Former ECW star Tommy Dreamer and AEW star Max Caster will be appearing at the Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC this Saturday at 10:30 PM. The concept of the show is “name in bucket, grab the mic and 60 seconds to earn a wrestling ‘contract.'”
The press release for the show states: “NAW or Never is a no-holds-barred comedy-meets-wrestling showcase where anyone can step into the spotlight (or just spectate) and try to earn a spot on the Nearly Average Wrestling roster. It’s like if The Voice got bodyslammed by Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Contestants get 60 seconds to cut a promo, show off a character, or do whatever it takes to prove they belong. With surprise guests from WWE, AEW, and beyond, you never know who’ll show up or what will happen.”
The show will feature Shane Hartline, Peter Murphy, Ben Kaplan, Leroy Patterson, Tommy Dreamer (ECW), Max Caster (AEW), and more TBA.
NAW or Never Tickets and Venue Guide
Here is some extra info for the show if you’re interested in attending:
All sales are final. The show starts at the time listed. If you are not at the theater more than 5 minutes before the start of the show, we may release your tickets to the waitlist.
Lineup is subject to change. Under 17 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian. Please use discretion, as all our shows can potentially use adult/sexual material, language, and images.
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre: 242 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003
The Beautiful People’s inductor has been revealed.
In an interview with Gabby LaSpisa, Tommy Dreamer revealed that he would be the one inducting Angelina Love and Velvet Sky this weekend at Bound for Glory in Lowell, MA.
“They asked me. It was a big honor, so there you go,” Dreamer said.
It was also announced LaSpisa would be the host of the ceremony, which will be held prior to Bound for Glory. Earlier on Monday it was revealed that Tara, aka Victoria in WWE, would be inducting Mickie James.
The Beautiful People were a major part of the Knockouts division in TNA throughout the 2010s, mainly consisting of Love and Sky but also featured Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich at one point. Together, Love & Sky held the Knockouts Tag Team titles twice, while Love held the Knockouts title 4 times.
Here’s a look at every TNA Hall of Fame inductee since the honor was established in 2012:
2012: Sting
2013: Kurt Angle
2014: Team 3D (Bully Ray & D-Von)
2015: Jeff Jarrett, Earl Hebner
2016: Gail Kim
2018: Abyss
2020: Ken Shamrock
2021: Awesome Kong
2022: Raven
2023: Mike Tenay & Don West, Traci Brooks
2024: Rhino, Bob Ryder
2025: Mickie James, The Beautiful People (Angelina Love & Velvet Sky)
On Busted Open Radio, Tommy Dreamer stated that he is not TNA Wrestling’s head of creative and is still part of the creative team with Robert Evans and Delirious.
PWInsider reports that Ariel Shnerer will be overseeing TNA content going forward, working with new TNA president Anthony Cicione. PWInsider writes that it “will be Shnerer who will have the last word on any talent and creative decisions, although Cicione will be the top of the pyramid.”
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With Scott D’Amore gone from the company, TNA Wrestling has a new head of creative.
“Tommy Dreamer is now the head of creative as many expected with D’Amore gone,” Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of TNA, announced on February 7 that it had terminated D’Amore’s contract. D’Amore had been the president of TNA Wrestling. Following his departure, Anthony Cicione was named to that role. Cicione is also the president of Anthem’s Entertainment Group.
This week, Fightful published a letter that members of the TNA roster sent to Anthem in support of D’Amore. The letter was sent with the goal of opening a line of communication and reuniting the TNA family.
“We feel strongly that a ‘wrestling person’ needs to be intimately involved at a high level to ensure that the amazing company we have all built and product we have provided to our fans continues to grow and flourish,” the letter said. “It is our opinion that the best possible person for that role was, is, and will be Scott.”
Dreamer has worked both behind the scenes in TNA and as a wrestler. He lost the TNA Digital Media Championship to Crazzy Steve at TNA’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view last month.
Impact Wrestling has unveiled its new TNA Digital Media Championship belt.
With the company returning to TNA branding beginning at Saturday’s Hard to Kill, Impact is re-designing all its title belts to reflect the change.
On Tuesday, Scott D’Amore presented champion Tommy Dreamer with the new TNA Digital Media title.
D’Amore said:
Well, Tommy, the Impact Wrestling era is coming to an end and it’s time for TNA Wrestling to return. We’re back, baby! And along with it, we’ve got brand new championship belts. New championship belt for an old wrestler!
