5. For Three Years, His Office Was The One Next To Vince McMahons...
During his tenure working at Titan Towers, Dreamer occupied the office next door to Vince McMahons and pulled in a pretty good salary whilst doing so (hopefully recouping all the money lost from the demise of ECW, at least). In interviews, he describes a positive working relationship with Vince, suggesting that the infamous workaholic promoter actually has coffee for blood. However, Tommy also found himself hating the business more and more. As much as he loved having a hand in the creation of new stars and fulfilling the dreams and aspirations of young wrestlers, he really disliked many other aspects of his job, especially the politics and BS that infest all areas of professional wrestling, from the top to the bottom. Behind the scenes is what killed me, and what made me hate wrestling at times he told Steve Austin, I didnt want to be that guy. Since the launch of the WWEs watered-down ECW brand in 2005, Dreamer had been one of its most visible stars. In fact, he is the only man in history to have held both the original ECW Championship and the revived ECW Championship. The presence of Tommy Dreamer gave this new version of ECW a much needed shot of hardcore credibility, which helped to establish a lot of new/previously underutilized WWE talents as breakout stars. Finally, the WWE was acknowledging Dreamers place in wrestling history, as a hardcore icon and a beloved, everyman hero. In ECW, Dreamer could once again portray the unhinged, debauched Innovator of Violence character that once, after discovering that his on-screen girlfriend (now real-life wife) Beulah was cheating on him with fellow valet Kimona, simply stated, Ill take them both, Im hardcore. The veteran of scaffold matches, flaming tables, kendo sticks, balcony dives and nightmare-inducing chair shots, was back in business. ...Or so it appeared. Tommy Dreamer was ECWs biggest ratings boost, as well as its one surviving link to the real ECW of old. However, WWE simply refused to push him any further. As a wrestler, the ageing Dreamer wasnt earning much from his appearances in the ring, despite being the highest rated worker on the show. Essentially, after being marginalized in his office job and once again buried on WWE TV, hed had enough.