JBL weighed in on Tommy Dreamer’s departure from TNA on the latest episode of Something To Wrestle, praising his former colleague while making the case that booking a wrestling company is one of the hardest jobs in the industry.
Dreamer recently announced that he and TNA had mutually parted ways, ending his run atop the company’s creative team. JBL, who said his relationship with Dreamer is part of what drew him to TNA, had nothing but good things to say about the ECW icon.
“Tommy’s a good dude. Everybody who has ever worked with Tommy, I don’t know anybody who has anything bad to say about him,” JBL said. “He’s a good human being. He sticks up for people. He’s a ballsy guy. He’s got a backbone. He’s willing to stand up for what he believes is right, which I admire greatly.”
JBL also defended Dreamer’s work, pushing back on the online criticism that often follows wrestling bookers. He explained that the grind of producing television every single week is relentless.
“You have a show tonight, and the show is really good. Okay, what are we doing next week? It doesn’t stop,” JBL said. “That’s why people get burned out so much.”
In JBL’s view, the talent pool for the job is tiny. “You can count on one hand how many people are qualified to book a major wrestling company 52 weeks a year. That is an incredible task,” he said. “When you look at the list of people that can be possible for the TNA head of creative, there’s four or five people in the world, that’s about it.”
He praised both Dreamer and the man reportedly in the mix to replace him. “Tommy Dreamer is, in my opinion, a very good booker. And if it’s Road Dog who ends up taking his place there, he’s also a very good booker and will do an incredible job,” JBL said.
JBL added that a change at the top is not always about an upgrade. “Sometimes it’s not just that one booker is better than another, it’s just different,” he said. “Sometimes that’s why you need to change heads of creative.”
