Matt Hardy believes Tommy Dreamer has taken more criticism than he deserved during his time helping lead TNA’s creative direction, praising Dreamer’s work ethic and saying fans often overlook the challenges of booking weekly wrestling television.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Hardy said he feels Dreamer’s reputation during this run has been unfairly judged.
“I think so. I think it has been a little unfair. No doubt. I mean, I had said that earlier today. I said, you know, him and Delirious obviously quite overworked. You know, I mean, they’re very busy because there’s only two guys doing that.”
Hardy continued by giving Dreamer credit for the work he has put into the promotion behind the scenes.
“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.”
Earlier in the discussion, Hardy explained that he enjoyed working with Dreamer dating back to House of Hardcore and felt Dreamer had a strong understanding of the wrestling business.
“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 kind of where pro wrestling is and where it’s going, and he stayed pretty current with things.”
Hardy also outlined what he saw as Dreamer’s overall philosophy when it came to booking wrestling.
“I think he tried to parallel or mirror as much as he could of kind of the ECW mindset about, ‘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 and trying to hide their weaknesses.”
He pointed to Paul Heyman’s work in ECW as an influence on that approach.
“Paul Heyman and ECW was a masterclass on taking guys that weren’t extremely talented and highlighting their strengths and getting them over. Paul positioned people where they could succeed because he highlighted their strengths and protected their weaknesses as much as possible.”
Hardy closed by reiterating his respect for Dreamer and his contributions to TNA.
“I got lots of love for Tommy, man. No doubt about it. I loved working with Tommy. Really enjoyable working with Tommy.”
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