Tommy Dreamer might be the only person on the planet who can transition from a conversation about taking headshots with steel chairs to a deep dive into Ariana Grande’s vocal range without missing a beat.
The Origin of the Man in the Box
For decades, the opening riff of Alice in Chains‘ classic “Man in the Box” has been synonymous with Dreamer‘s entrance. However, Dreamer revealed to The Stunner that the iconic pairing wasn’t even his idea; it was a suggestion from a fellow ECW original. He told me, “It was actually a wrestler named Taz and he was like, ‘Bro you’re the man in the box. Like you get beat up you get thrown around in shit and you keep on coming back so that’s your music.’ I said, ‘Okay.'”
Despite his association with the grunge anthem, Dreamer admits he has lived in a “wrestling bubble” for most of his life. When I pressed him for other Alice in Chains favorites, he could only name one other track—Rooster—citing “a lot of brain trauma, bro” for his foggy memory of their discography. Still, he has since interviewed the band on Busted Open and described them as great guys who have grown to appreciate the wrestling world.
The Three Albums That Defined His Collection
Dreamer isn’t a guy who spends hours curating playlists. In fact, he claimed that back in the day, his entire CD collection consisted of exactly three albums, plus a wrestling compilation. He explained his minimalist approach by saying, “I’m not really a music guy. We all like music but like I’ll tell you about music right? It evokes notion. Back in the day when you had CDs I owned three which: Nirvana, The Doors, Ozzy. That’s it. Oh, and the wrestling album, four.”
When I asked for specifics, he noted he owned Nirvana’s Unplugged and “Best of” collections for the others. As he put it, “I’m only about best of. You just like the main events only.”
The Ultimate Girl Dad: From Ariana to Olivia
While his personal tastes are rooted in the classics, Dreamer’s current playlist is dictated by his twin daughters. He has fully embraced his role as a “Girl Dad,” taking his kids to every major pop show on the map. He was quick to praise the current crop of female superstars, even setting a “bar” for vocal talent.
“I like Ariana Grande very, very much. I’ve seen Sabrina Carpenter in small bars; I feel like I’ve watched her career grow. I was the dad that took his daughters to every thing they want to see. Olivia Rodrigo, I’ve been to them all,” Dreamer said. He continued by offering his take on the top tier of the industry, stating, “Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, and Lady Gaga are the bar for female singers because they could sing anything. That’s my personal take on anything music.”
How to Get Noticed by the Big Companies
With TNA heading to AMC on January 15th and the “Netflix Era” of WWE looming, Dreamer believes we are in a new wrestling renaissance. For those looking to break into the business and get noticed by guys like him, his advice was simple: master the craft and mind your digital footprint.
He advised up-and-coming talent to “Work hard. Every time you wrestle you leave a digital platform like this interview will be streamed everywhere. Work hard, find the best wrestling schools and seriously just, you know, you’re going to learn from a bad match but become a master of your craft and you’ll get noticed not only by me by any wrestling company cuz business is about to pick up as JR would say.”
The Netflix Void and the Black Box Days
The interview took a humorous turn when Dreamer lamented the current state of streaming. With content moving and changing platforms, the man who watches wrestling every single night before bed finds himself staring at an empty screen. He complained, “Every single night before I go to bed I watch professional wrestling and sitcoms and now that it’s gone there’s a big void as we’re doing this interview it just happened. I don’t know what to do with myself, I stare at the empty TV screen.”
He even joked about the old “black box” days of stealing ECW pay-per-views—a crime I had to admit to being a part of as a twelve-year-old. Dreamer’s response was classic Dreamer: “Thanks for stealing it. Maybe we’d have still been out of business if you bought some of our… your parents bad, yeah.”
