Matt Hardy shares his reaction to Tommy Dreamer’s departure from TNA Wrestling.
Tommy Dreamer announced that he mutually parted ways with TNA Wrestling and clarified that he and the promotion needed a break from each other. Reacting to his departure on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy noted that he was not aware of Dreamer’s decision and that it took him by surprise.
Matt Hardy praised Tommy Dreamer as someone who had a good pulse on where pro wrestling is, and where it was going in the future. He stated that he always enjoyed working with Dreamer and said he’s interested in seeing what happens next in TNA.
“That is significant, and no, I was not aware of that. So that is also breaking news to me. It’s interesting. It’s intriguing. I certainly enjoyed working with Tommy. I enjoyed working with Tommy all the way back to the House of Hardcore days whenever he was doing that show. I always thought he had a good pulse on where pro wrestling is and where it’s going, and he stayed pretty current with things,” Matt Hardy said.
“But things change, and I got lots of love for Tommy, man, no doubt about it. I loved working with Tommy. Really enjoyable working with Tommy, and very interesting to see what happens next now at TNA.”
Matt Hardy spoke about Tommy Dreamer’s creative philosophy for TNA
Speaking further, Matt Hardy mentioned that Tommy Dreamer’s creative philosophy for TNA Wrestling was to mirror as much as he could from ECW. He compared Dreamer to Paul Heyman, who can get any wrestler over by highlighting their strengths and hiding their weaknesses.
“As far as the philosophy goes, I think he tried to parallel or mirror as much as he could of the ECW mindset about, like, this is what the fans think of these people. So, let’s give them that as much as we can, or let’s make the most out of whoever we can by highlighting their strengths, trying to hide their weaknesses to make him into a player,” Matt Hardy continued. Nobody did that better than Paul Heyman and still doesn’t.
Matt Hardy then explained that TNA is currently in the same position ECW was back in the day, when they constantly created new stars, only to inevitably lose them to the unmatchable financial power of promotions like WWE and WCW.
Hardy says Tommy Dreamer got an unfair reputation in TNA
Tommy Dreamer was also the head of creative in TNA alongside Delirious, and his creative ideas received some criticism from several TNA stars over the past few years. Matt Hardy believes Dreamer had an unfair reputation, saying he and Delirious were quite overworked, being the only two guys dealing with it.
“I think so. I think it has been a little unfair. No doubt. I had said that earlier today. I said him and Delirious obviously quite overworked. They’re very busy because there’s only two guys doing that. But I think he has done a lot of good for TNA, and I’m very curious to hear the motivation behind all this, why he is stepping away. So I guess that is truly breaking news,” Matt Hardy said.
Hardy suggested a former WWE writer to replace Dreamer in TNA
Matt Hardy then suggested that former WWE writer Nick Manfredini, who worked with him and Bray Wyatt in the promotion, as a potential replacement for Tommy Dreamer in TNA.
“I would bring in, and you know the individual as well, after thinking about it, Nick, who worked with myself and Bray back in WWE, who was a writer there already. I felt like he was really layered in the way he could do stuff because if he was doing something that was characters that were like novelty characters like myself and Bray were, he knew how to treat us as special or as different,” Matt Hardy said.
“If there’s something in a supernatural aspect you’re trying to get out of these two characters, he knew how to utilize them. He also was very good at utilizing characters who were just legit wrestlers who go in the ring and wrestle and do that. He had an understanding, I felt like, of all the different characters and how to enhance their character to its maximum.
“I felt like even if they were a regular, I’d go in the ring, I’m the best wrestler in the world, he can enhance that character still as good as he could. He’s the guy I would suggest,” Matt Hardy concluded.
Read More: Road Dogg Discussed as Replacement for Tommy Dreamer in TNA Creative — Report
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