Tommy Dreamer Interview: IMPACT's Resurgence, Victory Road, His Career & More

Is there anyone else who's been impressing you the most in IMPACT lately?

Dreamer: Victory Road was an awesome, awesome pay-per-view. I'm not saying it because I was a part of it, I'm saying it because I'm a wrestling fan. I'm blown away with how Victory Road came off. It was an amazing show and I think everybody should sign up for it and see it. For me, I come from ECW. We had the saying “Politically incorrect and damn proud of it” and it was also “Don't like what you see? Cool, go somewhere else.” But this is something like it's where, holy crap, [it's a] loaded roster of men and women who are out there killing it on a weekly basis. I'm blown away with Tenille Dashwood and Jordynne Grace. Tenille, when she was in WWE, we had, what, nine weeks of buildup, maybe even longer, for when she was even longer and that wasn't even paid off. She's out there destroying it in the ring.

With Jordynne, I consider her a homegrown talent, though she was on the indies for a very long time. She's come into her own. Or Deonna Purrazzo. I'm one of the biggest fans of Kylie Rae because of how talented she is in the ring. Her character is amazing and I love when she and Susie snap. It's an interesting dynamic. There's a lot coming out of this pay-per-view that then leads to Bound for Glory, but like I said, everybody is really crushing it from top to bottom. I hate to say or sound cliché like Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, but every match on this show is really, really good. It could main-event anywhere. Again, it sounds cliché, but I watched the show and I was blown away with it.

Having been a part of so many different eras of IMPACT's history, how would you say this current one stands out from the rest?

Dreamer: I think the best part about IMPACT has been, one, management. Very, very hands-on. Also, everybody is a wrestler behind the scenes from creative to agents to management. You have stability with the television networks. They own the company. The biggest part is getting rid of negative stigma. For years, how many people would write off IMPACT Wrestling? “They're going out of business. People didn't get paid.” Or whatever. All of that negative stigma has been gone for the last year and a half, maybe two years, and that came with management and better communication and stuff like that. I love the fact that during a pandemic, the world stopped, but wrestling didn't and IMPACT was actually the first company hiring talents. Kudos to them.

It's like they've built so much equity with the fans with goodwill and they have not disappointed because a lot of times it was about disappointment. The television network doesn't have the range of an AEW or a WWE, but fans find it. I know growing up, I didn't have cable but I found professional wrestling from World Class, Mid-South, you name it, I watched it. Wrestling fans can find it through the FITE Network, through AXS, through Twitch. My favorite part about being with the company is that Slammiversary trended number one worldwide. During a pandemic, during an election, where everything is negative, negative, negative, we did our part and let people talk about professional wrestling and entertainment. I love that and I love on Tuesdays when people are trending or IMPACT on AXS is trending. That tells people about the current state of the world because it hasn't been the best in 2020.