Tommy Dreamer recently spoke to Still Real To Us during an appearance at New York Comic Con; check out the highlights below:
Tommy Dreamer comments on Comic Con, how the view of ‘nerds’ and wrestling has changed in a positive manner:
“This is my first ever New York Comic Con. I’ve heard they have officially outdrawn the San Diego Comic Con. As Will Farrell said, ‘F U, San Diego.’ It’s awesome. You know, it’s pretty funny. Back in the day, if you said you were a nerd or a geek, you were ostracized or bullied. Now, it’s cool to be a nerd or a geek and I love that. I always felt that the wrestling community was a bunch of nerds or geeks that all came together. Now, guess what? Wrestling is strong as can be.
It’s the third most talked about thing on social media. It’s pretty crazy. I’m having a great time. I know on Thursday, we had about 170,000 people come through. I know on Saturday there were over 200,000 people! I like it. Everyone is all dressed up. I’ve seen Bullet Club t-shirts everywhere.”
Dreamer comments on starting House of Hardcore as a one time show and now creating a brand of wrestling:
“It was the next step for me. I always wanted to do one show. I did one show and it was pretty successful. That was five years ago on October 5th. Then, the next year, I did two shows. Then I did a show in Canada and we sold out the Ted Reeve Arena. We set the attendance record there and I went, ‘Whoah! We are on to something.’”
“For me, I want to show wrestling fans a variety. Something different. When you think about wrestling–there really is only one wrestling organization as opposed to baseball where there’s 30. The same goes for football, hockey or basketball. But you know what? They are all still playing the same game. I just want to show people my crazy vision of professional wrestling. We are coming up on House of Hardcore 34, 35 and 36. I’m enjoying this. I have now dedicated my life to doing it because I love it. The fans have been really, really appreciative of it. Now it’s also a business. I’m building a brand for it.”
Dreamer talks about having Candice Michelle’s sendoff match at House of Hardcore’s December live event:
“When you leave WWE, people think that you just disappear. I was blessed to have a nice farewell from WWE even though they brought me back. I’m giving Candice Michelle her last ever match. It really is her last ever match. She couldn’t believe I wanted to do that for her. I was like, ‘Hey! You were a person who came in as a Go Daddy girl. You knew nothing about wrestling and just fell into it. Then, you became a great in-ring talent and champion.’ I feel wrestling fans need closure for the character as well as the person herself who needs her own, personal closure.”
“I’ve done it for Beulah. I’ve done it for Traci Brooks in her hometown and now I’m doing it for Candice Michelle. I love the fact that I can do this for anyone in the business. Weirdly, women are able to leave the business a lot easier than the men. It’s just really, really cool. For me, personally, it’s a huge gratification that I can do this for my friend. I love that about wrestling. It’s going to be a huge sendoff. We are going to have some really big news this week.”
