Tommy Dreamer has The American Dream Dusty Rhodes on his mind heading into IMPACT Rebellion this weekend.
IMPACT Wrestling‘s Tommy Dreamer recently sat down with WrestleZone‘s Managing Editor Bill Pritchard to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about the upcoming Hardcore War match at Rebellion, Dreamer reflected on what Dusty Rhodes did with WarGames and how the two matches differ.
“I go back, and I remember J.J. Dillon getting his shoulder separated in a WarGames. I remember Brian Pillman almost getting killed in the middle of the ring, against Sid [Vicious], getting powerbombed on top of his head because of the top of the cage,” Tommy Dreamer said. “It had, I think, had more so to do than two rings, more so with the cage.
“It would be cool to have everybody in there, but then it gets into getting cluttered, and you’re going to have ten people involved in this. It’s not a lot of wiggle room when you’re inside a steel cage.
Tommy Dreamer went on to speak in-depth about the WWE Hall of Famer and all of the Dusty-isms he utilizes in his life to this day.
“Listen, man, my Dusty-isms, and I have a lot. He’s an amazing teacher. We’re still number one, talking about him, but his influence is today from the men and women that he helped,” Tommy Dreamer said. “For me, man, he was my idol. He was the reason I’m in this business. And then later on, I found out that he considered me one of his five closest friends in the industry, which was awesome.
“I had the ability to sit under his learning tree, just like Paul Heyman did, and Eddie Graham. I had the availability not only just to hang out with Dusty or call Dusty, but there was a time when I worked in WWE, Dusty literally worked across the hall from me, and I got to hang out with him on a daily basis. Or then when he was doing WWE’s ECW and fought for us to have a WrestleMania moment.
“I think that the most is for me — it also goes to picking out people. I just watched the Sasha Banks ‘Broken Skull Sessions,’ and I know it happened a while back and she almost broke down in tears, and she said she came up with ‘The Boss,’ and nobody got it but Dusty. She’s like, ‘Thank God that he did because that’s exactly what I want you to do.’
“That’s the same thing that when you say you’re looking for somebody, I’m looking for somebody. I’ve hired a lot of men and women in this industry, and I’m kind of like a player-coach. But there are people that I’ve specifically looked at like, this person has this potential. I get them, and I want the world to get them. Whatever rub they can get by hanging out with Tommy Dreamer, that’s one I will.
“Because of what he just did leading into our tag match, Bhupinder [Gujjar] is a guy that I watch, and I’m beyond impressed with Bhupinder. I’ve been his player-coach a lot, and I want to say Bhupinder had under 20 matches. He had a ladder match on television with Brian Myers, and the entire building was cheering for him. And I was like, ‘I sucked in my 20th match, and here’s a guy doing this on television.’
“I think his ninth match was his debut in Impact. Think of that. Think of being thrust into the world of professional wrestling, being on television, all that stuff. If I could equate it to you because I’m talking to you, I’m sure your first couple of interviews weren’t the best. And, now you’re just sitting here and like, ‘Yup, I’ve got Tommy Dreamer at 1:00. Let’s go, Dreamer.’
“I don’t know if you have anyone who would intimidate you or if somebody could just take over, but you learn from every experience. And I look at somebody like that, and there’s a whole group of men and women in the locker room that I would love to be a part of [this], but I see a lot of greatness and a lot of people, just always have, and just kind of like what Dusty did too.”
IMPACT Rebellion takes place on Sunday, April 16, and is available for purchase on FITE.
Watch our full interview with Tommy Dreamer below:
READ MORE: Tommy Dreamer Is Preparing For War At IMPACT’s Rebellion PPV
What do you make of Tommy Dreamer’s comments? Do you use any Dusty-isms in your everyday life? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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