Posted in: Impact Wrestling, Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: dark side of the ring, ecw, impact, impact wrestling, plane ride from hell, ric flair, rob van dam, Scott Hall, Suspended, tommy dreamer, vice tv, wrestling, wwe

Tommy Dreamer Has Been Suspended Indefinitely By IMPACT Wrestling

It hasn't even been 24 hours since VICE TV aired its latest episode of their acclaimed series Dark Side of the Ring, which detailed the events of the infamous "Plane Ride From Hell" in 2002, where WWE wrestlers were out of control in an alcohol and drug-fueled rage on a flight across the Atlantic Ocean.  The episode featured many former WWE superstars and personnel giving their own first-hand accounts of what they witnessed that night and while many of them were somber or remorseful of the event and especially of how the flight attendants were treated (one appeared on the episode, detailing her sexual harassment and assault at the hands of Ric Flair and Scott Hall), one man who was not at all that was ECW legend Tommy Dreamer, who not only defends the wrestler's behavior on the flight but goes so far as to blame the flight attendants for what happened to them and their daring to accept compensation for it.

The following was said by Tommy Dreamer in the episode about the victims and their reaction to what happened:

"If that's how she felt, maybe she should have not taken a payout and went to the fullest extend of the law to then truly put this heinous person in jail. My opinion."

Tommy Dreamer then continued digging himself deeper later by seemingly trying to make the old "it's not what it looks like" defense and by blaming the current woke culture:

"I feel this is trying to portray someone as a sexual predator, and it's not. It's a joke. It's a gag. Today, it's 1000% inappropriate. My hairstyle is inappropriate right now. I'm somehow offending someone right now with my double ponytail. How dare I have two ponytail? My answer is I'm 50 years old and I'm happy I have hair. If you're asking me, I've hung out with Ric Flair. I've never seen him try to force his will onto anyone."

Viewers were understandably outraged at many of the central figures spoken about in the episode, but there was particular outrage across social media last night and today aimed squarely at Tommy Dreamer, who came across as an aggressively smug chauvinist.

With the outrage still high this evening, ramifications have started to come in for Tommy Dreamer, who in addition to being an occasional wrestler for the promotion, currently serves as a producer and as a member of the creative team for IMPACT Wrestling.  According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com, Dreamer was sent home as soon as he arrived for work in Nashville, TN this morning and was told not to show up for the promotion's shows this weekend.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reported this afternoon that Dreamer has been suspended, complete with a statement by Ed Norholm of IMPACT Wrestling saying the following about Tommy Dreamer, real name Thomas Laughlin:

We are aware of Mr Laughlin's (Tommy Dreamer) comments on "Dark Side of the Ring". The views expressed by him in the interview are completely unacceptable. We can confirm Mr Laughlin was suspended this morning with immediate effect, pending further action.

So while we wait to see what might or even can happen to the likes of Ric Flair or Scott Hall (neither of whom are currently signed to a promotion), at least we know there is some justice taking shape at IMPACT as a result of last night's disturbing episode and the unacceptable comments made by Tommy Dreamer.

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