The If Factor: Tommy Dreamer Joining ‘The American Males’ in WCW

Brian Damage

The ‘If Factor’ are a series of articles that takes a look at real scenarios in pro wrestling that at one point or another were suggested, planned, considered…but did not get the green light to continue. What would the landscape of professional wrestling look like if these ideas came to fruition?

The If: Tommy Dreamer Joins WCW

In 1995, Tommy Dreamer was a rising star in ECW. At the time, Kevin Sullivan became booker of WCW and was familiar with Dreamer’s work while he himself worked in ECW. Sullivan made an offer to Dreamer to jump ship from ECW to WCW. The plan for Tommy Dreamer was to form a tag team with a young up and comer named Marcus Alexander Bagwell called ‘The American Males.’

Dreamer was offered a guaranteed contract of $75,000 a year to sign with World Championship Wrestling. Dreamer was seriously considering the offer, as it was more money than he was making at that time. Before he dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s on a WCW contract, Dreamer felt that something bigger and special was about to happen for ECW. Tommy Dreamer said, “You can watch the growth of the company everytime you would go back to that show where you could feel the territory was popping. I also didn’t feel like going to WCW to be an American Male was worth it.”

After Dreamer turned down Kevin Sullivan’s WCW offer, the gig went to Scotty Riggs to form the tag team with Bagwell and the rest is history. Knowing what we know now, was it worth it ultimately? Would ECW have survived without Dreamer’s contributions? How would Dreamer’s career be different if he had agreed to join WCW?