Tommy Dreamer warns fans of violence at ACW Indypendence Day match

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Pro wrestling legend Tommy Dreamer fired a preemptive warning shot to fans of what they may see when he steps back into an Awesome Championship Wrestling (ACW) ring against Josh Shernoff in a lumberjack match with The Now and Sent 2 Slaughter tag teams.

The six men involved in the fight have a long history with each other. Shernoff pinned Dreamer in a six-man tag team match back at the Poughkeepsie Rumble in January. Before The Now and Sent 2 Slaughter had their chaotic steel cage match at Reckoning in May, Shernoff challenged Dreamer to a match at ACW Indypendence Day, which takes place on Saturday.

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Tommy Dreamer poses with Hale Collins on the left and Vik Dalishus on the right. (Provided to Pakinomist Digital)

As the rivalry between the two groups escalates, Dreamer said some fans who venture into the MJN Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, may witness a level of violence they are not used to.

“People try to do things to make a name for themselves in this industry,” he told Pakinomist Digital in a recent interview. “I was unaware that the guy used to be a wrestler too. He’s a great mouthpiece and yeah, I didn’t take him too seriously and it’s embarrassing, you’re in a match and you’re in control and all of a sudden you don’t know what happened and then, yeah, you lost. He’s been running his mouth on the last couple of his abs and my abs advantage.

“So now there’s no more running and I’m going to get him and I’m going to do what made me famous, especially in that building, to him, and I apologize to the people who are a little sensitive or not used to the type of old school professional wrestling that the innovator of violence sometimes used to bring.”

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Shawn Donovan and Danny Maff brutalized Vik Dalishus inside the steel cage at Reckoning, while Hale Collins was handcuffed to the structure on the outside of the ring. Dalishus’ wife rushed over the barrier and into the ring to try and stop the madness.

Dalishus was hospitalized after the incident.

“I wasn’t at the last show and I know they did a lot of crap to my friends Vic Dalishus and Hale Collins,” Dreamer said. “I mean, they showed up at that guy’s wedding. These guys do some things that go beyond professional wrestling. I think as a wrestler, we all go in there without fear. But you don’t realize, and I realize this as I get older, that there are consequences to others and a responsibility to others.

“When I was crazy in ECW, I didn’t have kids, Vic got hurt in front of his wife and kids. You talk to second-generation wrestlers, they say, ‘Man, I remember my dad getting beat up and I cried,’ or you know, I remember having conversations with my daughters myself, they’d always be like, ‘Dad be, but Dad’ falls down a lot, but I fall down. always gotta get up.’ Well, that night Dad didn’t stand up for Vic Dalishus. He had to go to the hospital. It is difficult. And then, like I said, to talk smack about it, it’s a different era in a different industry than it was the Wild West back then. There will be hell to pay on Saturday.”

Hale Collins, left, and Vik Dalishus walk away with the Awesome Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship. (Smoothlenz photography)

Now it culminates in Saturday’s game, which will be just another chapter in the rivalry.

Dreamer told Pakinomist Digital that he is relishing the opportunity to perform at the MJN Center again.

“Listen, man, I’ve been fighting for 37 years. I never thought I’d have this beautiful career. like I have. Some people are amazed that I’m still going. I’m fine,” he said. “I had two matches this past weekend. I have three matches this coming week … It’s an honor. It’s an honor to step in the ring. It’s an honor to share a locker room with … I’ve wrestled Cowboy Bob Orton and Randy Orton in that building by myself. I’ve seen wrestling there as a kid. I saw Randy Savage come in and I saw this one that you were in, and then you were this Miss Elizabeth? Giant was laid out by King Kong Bundy, and they cut his hair. And then I performed there for ECW, I broke my back there in one night to work there for ECW, WWE, TNA and my own House of Hardcore, I was in that culture.

“Coming out of COVID was a scary time for everybody and then to see wrestling out there and the way the fans have rallied around ACW because like they’re also two guys from the community and never forgot where they grew up and wanted to bring exactly what they promised – Awesome Championship Wrestling to the Mid-Hudson area. That area used to say this all the time and we’ve never spent anything to do it. ‘Monday Night Raw’ there every other week and then, look how much it costs to come into ‘Monday Night Raw’ now and you had it in your backyard all along and it’s a great day for professional wrestling.”