Dreamer is set to defend the title at the Hard to Kill pre-show against Crazzy Steve.
Tag Team Champions Ace Austin and Chris Bey were given their new TNA Tag Team title belts on Monday. X-Division Champion Chris Sabin received his on Sunday.
TNA Hard to Kill 2024 lineup:
TNA World Champion Alex Shelley defends against Moose
Knockouts Champion Trinity defends against Jordynne Grace
Three-way match: X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defends against KUSHIDA and El Hijo del Vikingo
Four-way match: TNA Tag Team Champions Ace Austin & Chris Bey defend against The Rascalz, The Grizzled Young Veterans, and “Speedball” Mike Bailey & Trent Seven
Knockouts Ultimate X match: Gisele Shaw vs. Xia Brookside vs. Jody Threat vs. Tasha Steelz vs. Alisha Edwards vs. Dani Luna
Josh Alexander vs. Alex Hammerstone
PCO vs. Dirty Dango
Pre-show match: Rich Swann vs. Steve Maclin
Pre-show match: Eric Young & Frankie Kazarian vs. Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards
Pre-show match: Digital Media Champion Tommy Dreamer defends against Crazzy Steve
The Digital Media Championship will be on the line at Impact Wrestling’s last major event of 2023.
It was announced today that Tommy Dreamer will defend his Digital Media title against Cody Deaner at Final Resolution 2023. The show is being held at the Don Kolov Arena in Toronto on Saturday, December 9. It will air live on Impact Plus, Impact’s Ultimate Insiders YouTube service, and Fite TV.
Dreamer has been Digital Media Champion since winning the title from Kenny King at Victory Road this September.
On the November 9 episode of Impact, Dreamer defended the title against Crazzy Steve. The match ended with Dreamer losing by disqualification but retaining his title. The DQ happened when Dreamer used a fork as a weapon. After the match, Dreamer continued attacking Steve with the fork and left him bloodied.
In addition to being Impact Wrestling’s last special event of 2023, Final Resolution will be the company’s last major show before Impact Wrestling rebrands back to TNA Wrestling starting with Hard to Kill in January 2024.
Final Resolution is also set to feature the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. Josh Alexander & Zack Sabre Jr. The match is Sabre’s Impact Wrestling debut.
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley will defend his championship against Jonathan Gresham on tonight’s Impact Wrestling on AXS TV.
Shelley is gunning for his sixth title defense while Gresham, the former Ring of Honor World Champion, is searching for his first Impact title of any kind.
A feud that has built for weeks will finally come to fruition as Digital Media Champion Tommy Dreamer will defend against Crazzy Steve who earned the shot by grabbing a Feast or Fired briefcase at October’s Bound for Glory.
Two former Impact World Champions and rivals will square off as Eric Young takes on Eddie Edwards.
In a clash of former Knockouts Champions, Deonna Purrazzo battles Tasha Steelz. The two teamed up at Bound for Glory and were unsuccessful in defeating MK Ultra for the Knockouts Tag Team titles.
Two former Digital Media Champions will reignite their feud as Joe Hendry takes on Brian Myers.
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After last week’s sojourn to the October UK tour, Impact returns to Chicago for the post-Bound for Glory TV taping for this week’s episode.
Following an extensive look at last week’s show, we kick off with a battle of former Knockouts Champions who recently failed to in their effort to win the Knockouts Tag Team titles. Thus, they resume action against each other.
Tasha Steelz defeated Deonna Purrazzo
Tom Hannifan and Matthew Rehwoldt really drilled home that these two have been longtime friends, complete with still photos. That’s when you know it’s serious.
Because of their friendship, this was more of a friendly competition than a heated match. However, it did include twerking from both competitors so there’s that.
Things kicked up late when Steelz thought Purrazzo was trying to break her arm and fired up. After two straight cutters, Steelz got the pin and no doubt win. We’ll see about that friendship.
The result here, and in recent weeks, certainly won’t quell any rumors that Purrazzo may be on her way out as her deal is up at the end of the year. But, PCO also was thought to be gone and ended up re-signing so anything’s possible.
– Impact Tag Team Champions ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) were backstage having a conversation about how they will the TNA tag champs when the named change takes place when Santino Marella walked up to conversate.
That led to Kenny King and Sheldon Jean interrupting because King wants a Digital Media title rematch. ABC didn’t take kindly to it and you’ll never believe this: these two teams will meet next week for the titles.
