got any surprises?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah.’ and they’re like ‘No no no I don’t want to know’. Which is cool. I mean, it’s sometimes better to just sit back and be a fan because then we get so cynical and we want to think things our own way and stuff like that. I think the turn, and this is my opinion, the turn was really really cool. I don’t think it was the right time and the Shield I think still had a lot more mileage to go. And if you also think about it isn’t this kind of like the second Shield turn that they’ve already had? A lot of people sadly in wrestling nowadays forget about stuff. I don’t, and I remember even when everybody was making the big stink about Daniel Bryan never getting the chance, never getting the opportunity. He was already champion twice before. That’s how they, in wrestling, make you want to forget certain things. It’s your memory by what we want to feed you. Me, I remember specifically when Barry Windham turned on Dusty Rhodes. It was like ‘What the hell?!’ or Larry Zbysko turned on Bruno Sammartino. It was like ‘No way did that just happen!?’ Again, I think it’s…. in the long run will be good for Seth Rollins. I’m a huge fan of Seth Rollins work. Again, I think it’s just a little too soon because you think about it the night before they just beat the biggest faction in the business. I also would have probably almost waited to WrestleMania to have them face the Wyatts. They basically did a throwaway match on a throwaway pay per view. I mean, there was big money in 6-man action with the Freebirds and Von Erichs. They (Shield & Wyatts) are some over acts and if you finally make those guys touch, I think you’re on to something. Again, that’s they’re idea, they’re booking. Not mine.”
Is that even possible in this day and age to have a feud go on for more than just 3-4 months because of the over saturation of programming? “I don’t even want to say over saturation of programming. I want to say, it’s more for, I think in their eyes, desperation for ratings and the whole ‘We got to do things NOW NOW NOW’ as apposed to ‘wait and cultivate’. I mean you’re talking to a guy who couldn’t beat a guy for 3 years and even when everybody knew he (Raven) was leaving for WCW, they were still going crazy for all of the false finishes and everything that they did. They knew the guy was leaving. Why would they ever want to believe that he could beat me? They still were doing it throughout the entire match. I was at Lisa Marie’s restaurant. It was probably the first time I watched that match in forever and I’m saying to myself ‘Here during this age of the professional wrestling fan, and they’re still biting on all of the false finishes, and they knew he was leaving.’ So it says something for our hard work. They know, but they don’t 100% know and I think that’s the beauty of professional wrestling. To answer your question, yes, it is a lot harder to try to smarten up the fans or keep surprises because of how the industry, and, well it’s social media. If you think about it, social media changed the main event of WrestleMania and changed the outcome of WrestleMania so it’s an amazing time to be a wrestling fan.”
His take about House Of Hardcore: “I’m a wrestling fan. Always have been, always will be. This is my vision of what professional wrestling is and should be. I just want the fans to go home and say ‘Wow I saw an amazing night of professional wrestling.’ That’s my job to give it to them. Yes at times I say, like today when I spent over probably 1,200 dollars on hotels for all the talent, I said, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ But at the end of the day it’s paid off for me so far and I’m hoping it continues to pay off for me. I came from an amazing place, ECW. It was a great atmosphere and time to be a wrestling fan. I feel independent wrestling is on the rise, and if you give them I don’t care what form of entertainment it is, if you give them quality entertainment, people will come, and so far that’s what I’ve been doing. The obvious choice of Poughkeepsie and Philly, it was a big burden for me. I’m plotting out guy’s rides and how they’re going to get from one place to another, hotels. It’s a lot of work and I’m hoping at the end it’s going to pay off for me. So far I’ve had no complaints for the shows, so that’s really why I do it. I’m not going to be a guy that risks his family’s livelihood or my family’s future because I want to run wrestling shows. It’s also a business. I’m trying to slowly build something. This is going to be my 4th, 5th and next week in the west coast is going to be my 6th shows. I didn’t want to do that many shows but they kind of fell into place. From my 3rd show I had Bully Ray jump me and that aired on TNAs web stream. We had a national wrestling company talking about my company and I helped draw a bigger house for them and, you know, when we did the return match for TNA and, you know, now I can’t say who’s going to be there, but there’s going to be national cameras rolling in Poughkeepsie. There’s some good stuff going on. I’m happy because I’m seeing my hard work pay off. In ECW it changed us and we came so close. I think that’s what kind of what motivated me just cause, you know, I want more options. I want there to be more wrestling promotions. I want wrestling fans to have a choice to choose what they want to see. I don’t want to watch just… I want to see everything. It’s what I grew up on and that’s what I want to continue to do.”
Do fans just want to see pure wrestling, no matter what promotion? “Yes, and, you know it’s funny, there are guys who are past their prime wrestling, but it doesn’t mean they can’t contribute in the ring. Me, I know my time is limited. I’m 43 years old. I still can go out and put on a very entertaining match. Even though with the entire amount of injuries I have, I’m still able to go out there and perform to a higher ability. Even if there are guys who are the older veterans, you know, guys that I watched on television, they’re still out there but you know what? They’re still signing autographs. They’re still partaking in the show and if, you know, to me, that’s where you put them in the tag team matches that are with the younger guys who can go. You look at my show, when you go on the website. My match with the Dudley’s that’s going to be a throwback to the violent era of ECW. Then you have AJ Styles, the New Japan Heavyweight Champion, he’s wrestling Chris Hero, which, to me, that’s going to be a really good wrestling match. I’ve always been a guy that’s stuck by stipulations and to say ‘it’s real to me damn it’, it is. When I did Hardcore Justice for TNA, I wrote that show and I said, ‘That’s the last time me and Raven are ever going to wrestle’. Promoters have asked me to wrestle Raven and I said ‘no. I’m not going to do it’. Same with Terry Funk. My last show in Poughkeepsie was me and Terry Funk for the last time ever tagging together. For me, the last show I’m going to do Tony Neese, Petey Williams and Alex Reynolds. Not a lot of people know them, but they’re matches were so good; they were the semi-main event of my show because they do a whole different insane wrestling style. Petey Williams did a Canadian Destroyer off the top rope.”
Check out the complete interview at BustedOpenNation.com.
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