10 Things Fans Should Know About Tommy Dreamer

One of the wrestlers most associated with ECW, where he spent a majority of the company’s existence from 1993 to 2001, Tommy Dreamer is equal parts Terry Funk and Dusty Rhodes. In other words, Dreamer has a strong everyman quality but also an ability to take part in brutal hardcore matches that earned him the nickname “The Innovator of Violence.”

RELATED: ECW's 5 Most Violent Feuds (& 5 That Were Based On Pure Wrestling)

Fans might not know a lot about Tommy Dreamer, whose career has thus far spanned five decades and touched seemingly every major promotion in North America. Without further ado, let’s go over Dreamer’s career and take a look at 10 things every fan should know.

10 Was Not Well Liked In His Early Years

Trained by Johnny Rodz, Tommy Dreamer debuted in 1989 and took his famous ring name in 1992. But even then, the Tommy Dreamer of that era isn’t quite the star that fans know today. He debuted for ECW -- then Eastern Championship Wrestling -- in 1993, and found himself hated by fans for his rather vanilla character, even as he won the tag team title with Johnny Gunn. His big claim to fame in this early period, however, is that he once kicked out of Jimmy Snuka’s uber-protected Superfly Splash at ECW’s landmark 1994 event The Night the Line Was Crossed.

9 Tommy Dreamer Becomes Tommy Dreamer -- Thanks To The Sandman

Before long Tommy Dreamer put himself on the map thanks to his first major feud, which would be against The Sandman. The two clashed in a Singapore Cane Match, which had a stipulation that the loser would get 10 lashes with said cane. Dreamer not only lost, but begged for more after he took his 10 lashes. This got audiences to side with Dreamer as a fan favorite, but he and Sandman would also deliver a number of memorable moments during this rivalry, including Dreamer unintentionally (kayfabe) blinding Sandman.

8 Feuding With Raven

While Sandman would be Tommy Dreamer’s first major feud, his career-defining rivalry would be with Raven. The two had a kayfabe history as childhood friends which the manipulative Raven used against him by introducing Beulah McGillicutty, a girl they met at summer camp whose advances Dreamer rejected.

RELATED: 10 Storyline Twists Everyone Saw Coming In ECW

This feud would run for two years, resulting in Raven getting repeated wins over Tommy Dreamer as Beulah would soon side with Dreamer. Tommy would get the final win where it counted, however -- in a Loser Leaves Town match at Wrestlepalooza 1997, which would send Raven off to WCW.

7 “I’ll Take Them Both, I’m Hardcore”

Hostile City Showdown in 1996 offered one of the more infamous moments in ECW history, where, during a Raven vs. Shane Douglas angle, Beulah was accused of cheating on Tommy Dreamer. However, in one extremely Jerry Springer moment, it was revealed that Beulah was actually cheating with Raven’s valet, Kimona Wanalaya. The two women kissed before being broken up by Tommy Dreamer, who announced, “I’ll take ‘em both, I’m hardcore,” and joining in the affection, offering a classic ECW moment that maybe hasn’t aged well.

6 Winning the ECW Championship

The later years of ECW were marked by departures of many of its stars for WCW and WWE, leading to one odd situation where WWE-contracted Taz beat WCW-contracted Mike Awesome for the ECW World Title. Taz held the belt for nine days before dropping it to Tommy Dreamer, who didn’t really want to win the World Title but felt a sense of responsibility because there weren’t many big names left. The reign would be short lived, as Justin Credible would dethrone him later that same evening.

5 WWE

Once ECW folded in 2001, Tommy Dreamer signed with WWE, joining the Alliance during the Invasion storyline. From there, he would win the WWE Hardcore Championship 14 times, which would be unified with the Intercontinental Championship after a loss to Rob Van Dam. He’d also feud with Raven on Raw, banishing his rival to Heat after winning a Loser Leaves Raw match in 2002. Six months later, Raven would defeat Dreamer to earn a spot back on Raw.

4 The ECW Revival

After two One Night Stand reunion shows, Tommy Dreamer would become part of WWE’s rebooted ECW in 2006. There, he formed a stable called the ECW Originals, who combated a heel stable of young up-and-comers called The

New Breed. It often felt like Dreamer was a second banana in WWE’s vision of ECW, but he did get the odd title shot.

RELATED: WWE's ECW Revival, Explained

By 2009, Dreamer made it his goal to win the ECW Championship, or retire doing so, and successfully won a three-way with Jack Swagger and Christian to win the belt. Dreamer’s ECW run -- and overall run with WWE as a full-time wrestler -- would end in late December of 2009, when he lost a retirement match to Zack Ryder.

3 EV 2.0

After departing WWE, Tommy Dreamer had a short stint with Impact Wrestling from 2010 to 2011, arriving as part of a stable of ex-ECW guys called EV 2.0. This led to another reunion show, Hardcore Justice, where he had a final-ever singles match with Raven. EV 2.0 would feud with Fortune, after which Rob Van Dam would falsely accuse Dreamer of being a traitor to the group. EV 2.0 quietly dissolved over time and Dreamer found himself joining the heel faction Immortal in order to keep his job with Impact.

2 House of Hardcore

In 2012, Tommy Dreamer took it upon himself to start his own promotion, House of Hardcore. Between 2012 and 2019, HOH has run nearly 60 events, with 2020 shows being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ones that have successfully happened have thus far offered a nice mix of ECW legends, general legends, and hot indie talents. HOH has been host to a number of title matches for NWA and Impact, but they also have their own exclusive belt, the HOH Twitch Television Title.

1 Impact Wrestling

After a 2013-2015 stint with Impact Wrestling, Tommy Dreamer returned to the promotion in 2018, where he got into a huge rivalry with Eddie Edwards. Soon enough, Dreamer would take a backstage role in addition to being an in-ring performer, working as a producer and in the creative team. Tommy Dreamer’s major recent moments in impact include challenging Rich Swann for the Impact World Title and being the one to personally fire Don Callis from the promotion.