Tommy Dreamer: An Exclusive Interview

Recently, former WWE and TNA Superstar, two time ECW Champion and the Innovator of Violence himself, Tommy Dreamer travelled to Australia to perform as part of the Australasian Wrestling Federation (AWF), a leading promotion down under operated by renowned Australian wrestler Greg Bownds, aka TNT. Between a hectic schedule involving little to no sleep, several matches including one at the appropriately titled Wrestledream event against the enigmatic Aussie superstar and former Australian World Heavyweight Champion, and his duties as host of a seminar for young up and comers to learn the trade secrets of the sports entertainment industry, I managed to squeeze in a few minutes to sit down with both wrestlers to gauge their reaction to the tour and get their perspective on a few topics.

Tommy Dreamer, first off, welcome to Australia. What Is your opinion on the land down under in general?DREAMER: Thanks, I really, really enjoyed my time here. This is my third time being here, I wish I could spend more time here because it has always been rush, rush, rush every time I've been here. But I think it is a really nice country, I think it has a lot more to offer than from what I have seen in American movies or like the Crocodile Dundee films. TNT, what has been the public response to Tommy Dreamers debut in the AWF?TNT: It's been positive. A lot of interest, a few new fans who don't usually come to the show came. I think people that love wrestling and Tommy Dreamer has got a great back catalogue and Tommy Dreamer has had a great career, he is the innovator of violence and an ECW original. People love Tommy Dreamer so it's been good for the AWF. Tommy, do you see a potential for Australia to become a new territory for potential promoters on a global scale, like Japan, Canada, England or Mexico?DREAMER: Again, I would hope so, but that includes like I have discussed before (during the seminar) a lot of money and, you know you need somebody to kind of believe in your local Australian wrestlers. Hopefully it could happen, I don't know, you would need television and a lot of behind the scenes....you need a lot of money to invest. TNT, how would you sell the Australian brand of professional wrestling and what we have to offer on a worldwide platform? The way that I like to promote it is that it is from an Australia perspective. So we use some localized gimmicks, we use some talent that obviously many people haven't heard of throughout the world. Sometimes we do have internationals come here and compete against the Australian talent which is different again, quite often it doesn't happen in other parts of the world so that is interesting. And I think Australian culture in many ways is represented within our style, we are just a little bit different from other places. The wrestling style is a good hybrid style, we combined a bit of everything plus with that Australian angle to it. On my shows I am very conscience to create something that is original and that is a good quality product that would be loved all over the world, but on the budget that we have on the independent level. But yeah, I think Australians try to our best to fill that niche but also original and enjoyable. Tommy, could we possibly see an Australian influence within the WWE anytime soon?DREAMER: I think we already have. It's funny, a lot of people credit the English, the UK fans after Wrestlemania for "hijacking" RAW, or having like one of the more entertaining Monday Night RAW's. But every Wrestlemania I have ever been to and I have been to them all almost, I always meet just as many Australian fans as I do UK fans and they say "yeah, I'm going to the show too." I think the fans are a lot more vocal and they have a lot more fun because they appreciate it more because they don't get it as much live. And I would love to see a more of an Australian presence in wrestling also with the amount of wrestlers they produce. But the (Australian) fans are just as special, I usually see it the day after Wrestlemania or Smackdown as there are a lot of leftover fans who plan their vacation around it. It's really cool. TNT, who were the wrestlers that inspired you to become a full time professional? Well, for me the concept of wrestling was what got me in at the start when I was young. I saw Wrestlemania 01 and I was like "whoa, what is that." I had never seen wresting before and I was like "cool." But the wrestlers that really caught my imagination, I remember when I saw Tiger Mask and when I saw Jushin Thunder Lyger, not wrestling against each other but just wrestling. They are the kind of guys that I was like, "wow, I want to wrestle like them." As for the WWE, I kind of liked Bret Hart growing up as a teenager. He was like, actually wrestling. There was a lot of these characters, the bigger guys that kind of like weren't really wrestling, so Bret Hart was a excellent representative. I could put on a Bret Hart match and not be embarrassed to watch it. Like, this is not a knock on some of those bigger guys, but if you had saqy, the Rockers vs the Orient Express on, I could show someone that match and say this is what I wanna do and this is what I wanna be.

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