Tommy Dreamer: 'It's Hard To Shock Fans These Days!'

Tommy Dreamer spoke with Busted Open Radio about the wrestling business today and more. Check out the highlights:

On whether it's hard to shock fans these days: "Oh yeah. I mean, that was my job back in the original ECW with the rise of the Internet. The Internet has so.... hurt as well as helped professional wrestling. When you talk to a lot of people, especially with me and I'm always known for having surprises at shows and people are like 'You got any surprises?' and I'm like 'Yeah.' and they're like 'No no no I don't want to know'. Which is cool. I mean, it's sometimes better to just sit back and be a fan because then we get so cynical and we want to think things our own way and stuff like that. I think the turn, and this is my opinion, the turn was really really cool. I don't think it was the right time and the Shield I think still had a lot more mileage to go. And if you also think about it isn't this kind of like the second Shield turn that they've already had? A lot of people sadly in wrestling nowadays forget about stuff. I don't, and I remember even when everybody was making the big stink about Daniel Bryan never getting the chance, never getting the opportunity. He was already champion twice before. That's how they, in wrestling, make you want to forget certain things. It's your memory by what we want to feed you. Me, I remember specifically when Barry Windham turned on Dusty Rhodes. It was like 'What the hell?!' or Larry Zbysko turned on Bruno Sammartino. It was like 'No way did that just happen!?' Again, I think it's.... in the long run will be good for Seth Rollins. I'm a huge fan of Seth Rollins work. Again, I think it's just a little too soon because you think about it the night before they just beat the biggest faction in the business. I also would have probably almost waited to WrestleMania to have them face the Wyatts. They basically did a throwaway match on a throwaway pay per view. I mean, there was big money in 6-man action with the Freebirds and Von Erichs. They (Shield & Wyatts) are some over acts and if you finally make those guys touch, I think you're on to something. Again, that's they're idea, they're booking. Not mine."

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On whether feuds can go on for more than a few months due to programming oversaturation: "I don't even want to say over saturation of programming. I want to say, it's more for, I think in their eyes, desperation for ratings and the whole 'We got to do things NOW NOW NOW' as apposed to 'wait and cultivate'. I mean you're talking to a guy who couldn't beat a guy for 3 years and even when everybody knew he (Raven) was leaving for WCW, they were still going crazy for all of the false finishes and everything that they did. They knew the guy was leaving. Why would they ever want to believe that he could beat me? They still were doing it throughout the entire match. I was at Lisa Marie's restaurant. It was probably the first time I watched that match in forever and I'm saying to myself 'Here during this age of the professional wrestling fan, and they're still biting on all of the false finishes, and they knew he was leaving.' So it says something for our hard work. They know, but they don't 100% know and I think that's the beauty of professional wrestling. To answer your question, yes, it is a lot harder to try to smarten up the fans or keep surprises because of how the industry, and, well it's social media. If you think about it, social media changed the main event of WrestleMania and changed the outcome of WrestleMania so it's an amazing time to be a wrestling fan."

On House Of Hardcore: "I'm a wrestling fan. Always have been, always will be. This is my vision of what professional wrestling is and should be. I just want the fans to go home and say 'Wow I saw an amazing night of professional wrestling.' That's my job to give it to them. Yes at times I say, like today when I spent over probably 1,200 dollars on hotels for all the talent, I said, 'What the hell am I doing?' But at the end of the day it's paid off for me so far and I'm hoping it continues to pay off for me. I came from an amazing place, ECW. It was a great atmosphere and time to be a wrestling fan. I feel independent wrestling is on the rise,...