2 months ago
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Tommy Dreamer earned the nickname "The Innovator of Violence" for both the punishment he dealt and the punishment he absorbed in ECW. While mainstream wrestling doesn't usually approach the levels of brutality ECW once did, AEW All Out 2024 certainly came close. On "Busted Open Radio," Dreamer weighed in on some of the more memorable hardcore spots fans saw on AEW's most recent pay-per-view.
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"I was not offended by [the plastic bag spot], but I was actually shocked that it happened," Dreamer said. "It's not even a risky spot, but just, in 2024, how things are going to be criticized so much more ... Like I had no clue that you were not allowed to show a person smoking [in] wrestling. And I'm like, wait, they don't show people smoking on television anymore? And I'm like, holy crap, Sandman would've had no career." Dreamer said that while he thought the use of a syringe in the Lights Out Steel Cage match was stupid, he wasn't exactly offended by it. He said the only thing that comes close to offending him is the use of light tubes — not because of the blood and glass, but due to the dangers of the mercury they contain. As a skin cancer survivor, he spoke of the risks the tubes pose to both performers and fans.
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"Light tubes have mercury in them, and light tubes are carcinogenic, and when they're breaking over a wrestler's body, they're cutting them. So if I said, here, here's the risk of cancer, drink it. That's the same thing you're doing, but hey, shoot it into your blood. Or worse, for the wrestling fans that are sitting there, guess what you just breathed in? Cancer, everybody. So for the same people that were offended by smoking, [they] will sit there and cheer for a light tube."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

