Matt Hardy reacts to Tommy Dreamer’s TNA exit
During a Wednesday recording of his Extreme Life podcast, Matt Hardy reacted to the news that Tommy Dreamer is no longer with TNA.
Dreamer, who was one of the key voices in TNA creative, announced today that he and the promotion have mutually agreed to part ways. Hardy found out the news during a live podcast recording and gave his immediate thoughts.
“That is significant. And, no, I was not aware of it. So that is also breaking news to me,” Hardy said. “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 [indie] show. I always thought he had a good pulse on kind of where pro wrestling, where it is, and where it’s going. He stayed pretty current with things. But, you know, things change. I got lots of love for Tommy, man. No doubt about it. And I loved working with Tommy. Really enjoyed working with Tommy, and very interesting to see what happens next now at TNA.”
When asked to describe Dreamer’s creative vision, Hardy said he had an ECW mindset of wanting to highlight everyone’s strengths while covering up their weaknesses as much as possible. Hardy feels the fans were a bit unfair in the criticism they had for Dreamer’s ideas.
“I think it has been a little unfair, no doubt. I had said that earlier today. I said him and Delirious, obviously, quite overworked,” Hardy said. “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 of this, why he is stepping away.”
Matt and his brother Jeff are part of the TNA tag team division and will challenge for gold at Slammiversary on June 28. The pay-per-view lineup includes a three-way ladder match with Brian Myers & Bear Bronson defending the TNA Tag Team titles against The Hardys and The Righteous.
Future of TNA creative —
Delirious (Hunter Johnston), a former booker for ROH, is still with TNA, and Dave Meltzer reports that TNA has discussed the possibility of adding Brian “Road Dogg” James to the creative team. James was the co-lead writer of WWE SmackDown before choosing to depart that position earlier this year.
When asked who he would like to see TNA bring in, Hardy named former WWE writer Nick Manfredini — who he worked closely with while paired with Bray Wyatt — as his ideal choice.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.