His name is Tommy Dreamer, he's a certified legend and the innovator of violence. Bada bing, bada boom, smartest guy in the room.
It might not sound as cool without Enzo Amore doing it in NXT, but the words are very true.
Dreamer, 44, showed up on RAW last week, joining the Dudley Boyz in their fight against The Wyatt Family. It seems he will be around on WWE programming for at least much of December. In addition to this current WWE stint, he's appeared on TNA, NXT, more than two dozen indy promotions and his own promotion, House of Hardcore — all in 2015. He's doing it all with no long-term agreement or clauses preventing him from working everywhere else.
Are you kidding me?
In an industry like professional wrestling where egos and deceit run wilder than Hulkamania in the '80s, having a key to that many doors simultaneously is unprecedented. Dreamer is not getting fired from promotion to promotion and just happening to appear on television simultaneously like Rick Rude famously did in 1997. It's all on his terms. This is history.
To top it off, Dreamer is wearing his House of Hardcore shirts in the ring on all of these other promotions' television. Free promotion. Free promotion where the revenue stemming from the promotion is his. It's right up there with Brock Lesnar having enough leverage to keep his personal endorsement with Jimmy Johns on all of his merchandise and ring gear. I'm just waiting for Dreamer to have Subway sandwiches promoted on the back of his HOH shirts. He eats there enough, it would be genuine support.
The guy is no dummy. He knows success, he stays motivated, everybody likes him and he knows how to deal with people to get what he wants but in a fair way that's mutually beneficial. All of the sudden, the fact ECW babe Beulah McGillicutty married him makes that much more sense.
Going deeper into what Dreamer is accomplishing, is the time frame he's doing it in.
We've seen willingness from NXT to work with other promotions and have guys like Dreamer, Rhyno or Johnny Gargano come and go. We've seen acknowledgment to power indy promotion EVOLVE. Now more than ever in the state of professional wrestling, combining resources for efficiency and to create buzz is necessary.
Dreamer's House of Hardcore promotion is extremely successful, pun intended. In addition to the quality of talent he's gotten to make appearances, surprise and advertised, is accompanied with not moving too fast. He's not getting greedy running too many shows too quickly. He's not jumping at the first TV deal(s) offered in exchange waiting for the right situation and storm to emerge.
The ECW legend helped build the hardcore revolution of '90s, holding several jobs outside of being the top babyface. He's performed for WWE for many years. He's worked in the WWE office with the creative team. He's worked behind the scenes with TNA. The wealth of knowledge he's obtained while still actively knowing the grind of a performer provides him a rare ability to relate to management and his peers in the top wrestling companies.
If the open-door policies continue with mutually benefited deals, the reward for the fans has great potential. The reward for Dreamer's role, influence and earnings as he goes into his late 40s is positively rich.
If an HOH Lucha mask is made, I'd bet we see him on Lucha Underground. Tweet me the best ideas of what his ring name could be. El Violencia?
Justin LaBar is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7949 or jlabar@tribweb.com.
