Tommy Dreamer Reveals He Almost Committed Murder-Suicide At WrestleMania 17

WrestleMania 17 in Houston is considered by many to be one of the greatest WWE events of all time and the pinnacle of the Attitude Era, but that could have all be tragically different had Tommy Dreamer followed through on an act of revenge following a bout of depression.

Dreamer revealed on the House Of Hardcore podcast that he once considered murdering Paul Heyman and taking his own life at WrestleMania 17 after his former boss joined WWE. Dreamer was actually supposed to debut with WWE during the tables, ladders, and chairs match at the event but plans changed. He had turned down a big money deal with WCW and now was stuck in a failing company that Heyman had just departed.

“I remember I did a show there, and I saw a sign that said, ‘Guns Welcome,’ and I was in Houston. I did an indie show, and I said, ‘What is this?’ I’m from New York, what do you mean, ‘guns welcome?’ and they said, ‘Oh you are allowed to bring a firearm into the venue.’ I was across the street from the Astrodome. When I tell you it resonated in my head so, so much.

“That 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 I was gonna 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 gonna hit my pose crack, boom, pull the trigger. Because I was that insane. Don’t know if I would have went through with it, but that’s what I was thinking about everyday. I was like, ‘I will go down in history.’ Pop, boom. First they’d think it as an angle until I shot him. I was so severely depressed and so mental with rage, I needed help.”

However, it was a call from Jim Ross that stopped Dreamer following through with the act:

“Randomly I get a phone call from a number I didn’t know … I didn’t pick up, and I remember having these thoughts, and it was bad. I had a gun, I was psssh, man. Could you think about the horribleness that I would have done for my legacy? I would have ruined WrestleMania, which I love, WrestleMania. For everybody. 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. In my head I was like ‘I would become infamous.’ Which is famous for the wrong reason. I’m glad I didn’t do it.

“But when that phone call came from Jim Ross. Again, just said leave a message. It said, ‘Hey Tommy it’s Jim Ross, just want to let you know, we are still thinking about you, we are gonna get it done, just got to hang tight. Thank you.'”