It's fair to say the wacky world of professional wrestling has spawned some crazy stories down the years, but Tommy Dreamer genuinely contemplating murdering Paul Heyman at WrestleMania might top them all.
Dreamer opened up on the House of Hardcore podcast about how he almost committed a real murder-suicide shooting in the middle of WrestleMania X-7 in Houston, Texas back in 2001.
Many things led to Dreamer's deranged state of mind at the time. Primarily, ECW closing it's doors in the latter months of 2000.
Dreamer was a central part of the promotion and a key man behind the scenes, but Heyman's perceived lies not only played a role in ECW's demise, but pushed Dreamer to the brink.
Dreamer had believed he was going to make his WWE debut at WM17 during the famous Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, but plans changed late in the day. Dreamer had turned down big money WWE deals during his time with ECW thanks to Heyman's persuasion.
However, he found out soon after that the same man had been secretly working with the company and collecting a check long before he appeared on commentary.
While things appeared to be working out for Heyman, Dreamer was stuck living at his parents aged 30 and it appeared as though WWE had second thoughts about him. It took him to a dark place.
“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.”
It's impossible to know if Dreamer could have ever gone through with it, but a call from legendary announcer Jim Ross saved the WWE fraternity from having to find out.
“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," he added.
"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.'”
That phone call gave Dreamer all the reason he needed to continue and persevere. Fast forward 19 years and Dreamer has left a legacy in the business.
“Think of how stupid I would have been, how dumb and how messed up my thoughts would have been if they would have come to fruition.
"I am so happy I didn’t do it, I am so happy that I did get that phone call, from someone who was a stranger, I barely knew the guy. There was another day, there has been a lot of other days.”
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