WWE News: Tommy Dreamer makes heartbreaking confession about Paul Heyman and WrestleMania 17

What's the story?

If there is one superstar who is more closely tied to hardcore wrestling and the legacy of ECW, it's Tommy Dreamer. The former ECW World Champion is still going in promotions like AEW and his own House of Hardcore, while helping groom the upcoming stars of today.

In this week's episode of his House of Hardcore podcast, however, he revealed just how low his life had gotten after the company he made his name in folded in 2001.

In case you didn't know...

Dreamer (real name Tom Laughlin), who began his career in 1989, debuted for Eastern Championship Wrestling in 1993. When that promotion left the National Wrestling Alliance to become Extreme Championship Wrestling, Dreamer changed along with it - gradually evolving his "pretty boy" gimmick into a violent, "hardcore" tough guy. He made a name for himself - and for ECW - in his feud with Raven, which is considered by some to be some of the greatest storytelling in pro wrestling history.

Despite generous offers from rival promotions, such as World Championship Wrestling, Dreamer stayed with ECW until its closure in 2001, even investing, as he put it, "my money, my parents’ money" to help keep the company afloat (H/T to WrestleTalk). That year, he would begin working with WWE and eventually became instrumental in their relaunch of the brand in 2005.

Dreamer would also discover that during ECW's last days, while he was fighting tooth and nail to keep the promotion alive, the man running the company had given up. Paul Heyman, the man in charge of ECW from 1993 until 2001, had also been secretly working for WWE near the end, as well.

The heart of the matter.

According to Dreamer on the latest edition of his podcast, to say he didn't take the news well was an understatement.

"I’ll tell you what I wanted to do. It’s sick that I think this. At Wrestlemania [X-7], I was gonna hop the rail and I was gonna [shoot] Paul E. in the back of the head right at the announce table, then I was gonna [shoot] myself... I was gonna hit my pose crack, boom, pull the trigger. Because I was that [depressed].”

The "Innovator of Violence" (which takes on a whole new meaning after hearing this, now that we think about it), explained what led to this and how depression was taking hold of his life.

"When ECW went out of business I was 29 years old...Paul Heyman, who I thought me and him were super tight, he screwed me over big time. He was in the WWE, the whole time."

Dreamer explained that he had actually been offered some pretty decent money to jump ship over to WCW, but stayed out of loyalty to Heyman. After a promise for a WrestleMania spot by the future Brock Lesnar advocate didn't materialize, Dreamer said he thought of taking advantage of the lack of firearm restrictions at the Houston Astrodome.

Fortunately, a phone call from Jim Ross, then head of WWE's Talent Relations, snapped him out of it. "That phone call came from [Ross], Dreamer explained, "[and the message] 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.'"

What's next?

Fortunately for everyone involved, not only did Dreamer not go through with his plan, he was able to get help dealing with his depression and went on to continue his career.

Depression and mental illness are nothing to be ashamed of. As more and more athletes and celebrities come out and talk about it, the stigma attached to them begins to wear off. Former WWE Superstar Big Cass (now known as CazXL) also recently discussed his own dealings with alcoholism and depression, and how not seeking help cost him his WWE career.