Explained: How one phone call stopped Tommy Dreamer from murdering Paul Heyman and himself?

Tommy Dreamer was all set to murder Paul Heyman and himself at WrestleMania 17. After the former ECW Superstar felt Paul betrayed him by joining WWE and him getting sidelined, Dreamer went through a phase where he decided to become a martyr. However, one phone call from Jim Ross changed everything and saved Wrestling for good.

Back in the 1990s, ECW was an unorthodox Wrestling promotion for its time. Paul was the owner and Tommy was the face of the company. At his peak, Dreamer received a sensational offer of $750000 from WCW. Heyman emotionally requested him to be loyal to ECW.

A few years after it, ECW shut its doors in 2001 and was acquired by WWE. A few months after it, Paul Heyman himself joined WWE as a manager and a commentator. Dreamer has been angry for two years since then. He signed a contract with WWE but did not feature in the TV regularly.

WrestleMania 17 was deemed to be the biggest thing in Wrestling. Some of the craziest matches took place in the PLE. However, Wrestling could have been shut forever if Tommy pulled off what he thought of. After not featuring in the Match card for the big night, he felt his world had ended for good.

'The ultimate martyr, I was gonna hit my pose, crack, boom, and pull the trigger' - Tommy Dreamer

In many interviews, Dreamer has explained the consequences of not featuring on the big night. He claimed to have decided his mind to whack Heyman on his back and right on the head at the announce table. He claimed to have decided to shoot himself as well to become a martyr.

Dreamer revealed that he planned to hit his pose, crack, and pull the trigger, which he felt was the perfect way to become an Ultimate martyr. In the later years, he accepted that it was an insanely bad idea. Dreamer claimed to have been thinking about it for a long time though he wasn't sure of executing it.

"At WrestleMania, I was gonna hop the rail and I was gonna whack Paul E. [Heyman] in the back of the head right at the announce table, then I was gonna whack myself. The ultimate martyr, I was gonna hit my pose, crack, boom, and pull the trigger. Because I was that insane, I don't know if I would have gone through with it, but that's what I was thinking about every day," said Dreamer in an interview.

All the anger from Tommy was because Paul stopped him from accepting WCW's offer but in turn chose to make a move to WWE after ECW shut its doors. As rubbing salt in the wounds, he did not feature on WWE TV regularly, which led to him making an ultimate decision.

One phone call from Jim Ross changed everything for good. The popular commentator called Tommy a few hours before WrestleMania and said that the creative team still had plans for him. It was such a massive call which potentially saved Wrestling.

Dreamer went on to have a brief stint in WWE from there. He was not the top guy, unlike ECW. However, he no longer had the intention to harm Paul. The opinion of the star wrestler has changed massively since then, He now regards Heyman to be the greatest manager of all time.

Everything changed with one phone call.