It’s not often we hear of the selflessness of wrestlers when it comes to pro wrestling since those aren’t the cool and attention grabbing stories, but they’re a necessity in a business built on mutual cooperation and trust.
Pro wrestling can be one of the best things to watch between the athleticism and storytelling, but there are times when some go into business for themselves instead of the greater good.
Those wrestlers are often dealt with in the ring if their opponent is skilled enough or by the promoter in back. But what makes the sport work is the selflessness a large group has to put others over regularly.
It takes a special type to be a Brooklyn Brawler like Steve Lombardi as they often go unthanked by the fans as they often fill numerous roles.
But Lombardi had a skill that allowed him to garner fan support with his various characters despite losing most of the time, and it’s that selflessness and skill that has made Tommy Dreamer into a legend.
ECW
Dreamer, like many, are best known for their runs in the old ECW as they captured the hearts and minds of many fans at their shows at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He took a beating like few others and kept getting up, but he was never celebrated with tons of championship wins.
But the ECW’s final Cyberslam on April 22, 2000, Dreamer won the ECW World Championship by defeated Taz, and then quickly lost it to Justin Credible in a moment that defined Dreamer’s career.
Justin Credible talked about is during an interview on the Two Man Powertrip on July 1, 2015. Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the transcript.
“Paul Heyman told me about ten minutes before the show. It was such a unique situation because Taz had come back and beaten Mike Awesome, who was going to WCW and Taz, who had gone up to Vince and WWE actually came in and beat Mike Awesome. Then Tommy Dreamer gets his short at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia and after he wins it, I hit the ring, challenge him, hit him with a stick, dumped him on his head and I was the ECW World Champion.
“Tommy was the shortest reigning ECW Champion of all time. Tommy was and is one of the most unselfish guys in the business. His job was to get people over. He would get more over with the fans by losing than he did winning, he had the sympathetic thing where he got his ass beat and kept fighting and getting up and that was his thing and he made a lot of superstars that way. He made me, he made Steve Corino; CW Anderson. He made so many wrestlers and that’s how he did it by being unselfish.”
Some people know how to make stars, and Dreamer is one of those. It was great to watch him work back then and we love seeing his influence help younger wrestlers today.
This is one of those fun this day in wrestling history moments we cherish, and we can’t wait to hear more stories like this.
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