IMPACT Wrestling suspends Tommy Dreamer following 'Dark Side of the Ring' episode
Following reports that Tommy Dreamer will not be appearing at IMPACT Wrestling's tapings this weekend, the company has officially announced that Dreamer has been suspended indefinitely.
"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" - IMPACT Wrestling.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider reported more details by noting that Dreamer was asked to leave immediately. He has not commented on the matter as of this writing.
It was also stated in the email that Dreamer was “asked to leave effective immediately” from the company offices in Nashville, TN," wrote Johnson. It was stated that anyone with questions or concerns could approach Nordholm, Gail Kim or Scott D’Amore.
The comments made by Tommy Dreamer came during his interview with VICE for its latest episode of "Dark Side of The Ring", which went in-depth into telling the story of the 2002 "Plane Ride From Hell". In this now-famous incident, multiple WWE/F superstars got extremely rowdy, abused substances, and got into physical altercations during a flight back to the United States after a European tour.
Fightful has learned that IMPACT staff was informed today that Tommy Dreamer would not be at this weekend's tapings after his controversial comments on last night's Dark Side of the Ring episode
fightful.com/wrestling/excl…
During the episode, VICE interviewed former flight attendant Heidi Doyle, who would later take legal action against WWE following the flight. Doyle alleged that Ric Flair participated in inappropriate actions with her on the flight. During his interview on the show, Dreamer took serious issue with Doyle's charges, saying:
...Hey, he’s the Nature Boy for a reason....Ric Flair’s not going to try to impose by force any sexual stuff onto anybody," said Dreamer. "He’s just flaunting, styling and profiling, doing the Ric Flair stuff where everybody’s going to laugh about it. But obviously, someone took offense to it." (h/t Fightful)
Tommy Dreamer went on to suggest that all Doyle wanted was to "take a payout," and he made several other controversial statements regarding the incident.
Tommy Dreamer sticking up for Ric Flair on #darksideofthering https://t.co/cFdmGCgwCF
Rob Van Dam and others comment on 'Dark Side of The Ring' episode
Several other wrestlers, including RVD and Ric Flair, have commented on the incident. Flair took to Renee Paquette's Oral Sessions podcast before the show even aired to discuss the topic.
Ric Flair comments on the Dark Side Of The Ring pre-air..
#DarkSideOfTheRing https://t.co/WK5IwfOxwN
Rob Van Dam then noted that he had not seen the episode yet in his latest tweet:
Haven’t seen it yet. Glad to know. 🤘 twitter.com/bienfu3/status…
This controversy is currently generating a lot of conversation in the wrestling world, and it's unclear what other consequences it will produce.
What do you think about Dreamer's suspension? Sound off below.