10 Things You Didn't Know About Tommy Dreamer

Ladies and Gentlemen...Tommy F’N Dreamer!

By Chris Quicksilver /

Often referred to as the €˜heart and soul€™ of renegade €˜blood n guts€™ promotion ECW, Tommy Dreamer is the sort of wrestler who ultimately becomes more than the sum of his parts. Neither a technical whiz, nor a charismatic, catch phrase spewing movie-star-in-the-making, Tommy€™s reputation was founded on his willingness to make seemingly any sacrifice for the business he loves €“ as well as his fanatical determination to €˜make it€™ in that business by any means necessary... Just as punk rock bands act as a great leveller (or should, in any instance), eroding the division between the performer and the fan, Tommy Dreamer perfectly epitomises the kind of €˜everyman hero€™ that wrestling fans love to empathize with and live vicariously through. However, even that is something of an illusion. Tommy Laughlin decided he wanted to be a wrestler at the tender age of 9 years old and pursued that dream relentlessly until he broke into the business, aged 18, in 1989. Today, Dreamer is regarded as a wrestling legend within the industry; he is a hardcore icon and a fan favourite wherever he goes. His fanbase is rabid and incredibly supportive of everything he does and he€™s happily married to a former Penthouse Pet turned children€™s author. He is a two-time World Heavyweight Champion (2000, 2009), a damn fine wrestler and, despite never having a bodybuilder€™s physique, he€™s also a surprisingly well-conditioned athlete who can still hang with today€™s young guns, even though he€™s in his 40€™s. Still, the Tommy Dreamer of 2014 is a mass of contradictions. He€™s a doting husband and a loving father, albeit one who loves to revel in the seedier side of American nightlife. He€™s an unrepentant; no holds barred bloodletter, even though he ensures that all his students learn how to actually WRESTLE and how to put on a decent match. He€™s a promoter, who spent years working behind the scenes at ECW and WWE, but one that goes out of his way to say that he despises the €œpolitics and BS€ inherent to the biz. Oh yeah, he€™s also a former World Champ who never actually wanted to win a major title... All this and more make up the fascinating, bloodstained mosaic that is Tommy Dreamer. If you€™re a long-time fan, you€™ll know everything on this list already, (but you and I both know that you€™ll read it anyway), but if you€™re a new fan, then prepare to take a look at the life and career of a man who epitomises everything that is good about professional wrestling. Ladies and Gentlemen...Tommy F€™N Dreamer!