Crazzy Steve defeated Digital Media Champion Tommy Dreamer by DQ
As part of the build to this, Steve stabbed Dreamer in the back with a fork, ending their friendship. Steve hasn’t been taken that seriously in Impact as he has lost, well, a lot through the years. He earned the shot here by taking one of the briefcases in last month’s Feast or Fired bout.
This was built around how sadistic Steve was being toward Dreamer, but when you saw some of the stuff Dreamer endured in ECW, getting his eyes raked seems rather tame.
Steve went into the briefcase late in the match and got a fork, saying he had to end Dreamer.
Dreamer stopped him by biting his hand and hitting a cutter, followed by him driving the fork into Steve’s head for the DQ that busted him open. Dreamer then snapped and said, “You wanna feel pain, Steve? Fork you!” and somewhat drove the fork into his head. Yes, this happened.
You can skip this.
– Jonathan Gresham cut his usual intense promo about how he is going to beat Alex Shelley for the title tonight.
Brian Myers defeated Joe Hendry
Hendry is coming off a great run on the UK tour and all the fans in attendance waved their hands and told Hendry, “We believe.” I think I believe too.
Hendry said that the rebrand of TNA will actually begin tonight as Myers will no longer be known as “Edge’s bitch” but now will be known as “Adam’s bitch” which got a laugh from the fans. That was a good line.
This was a meeting of former Digital Media Champions and past opponents. I like Hendry, but there was nothing must-watch here. Even Hannifan and Rehwoldt were cracking jokes about wieners in apparent boredom.
This went on for a lot longer than it needed to, especially on a Thursday when there’s been so much wrestling already this week. Myers poked Hendry’s eyes while the referee was tied up with both men and hit his Roster Cut clothesline for the pin and win. Given Hendry’s popularity, I find that to be a curious decision.
– The hype has begun for Josh Alexander vs. Will Ospreay has begun as we’ll see that match next week.
Ospreay, with his NJPW UK title somehow completely intact, talked to Gia Scott. The tl;dr: he is ready for Alexander and wants to know if Alexander is ready to face the best.
Eric Young defeated Eddie Edwards (w/ Alisha Edwards)
Much like Hendry vs. Myers, this came out of the Bound for Glory Call Your Shot gauntlet match where Edwards eliminated Young. These two former Impact World Champions also have an extensive history against each other.
Alisha got involved on a few occasions, distracting Young at one point as he went to the top rope. Young eventually battled and hit his elbow drop for a nearfall. Alisha again distracted Young as he was going for his piledriver finisher, leading to an Edwards Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall of his own.
Alisha tossed in a chair to her husband who pulled it away and got distracted. Edwards then held Young for Alisha to nail him with a kendo stick, but Young ducked and Edwards got nailed. Young hit the piledriver and got the pin as Hannifan drove home the fact TNA is returning in January. Did you hear that yet?
This was a house show opener that was neither good nor bad. It just was.
– Brian Myers was wondering why Moose wasn’t out there to back him up earlier and Moose said it seemed like Myers was all set. As they started to grumble a bit, Heath walked in and challenged Moose to a match. Moose accepted, asked Myers, “How’s that for loyalty?” and walked away.
– Sonny Kiss caught up with Gia Miller. If you remember, Kiss made his surprise debut in the Call Your Shot gauntlet which feels like it was a year ago at this point. Knockouts Champion Trinity walked up and was thrilled to see Kiss, saying she would talk to management to see if they could do a match next week. Well, that was quick.
This was a rare squash match on Impact and one that featured Prudius (the former Koslov in WWE) wrestling in his first match in 12 years. Dango joined the commentary team, essentially turning this into a handicap match.
After Prudius beat up both men, Dango jumped back on the apron, got a tag, hit a reverse DDT to get the win.
– Jordynne Grace, owner of the Call Your Shot gauntlet trophy, said she will make history at Hard to Kill and got interrupted by Bully Ray who wanted a handshake. KiLynn King then walked into the frame and said it was pure luck Grace won. Ray, who trained King, told her to “back it down a notch.” These two exchanged words and then Steve Maclin walked in and called Ray soft. Ray told him off, King walked away, and that was that.
– The Rascalz cut a backstage promo after losing the Impact Tag Team titles and they weren’t too upset about losing them. Why? Because they now have former MLW Middleweight Champion Myron Reed in the group.
