Today The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling welcomes back the one and only “Innovator Of Violence” and ECW Original, Tommy Dreamer. Promoting the upcoming HUGE weekend for his House of Hardcore promotion (tonight in Freehold, NJ at iPlay America and Saturday night at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia) Dreamer opens up on how his shows have helped Independent pro wrestling and how his vision for a “NO POLITICS, NO BS” environment has proven to be a great destination for all kinds of wrestling talent.
Below are some interview highlights, with an h/t to The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling for the transcription:
What he has in store for his HOH shows Friday night in NJ and Saturday in Philly:
“Booking is easy. Availability is a different thing and with these shows at first I was like what am I going to do with this? All of a sudden I have a lot of and when I tell you this it is that I have too many people for these two shows. The fans are going to see two great things and the only way they are going to see these shows (because) it is not going to be on any streaming device and you are going to have to attend it to see it. I have not advertised one match for The Arena and my advance is huge and I did that purposely. I wanted to see what I had and I also want to see how much my fans trust what I am doing.”
“If you look at everybody on the poster they will all be there and I’ve got a bunch of surprises for you and if that doesn’t wet you whistle than the Rock N’ Roll Express will be there and they’ve never wrestled in The Arena as a tag team and you can say goodbye to Bobby Fish. He’s not a huge House of Hardcore guy but he was a huge Ring of Honor guy and he wrestled in that building a million times. I love to be able to offer people a goodbye and let them say goodbye to the audience that has watched them grow and I am as happy as can be for Bobby Fish, I wish I had Kyle O’ Reilly (I do not) but with Bobby Fish I am happy he is finally able to go to NXT.”
Does he get frustrated when talent he uses regularly depart for WWE:
“House of Hardcore 34 and 35 are coming up and I was doing something to lead to something else and my friend went through all of the guys (we’ve had) and he said that thirty nine people that have wrestled for you are all working for WWE and I thought that was cool. At first when that would happen I would get mad and thought I would find more stars and use this as a different platform because until I am able to sign guys to contracts than I am okay with it. They will remember for some guys that they had some breaks and got to hang out and work The Arena and work in a lot of cool places.”
Ideas on how to put a House of Hardcore card together:
“I am always excited for myself the performer because this main event we’ve got I wrestled it in Australia and it was myself, MVP and Jack Swagger and when I want guys to bring it to me, they brought it to me and I loved it. The match was so good that I wanted to showcase it another on one of my shows and I get the opportunity when guys are free and I am able to do that. I had assisted them in both of their WWE careers and I am blessed to do that with guys. MY “MVP” is usually Sami Callihan for the amount of great wrestling that he does and for the first time ever (vs. Bully Ray) at iPlay. Bobby Fish who is now no more and he’ll be in NXT now will wrestle Rhett Titus and I am the biggest Rhett Titus fan. When I see someone of his talent and what he does and see how hungry he still is I will take ten Rhett Titus’ over anybody else. When you put these things together even thought it is my money, you do what the fans want to see and I am happy.”
Personal favorite matches of his in HOH:
“Me and Matt Hardy had something special. Me and Ethan Carter had something special, me and Eric Young, me and Bobby Roode and I’ve been blessed to piggy back off of a lot of stuff when I was doing stuff with TNA. Some of my favorite matches from House of Hardcore are me versus Cody Rhodes for the emotional aspect of his father being my hero and I hired Cody into WWE and I love Cody’s work and what he has become post WWE. Me and Billy Gunn in Australia took on The Young Bucks and it was the main event in Australia and billed its as The Young Bucks versus The Old Bucks that don’t give a f*ck. I do a lot of joking on my Facebook and when I saw advertisements for it and told them I was kidding, I was just happy that they put a star “F”.”
Comparing the growth of HOH to the evolution of ECW:
“It’s funny because when the original ECW started we were just an indy and it was a company that was running once a month or once every other month. The beauty of ECW and you can watch it on the WWE Network but you can watch the company grow and if you watch those TV tapings and watch the dates you can watch the audience grow and grow.”
“I’ve had that and I try to give that back and if I can’t I’ve had so many people (like) Matt Hardy. He would sit at the curtain and watch guys matches and when me and Matt got ready to wrestle that night than Bubba would watch the matches and even Christian did. Christian had not attended an Independent event in forever but he wanted to hang out and chill in the back and watch it. I asked him to be my eyes and if you see something you like than tell me and if you see something that you don’t tell me or better yet tell them. I love that.”
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Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
