Tommy Dreamer On AEW And Impact's Working Relationship
Impact Wrestling has had a working relationship with AEW for a little over two months now. In the time since that partnership was announced, AEW World Champion Kenny Omega has made regular appearances on Impact programming, while the Impact Tag Team Champions, the Good Brothers, have popped up on AEW Dynamite.
Speaking on Impact Wrestling Press Pass, Tommy Dreamer revealed he is mostly in the dark when it comes to plans of crossover between the two promotions.
"When Tony Khan showed up a couple of weeks ago, first Jerry Lynn walked in and I know Jerry Lynn lived in Tennessee," Dreamer said. "I was like, 'Hey man, what's going on?' and he said, 'Oh hi, I was just coming by to say hello.' Later on, all of a sudden, Tony Khan came in two hours later. Then I see them, and they're on television. If it's not my segment, I really don't care about it, and I want to watch it on television."
As a veteran of the industry, Dreamer has seen numerous pro wrestling partnerships over the years, most famously with ECW and WWF's working relationship during the Monday Night Wars. While relations between promotions today are overall friendly, the Innovator of Violence revealed tensions were boiling over between the ECW and WWF locker rooms.
"Back in the day with ECW, we were told by Paul Heyman [that] this is the agreement," Dreamer said. "They're trying to do stuff to go after WCW to try to get those ratings back. And we're trying to promote our first pay-per-view. That was the gist of the relationship. None of us knew that Paul Heyman was getting a paycheck from WWE.
"When me and Sandman first showed up at In Your House, we legit had snipers. Professional wrestlers. The Eliminators. Taz. The Pitbulls. [These guys were] in the audience because if a real fight was going to go down, you would've seen a riot because we were ready. When Gerry Brisco came down, and he's trying to stop us, he was ready to fight. He was like, 'Come on, you motherf'–kers,' and I looked in his eyes, and I thought this was on. Bradshaw didn't know it was going to happen. The only person who knew was Savio. So there's these secrets in wrestling that only a few are privy to."
Regardless of the hostility he worked through in the 1990s, Dreamer has high hopes for Impact's alliance with AEW.
"I think it's a great relationship because you're getting to see dream matches," Dreamer said. "Kenny Omega is the AEW World Champion, he shows up on Impact, and it was a great tag match. Last night on AEW, you had wrestlers from AEW, Impact Wrestling, and New Japan Pro Wrestling on the same show. How awesome is that? The possibilities are endless. For booking, for match-ups, anywhere you want to go. And that's great for who? Pro wrestling fans, and the business."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Impact Wrestling Press Pass with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.