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defeated Jonathan Gresham to retain the title
If you’re a time traveler, you would have to suspend your belief for the timeline on how this came to be. You see, this was taped the day after Bound for Glory and then, the crew headed to the UK for a tour. There, Shelley injured his calf in a tag team bout and had to pull out of the remaining matches so he could recover. However, that match aired before this one did. Got all that?
Gresham upped his latest heel mannerism, using his wrist tape to distract the referee so he could attack Shelley. He also decided to hold on a figure four for a few seconds longer even though Shelley grabbed the bottom rope because he was stuck. What a heel!
These two have shared the ring a lot through the years, both as opponents and as teammates. This was their sixth singles bout against each other and the first in Impact.
The story was Gresham working over Shelley’s knee with Shelley managing to do just enough to evade him temporarily before getting attacked again. In turn, Shelley focused on Gresham’s arm to set up for the Motor City Stretch.
As expected, this was very good. Gresham was fantastic as a heel with all these little shortcuts he would take out of nowhere to drive the fans crazy. The nearfalls were really good as well, especially a dizzying series of pin attempts in the closing minutes.
Shelley eventually got the pin after hitting a superkick and Shellshock for the win. This is worth going out of your way to see and honestly could have been a main event on one of their monthly specials.
A new championship bout has been made official for Impact Wrestling’s post-Bound for Glory television tapings.
Impact Wrestling announced today that Tommy Dreamer will defend his Digital Media title against Crazzy Steve at the Bound for Glory fallout tapings. The tapings are being held in Cicero, Illinois on Sunday, October 22. That’s the day after Impact’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view.
Steve earned a Digital Media title shot via the briefcase he obtained in the Feast or Fired match at Impact 1000.
Steve attacked Dreamer with that briefcase on the September 28 episode of Impact. On the most recent edition of the show, there was an angle where Steve stabbed Dreamer with a fork.
Dreamer won the Digital Media title from Kenny King at Victory Road last month. That was a title vs. career match where Dreamer would have retired if he lost.
Here’s everything that’s been announced for the Bound for Glory fallout tapings so far:
Alex Shelley vs. Jonathan Gresham (will be an Impact World Championship match if Shelley retains at Bound for Glory)
Josh Alexander vs. Will Ospreay (will be an Impact World Championship match if Alexander wins the title from Shelley at Bound for Glory)
The Rascalz (Trey Miguel, Zachary Wentz & Myron Reed) vs. Black Taurus, Laredo Kid & Juventud Guerrera
Digital Media Champion Tommy Dreamer defends against Crazzy Steve
At Impact Wrestling’s Victory Road event on Friday night, the 52-year-old Dreamer defeated Kenny King to win the Digital Media Championship. It was a title vs. career match where Dreamer would have retired if he lost.
An assist from Heath helped Dreamer win the match. When Sheldon Jean interfered on behalf of King, the referee ejected Jean from ringside. With the referee’s attention turned away, Heath ran in and dropped King with the Wake Up Call. Dreamer then hit a DDT and pinned King to win the Digital Media title.
Dreamer paid tribute to his late friend Terry Funk during the match, including wearing Funk-inspired ring gear with a Funk shirt.
The Dreamer vs. King match was set up after Emergence this August. At Emergence, King retained the Digital Media title against Johnny Swinger. King and Jean then beat down Swinger. Dreamer made his way out to protect Swinger but was attacked by King.
On Impact last week, Dreamer offered to put his career on the line for a shot against King. King mocked Dreamer for being old and taking up a spot on the roster.
Victory Road took place in Dreamer’s home state of New York. In a post-match interview, Dreamer said he will defend the Digital Media title at every show he’s on:
The road to Victory Road begins for those in attendance at Monday’s post-Emergence Impact Wrestling TV taping in Toronto, Canada.
The company will tape content for the next two weeks of their AXS TV show leading into the September 8th streaming special from White Plains, New York.
Here’s everything that has been announced with more matches & segments to take place that are traditionally not revealed beforehand:
After Trinity successfully defended her Knockouts title against Deonna Purrazzo on Sunday’s streaming special, her next challenger will be determined via a 10-woman battle royal. She will then defend the title against the winner at Victory Road.
Purrazzo will look to regain momentum as she faces Subculture’s Dani Luna.
Zachary Wentz, one half of the new Impact Tag Team Champions The Rascalz, will face Chris Sabin who is no stranger to Impact gold himself.
