Tommy Dreamer Recalls Telling John Laurinaitis He Didn't Like Firing People In WWE

As head of talent relations, John Laurinaitis hasn't been afraid to inform talent WWE was releasing them in 2021 and over 80 wrestlers have been let go since WrestleMania 37. 

One person who struggled with firing talent, though, was Tommy Dreamer and the ECW original revealed on his House of Hardcore podcast that he cried after firing developmental talents while he was a key figure in Ohio Valley Wrestling, one of WWE's development territories during the 2000s. 

"The hardest part was when they wanted to start letting some people go. I remember telling Johnny (Laurinaitis) when I had to fire three people, and the first guy I got on the phone, I started crying. I was like, 'I promise, I know so many indie promoters. I'll try and get you work.' I remember the second person was like, 'I kind of saw it coming.' By the third person, I believe it was Lamont. He was Ernest 'The Cat' Miller's butler. He was in developmental," Dreamer said.

"I couldn't fire somebody on the phone like Johnny. When I hung up the phone, I was seriously balling my eyes out because I knew these people. I had to go down there and tell them. At the end, they would say, 'It's ok, I'll be ok', and I would say, 'No, you don't understand. I hate doing this.'"

Dreamer also recalled speaking to John Laurinaitis about the situation, during which Johnny Ace said, "Do you think I like firing people?"

"Then I had to go back and tell Johnny, 'Listen, I can't do this. So if this is part of my job, I can't do it.' He said, 'Do you think I like firing people?' I said, 'No.' He said, 'If you don't do it, somebody else will.' I said, 'Ok, cool. That somebody else will be you.' That settled my argument with him. Seriously, I fired three people in my entire life and I can't hack it because I feel like I'm crushing their dream and I'm crushing their soul."

H/T to WrestlingNews.co