Last weekend, a big title change that seems to have gone under the radar, happened in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At an event aptly titled, GPW XI: Dreamers, “The Innovator of Violence,” hardcore legend Tommy Dreamer, won the Greektown Pro Wrestling Cup Championship.
The 47-year-old Tommy Dreamer defeated RJ City and now former champion Channing Decker, who held the title for 189 days, in a three-way match. There were tables, there were kendo sticks, and as it follows Dreamer everywhere he goes, of course there were “E-C-W” chants as well. Greektown, a relatively new promotion having only been around since 2015, shared a video of the last minute of the match, which you can watch below. The entire event, which featured Alexia Nicole, Alysin Kay, The Desi Hit Squad (Gursinder Singh and Rohit Raju), “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Maxwell Jacob Friedman, among others, is also available on their Facebook page in two parts (part one; part two).
Tommy Dreamer has had an incredible career.
Trained by Johnny Rodz, Dreamer made his in-ring debut in 1989 for International World Class Championship Wrestling under the ring name T.D. Madison. While there, Dreamer was a three-time tag team champion, winning his last in 1991. In 1992, Dreamer began working for Century Wrestling Alliance, at which point he changed his ring name to Tommy Dreamer to have both his real first name and the last name, which was in tribute to the “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. In CWA, Dreamer became the company’s first-ever world heavyweight champion. He made his WWF debut shortly after, losing in a dark match to The Brooklyn Brawler.
In 1993, Dreamer joined Eastern Championship Wrestling shortly before the company changed its name to Extreme Championship Wrestling. The first event he took part in was NWA Bloodfest in November 1993. From then until his last event, which was ECW’s last event in January 2001, Dreamer was a focal point of the company, helping it to establish its groundbreaking role in the wrestling revolution. When ECW folded to WWF/E, Tommy Dreamer was one of several wrestlers from the company who was part of the ECW/WCW Alliance during the Invasion angle. Dreamer stuck around after that, wrestling for WWE until 2009. He returned to WWE briefly in both 2012 and 2016.
After leaving WWE in 2009, Tommy Dreamer became involved with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, again alongside several ECW Originals including Raven, Sabu, Sandman and Stevie Richards. During his time in IMPACT, Dreamer feuded with Abyss, AJ Styles and most notably, Fourtune (Styles, James Storm, Kazarian and Robert Roode), who he took on as a member of EV 2.0 (Dreamer, Brian Kendrick, Sabu and Rhino). Tommy Dreamer continued to appear sporadically for IMPACT from 2010-11, ’13-’15 and again earlier this year.
In addition to his time in ECW, WWE and IMPACT, in his almost 30-year career, Tommy Dreamer has worked for National Wrestling Alliance, AAA Lucha Libre, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Jersey All Pro, IWA-Japan, Combat Zone Wrestling, Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling, International Wrestling Cartel, Northeast Wrestling, CHIKARA, World Wrestling Council, Chaotic Wrestling, Preston City Wrestling, Southside Wrestling Entertainment, Game Changer Wrestling, House of Glory, Big Time Wrestling, Ring of Honor, BAR Wrestling, Major League Wrestling, Wrestling Has a Tomorrow, Lucha Underground, DEFY and so many more.
In 2012, Tommy Dreamer, who in his career has been a wrestler, booker, road agent, backstage producer, commentator and trainer to name a few, added the title of promoter to his resume when he founded House of Hardcore. HOH originally ran out of ECW’s 2300 Arena and the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, before becoming a touring brand in 2014. As of September 3, HOH has run 50 shows with Dreamer being an integral part of all of them.
A 14-time WWE Hardcore Champion, the Greektown Cup marks the 33rd title in Dreamer’s incredibly successful pro wrestling career. Dreamer is expected to defend his newly won championship, his first in three years, at Greektown’s December event.