Subculture, the now former champions, will take on Rich Swann & Sami Callihan who were finalists in the recent Tag Team title eliminator tournament.
X-Division Champion Lio Rush will face Kevin Knight, but it was not announced as a title defense.
After defeating Deaner in a no DQ match, Eric Young will team with Laredo Kid against Deaner & Kon of The Design.
Tommy Dreamer & Channing Decker will team up against Dirty Dango & Alpha Bravo (the former John E. Bravo).
Here’s the current lineup:
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Dani Luna
X-Division Champion Lio Rush vs. Kevin Knight
10-woman battle royal for Knockouts title opportunity at Victory Road
Tommy Dreamer & Channing Decker vs. Dirty Dango & Alpha Bravo
Eric Young & Laredo Kid vs. Deaner & Kon
Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews) vs. Rich Swann & Sami Callihan
Impact Wrestling announced several matches for its Slammiversary Fallout TV taping from Windsor this weekend.
Detroit Red Wings legend Darren McCarty will return to the ring on Sunday’s show. He’ll team with Tommy Dreamer to face Champagne Singh & Shera.
Also booked for the taping is a singles match between Dirty Dango and Santino Marella.
Lio Rush vs. KUSHIDA is advertised for Sunday as well. The last time the two wrestled each other was back in May when Rush defeated KUSHIDA in the Best of the Super Juniors.
Chris Bey & Ace Austin vs. Subculture is also advertised for Slammiversary Fallout. Austin and Bey will defend the Impact tag titles against Sami Callihan & Rich Swann, Brian Myers & Moose, and Subculture the night before at Slammiversary.
Zachary Wentz vs. Chris Bey with a Slammiversary Tag Team title opportunity on the line
Kevin Knight vs. Mike Bailey
Moose & Brian Myers vs. Rich Swann & Sami Callihan
Deonna Purrazzo open challenge
Dirty Dango vs. Heath (Before the Impact)
Impact Wrestling Slammiversary 2023 (Saturday, July 15) —
Impact World Champion Alex Shelley defends against Nick Aldis
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Trinity
X-Division Champion Chris Sabin defends against Lio Rush
Impact Tag Team Champions ABC (Chris Bey & Ace Austin) defend against Sami Callihan & Rich Swann, Brian Myers & Moose, and Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews) in a four-way match
Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King) defend against Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly
Bully Ray & Deaner vs. Scott D’Amore & TBA with former NHL player Darren McCarty as special enforcer (PCO’s status for the match is in question following an angle on last week’s Impact)
Ultimate X match: Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Angels vs. Kevin Knight vs. KUSHIDA
Frankie Kazarian vs. Eddie Edwards
Countdown to Slammiversary: Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Kenny King
Countdown to Slammiversary: The Death Dollz (Courtney Rush & Jessicka) & Jody Threat vs. Gisele Shaw, Savannah Evans & Jai Vidal
Impact Wrestling Slammiversary Fallout (Sunday, July 16) —
Santino Marella vs. Dirty Dango
Tommy Dreamer & Darren McCarty vs. Champagne Singh & Shera
Ace Austin & Chris Bey vs. Subculture (Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews)
Former ECW star and current Impact Wrestling wrestler/producer Tommy Dreamer revealed that he is recovering from surgery from his third bout with skin cancer.
Appearing on his House of Hardcore podcast, Dreamer said the spot was on his head and that it was removed through Mohs surgery which is a method of treating skin cancer lesions.
Dreamer (Tom Laughlin) said this is his second bout with skin cancer on his head while the other time was on his chest. He explained he had 42 stitches total, 23 on the outside and 19 on the inside, this time around.
“I don’t blame the sun. I do blame lack of sunscreen, having a giant forehead, but most importantly, I do blame tanning beds. I used to go in tanning beds all the time,” he explained.
Dreamer said the surgery, in addition to dealing with his mother’s declining health and eventual passing, was why he took himself off Impact TV where he was an occasional character in addition to his backstage duties.
He said he knew about the surgery for nearly three months due to the wait time and while he was concerned, he was thankful they got all of it out.
Tommy Dreamer is taking time away from Impact Wrestling as he deals with a serious family matter.
