Tommy Dreamer recently appeared on Busted Open Radio, where he spoke about Vince McMahon not wanting Paul Heyman involved in ECW One Night Stand.
āI always got along with him from early ECW when we were having secret meetings. And I mean Vince is the first person I ever heard in professional wrestling. He was doing the commentating when I first saw my first ever match. I remember the first day when I actually went to WWE with the whole Alliance and Paul was giving Vince [an earful] and Vince was kind of having a heated discussion. He looks at me and heās like, āhow did you deal?ā And I go, āheās your problem now.ā So that was like kind of set the toneā¦Iāve had, I mean one argument with him but the rest were and for a lot of people itās pick and choose because the guy is so, so busy. But Iāve had nothing but great experiences with Vince. I worked in the office, I literally shared the office next to him, which the only thing I didnāt like was he would keep his office so cold, hence, my office would be cold. And Iām a heavyset guy, I normally like the cold.
Iāve worked out with him. Iād be working out and people would be leaving the gym when he walks in. And I would be the only one there working out with him. And I also saw him when he just had his quad surgery and he [had the] double, double cast in his leg. And heās in a wheelchair thatās kind of sticking straight out both legs, and heās still working out.
And also even when I returned, and even when I before when I left, I had great meeting with him about why I felt I wanted to go. And even when I came back like or even when every time I would visit. I always have fun. And like Mark [Henry] said heās a manly, man, as well as like, he likes to poke jokes and play jokes. I do too. And like I would always like you know, set up. Either Iām eating something that Vince sees and he would just be disgusted about what I would eat or, you know, kind of being a little bit on the heavyset side. So just stuff like that. And Iāve also hung out with Vince after shows where, you know, I know the business is different, but Bully, Mark myself and we signed the contract.
My biggest time would be the resurgence of ECW and John Laurinaitis as head of talent relations. I worked for John, and that big push for it was with Johnny through Shane, but everything has to be through Vince McMahonās approval. And Johnny basically comes in and then I get called into the big office. And they basically tell me that Iām in charge of it. Iām writing the whole show. I want this to be different. And Iām, itās just me, [Vince says] do whatever the hell you want. hire whoever the hell you want in this again, just for the first ECW One Night Stand, youāre writing it, youāre doing it and I was very, very, like, wow. And I remember, like sitting back in my office, and I called Beulah. And I was like, āI canāt believe this. Like they finally see it in me.ā And like I had, like this great nirvana. But back into the meeting. Heās like, āthis is all you blah, blah, blah. The only caveat, we donāt want Paul involved.ā Paul was at the time hated, sent to ā He wasnāt even really doing OVW stuff. He was just, he was in the doghouse for whatever reason, I donāt know. And Iām sitting by myself, Iām in total control. I could have been a jerk and kept Paul out. But Iām saying to myself, how do you keep Paul Heyman out of something ECW. And I always knew me and Paul worked great together. And I then had to devise a plan how I had a go to Johnny, for hey, how do I navigate this through the political waters? How do I get Paul Heyman booked, and on this ECW show. And he basically helped me and basically, again went to Vince and I was like, āVince, you said, Iām in charge. Everythingās good. But Paul has to be on it.ā And he was just like, āyou know, Paul was shipped off to nana land.ā But he was like, āif thatās what you want. You got it.ā And me and Paul got to work together. Paul [at the] last minute made a change to the pay per view because Vince also wanted Steve Austin involved and Paulās changes and he was always being very, very politically correct, which he never had to be with me. [Paul said], āBut like if you donāt want to change it, you can do it.ā But I was like, āPaul, listen, number one, like youāre putting a promo in for yourself, and how could Paul Heyman not do a promo and how is that not going to benefit the show?ā And then we had the whole involvement with JBL and the WWE guys.
The show came off without a hitch. But that was like my most I donāt want to say positive but I was just like, wow, like the proverbial pat on the back, this is mine. And I ran the agentās meeting. And Vince just sat back and any questions by the agents and Vince was like āTommyās the agent of every matchā and he gave me the ball, it delivered.
Another quick fun story. The fire marshal, weāre doing the flaming table, Iām in a suit and we have to do a test run. So in a suit, Iām holding the production meeting [and] have to run down from the Hammerstein [Ballroom]. Bubba puts a little bit of lighter fluid on the table. Iām in a suit. Vince is up on the top floor watching. I get powerbombed through the table. Iām like āthatās good.ā And firemanās like, āthatās it?ā I was like, āYeah, thatās it.ā Quick [run] back up and I go do the meeting after I just was powerbomb through a flaming table. Vince was just like chuckling about it. We did the meeting and the rest was history, though. Bubba kind of exaggerated the lack of lighter fluid he used for the fire marshal, as opposed to the barbecued Dreamer he did later but when everyone says, āOh, you go in with this mindset and Vince wants one thing, but you canāt change his mind, Iāve never experienced that.ā