7 Questions With Tommy Dreamer

2. It’s A Work. Or Is It?

tommy dreamer.jpg
WWE.com

You were a diehard wrestling fan when you were growing up. Do you remember the moment when you discovered it was a work? Attitudes were different in the 1970s and 1980s. Wrestlers were forbidden from talking openly about the business, as you’re doing today to What Culture.

“Some days, I still don’t think it is. I was a proud, proud believer. I remember when they did an exposé of wrestling here in the States on 20/20 [broadcast on ABC in February 1985]. My jaw dropped. Then I remember reading about wrestlers cutting themselves, and I was, like, ‘That’s how they did it.’

“To say that it’s a work. The outcomes are predetermined, yes, but it’s hard to master how to figure out how to put this stuff together. And sometimes when you’re wrestling . . . I fought every ex-UFC guy when I was in WWE, and some of them didn’t know that term — that it was a work. And I’ve also been a part of many real fights and riots. So that’s why I say, at times, I still don’t know if it is.”

Contributor
Contributor

The former editor of Power Slam: The Wrestling Magazine, Fin Martin has been writing about pro wrestling for nearly 25 years. His latest eBook, The Power Slam Interviews Volume 1, is available worldwide from Amazon, iBooks and Kobo. In his spare time, he enjoys walking in the Lake District.