We’ve all heard about wrestlers having their “WrestleMania Moment”, but Tommy Dreamer almost had the most infamous one of all.
After ECW went bankrupt in 2001, Tommy Dreamer was in disarray. Like most of the ECW roster, he put his blood, sweat and tears into the promotion.
He worked tirelessly in the ring in various hardcore matches, as well as working in the office for ECW.
Dreamer did everything he could to keep the company alive, even turning down deals from the WWF and WCW to stay with Paul Heyman‘s company.
However, when the company went under in 2001 and Paul Heyman walked out on WWE TV, something snapped for Tommy Dreamer.
Tommy Dreamer revealed on an episode of Busted Open Radio that, in his darkest days, he planned to shoot Paul Heyman and then himself, live at WrestleMania 17.
He had lost thousands on ECW, and felt like Paul Heyman had screwed him out of everything when he signed for the WWF in 2001.
Dreamer revealed Heyman convinced him to reject a $750,000 contract from the WWE, when it turned out he had been paid by the company while working for ECW.
“When ECW went out of business, I was 29 years old. I had a lot of my money, my parents’ money, trying to float the company. I thought me and [Paul Heyman] were super tight, [but he] screwed me over big time.”
“He was in the WWE the whole time. I had turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to WCW. And now, I was unemployed. It was impossible not to feel a sense of betrayal. But even more so, Dreamer had financially compromised his career and his family for Heyman.”
“I went from a $750,000 offer and Paul crying to me that if I leave ECW, it will go out of business. Meanwhile, he was getting a paycheck from WWE. I don’t begrudge him, but then I did. I was depressed as depressed can be. I had women, I had fame, I had everything, and yet it was the worst time of my life. It really was. I was making decent money on the Indies. But, I lived at home.”
After seeing all the matches planned for WrestleMania X7 (which Heyman told Dreamer were planned for him), he snapped.
He made the decision, after working an indie show that allowed guns in the arena, to kill Paul Heyman live at WrestleMania X7 before turning the gun on himself.
Tommy Dreamer wanted to make his mark, get his revenge on Paul Heyman and create a moment that woud live forever in infamy.
Luckily, his rage and depression subsided, and he went on to work for the WWE over the next decade.
“WrestleMania [X7] in Houston [was where] Paul Heyman told me I was going to debut,” Dreamer explained. They had TLC, and Spike Dudley came in, Rhyno came in, and Lita came in. That was supposed to be my spot. Then, it got ixnayed.”
“There was gonna be a hardcore 24/7 thing that would be ‘all about you.’ I remember I did a show and saw a sign that said [‘Firearms Welcome’]. I was in Houston. I did an indie show. ‘What is this? I’m from New York; what do you mean [that’s welcome]?’ ‘Oh, you are allowed to bring those into the venue,’ was the response. I was across the street from the Astrodome. It resonated in my head so, so much.”
“I’ll tell you what I wanted to do; it’s sick that I think this. At WrestleMania, I was gonna hop the rail and whack Paul E. in the back of the head right at the announce table; then I was gonna whack myself. “
“The ultimate martyr, I was going to hit my pose crack, boom, pull the trigger. Because I was that insane, that’s what I was thinking about every day. I was like, ‘I will go down in history. Pop, boom.’ First, they’d think it was an angle until I shot him,” Dreamer described on his podcast.
“I was so severely depressed and so mental with rage I needed help. Randomly, I get a phone call from a number I didn’t know. I didn’t pick up; I remember having these thoughts, which was bad. Think about the horribleness that I would have done to my legacy.”
“I would have ruined WrestleMania. I love WrestleMania,” Dreamer later admitted. “These thoughts were so so crazed in my head. ‘How dare that person? He screwed my parents over,’ and I come from a mobster mentality. I was like, ‘I would become infamous.’ Which is famous for the wrong reason. I’m glad I didn’t do it. Think of how stupid I would have been if they had come to fruition.”
Tommy Dreamer wrestled his last WWE match in 2010, and now works for Impact wrestling as a backstage producer and occasional wrestler.
Hamish is a writer and podcaster and wrestling fan who is a key part of the Atletifo team.
After playing countless hours of WrestleMania X8 on the Gamecube, he discovered Rey Mysterio getting his head crushed by The Great Khali, and thus a love for professional wrestling was born.
He is also a Media Graduate, as well as writing for multiple sites about Premier League football and the culture of Wales – his home country.