At Sunday night’s Rebellion pay-per-view, Dreamer led his team to victory in a Hardcore War against Team Bully Ray. Dreamer also gave an emotional interview on the show, speaking about what he called the worst week of his life. Dreamer said he was supposed to pick his mother up from a rehab facility on Monday, but she suffered another brain bleed and is currently unresponsive. Impact Wrestling told Dreamer that he didn’t need to be at Rebellion, but Dreamer chose to still compete at the PPV.
Dreamer said he would be going away for a while after Rebellion. He later reiterated that in a post-show promo, thanking the wrestling community for all of the support he’s received.
“Tonight was a pure example of what I love about professional wrestling,” Dreamer said. “It’s an escape. It’s an escape for me. There’s no other place I wanted to be than in the middle of that ring tonight. I have received so much love from the professional wrestling community — I just gotta say thank you. I’m gonna go away for a while. Because — mentally, I’m not here. And I gotta get better. Somebody else needs my love.”
Dreamer teamed with Frankie Kazarian, Bhupinder Gujjar, Yuya Uemura & Killer Kelly to defeat Bully Ray, Moose, Brian Myers, Kenny King & Masha Slamovich at Rebellion. Dreamer pinned Bully Ray after hitting a splash off a ladder and through a table.
The recent feud between Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray will continue at next month’s Impact Rebellion as both men will meet in a no rules Hardcore War match.
The pay-per-view is set for Sunday, April 16th in Toronto, Canada.
Dreamer and Ray squared off in a Busted Open match (first blood) at last Friday’s Sacrifice with Ray picking up the win in an interference-laden bout that included former NHL player Darren McCarty getting involved in addition to the return of Impact president Scott D’Amore who delivered a Canadian destroyer on Jason Hotch.
Dreamer, Yuya Uemura and McCarty will take on Ray, Hotch and John Skyler next Thursday on Impact on AXS in a preview as both Dreamer and Ray must put together teams for the anything goes match at the PPV.
The match joins the previously announced Steve Maclin vs. KUSHIDA bout that will crown a new Impact World Champion.
Here’s the current lineup:
Steve Maclin vs. KUSHIDA for the vacant Impact World title
Team Bully Ray vs. Team Dreamer in a Hardcore War match
Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson went to a 30:00 draw in what was among the best television matches in U.S. history and arguably the best bout ever on Dynamite in their dream match at the company’s debut in New York City on 9/22 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The non-title match presumably sets up a longer time limit championship match down the road. For Full Gear, the decision would seem to be Omega defending against either Danielson or Adam Page.
The show was a landmark event for the promotion, breaking both attendance and gate records and ended up as the second largest non-WWE gate for pro wrestling in U.S. history and the largest attended non-WWE pro wrestling event in the country in 22 years.
The most talked about aspect of the week was the ratings, and whether the show would beat Raw. Dynamite in its history had two episodes that beat Raw’s 0.49 (642,000) in 18-49, the very first episode and the show two weeks earlier coming off All Out and the debuts of Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole.
Tommy Dreamer has apologized for remarks he made on the Plane Ride From Hell episode of Dark Side of the Ring.
Today on social media, Dreamer wrote: “Regarding my comments on Dark Side of the ring. It was never my intention to offend, hurt, or victim shame anyone. I understand my comments were insensitive & could trigger emotions in someone’s own personal past. I do not condone sexual misconduct of any kind. I apologize to anyone I offended. From the bottom of my heart I am so sorry.”
During the Dark Side of the Ring episode, Dreamer defended Ric Flair, who was accused by flight attendant Heidi Doyle of exposing himself and forcing her to touch his genitals. Flair has denied these claims.
Dreamer said that Flair is “not going to impose, by force, any sexual stuff onto anybody. He’s just flaunting…stylin’ and profilin’…like the Ric Flair stuff where everybody’s going to laugh about it. Obviously, somebody took offense to it.”
“It’s a joke,” he later added. “It’s a gag. Today? 1000% inappropriate. I have hung out with Ric Flair and have never seen him force his will against anybody.”
Regarding the WWE settlement with Doyle following the incident, Dreamer said “If that’s how she felt, maybe she should have not taken a payout and went to the fullest extent of the law to put this heinous person in jail. My opinion.”
Impact Wrestling suspended Dreamer on Friday, saying “We are aware of Mr. Laughlin’s (Tommy Dreamer) comments on “Dark Side of the Ring”. The views expressed by him in the interview are completely unacceptable. We can confirm Mr. Laughlin was suspended this morning with immediate effect, pending further action.”
