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Pro wrestling legend Tommy Dreamer vows violence in upcoming ACW match in New York: 'Hell to pay'
By Ryan Gaydos
Published July 14, 2026
Pro wrestling legend Tommy Dreamer fired a preemptive warning shot to fans for what they may see when he steps back into an Awesome Championship Wrestling (ACW) ring against Josh Shernoff in a lumberjack match featuring the tag teams The Now and Sent 2 Slaughter.
The six men involved in the match have a lengthy history with each other. Shernoff pinned Dreamer in a six-man tag team match back at the Poughkeepsie Rumble in January. Before The Now and Sent 2 Slaughter had their chaotic steel cage match at Reckoning in May, Shernoff challenged Dreamer to a match at ACW Indypendence Day, which will take place Saturday.
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Tommy Dreamer poses with Hale Collins, left, and Vik Dalishus, right. (Provided to Fox News Digital)
As the rivalry between the two groups escalates, Dreamer said some fans who embark on the MJN Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, may witness a level of violence they are not used to.
"People try to do things to make a name for themselves in this industry," he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "I was unaware the guy used to be a wrestler, too. He's a great mouthpiece and yeah, I didn't take him too seriously and it's embarrassing, you're in a match and you're in control and all of a sudden you don't know what happened and then, yeah, you lost. He's been running his mouth. I haven't been at the last couple of ACW shows and kind of using my absence to his advantage.
"So now, there's no more running and I'm going to get him and I'm going to do what made me famous, especially in that building, to him and I apologize to the people who are a little squeamish or aren't used to that type of old school professional wrestling that the innovator of violence sometimes used to bring out."
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Shawn Donovan and Danny Maff brutalized Vik Dalishus inside the steel cage at Reckoning while Hale Collins was handcuffed to the structure on the outside of the ring. Dalishus’ wife rushed over the barrier and into the ring to try to stop the madness.
Dalishus was hospitalized after the incident.
"I wasn't at that last show and I know they've done a lot of crappy things to my friends Vic Dalishus and Hale Collins," Dreamer said. "I mean, they showed up at that guy's wedding. These guys are doing some things that go beyond pro wrestling. I think as a as a wrestler, we all go in there with no fear. but you don't realize, and I'm realizing this as I get older, that there's ramifications to others and a responsibility to others.
"When I was being crazy in ECW, I didn't have kids, Vic got hurt in front of his wife and his children. You talk to second generation wrestlers they're like, ‘Man, I remember my father getting beat up and I was crying,’ or, you know, I remember even having conversations with my daughters, they would always be like, ‘Daddy falls down a lot,’ but I'd be like, ‘Yeah, but daddy always has to get up.’ Well, that night daddy didn't get up for Vic Dalishus He had to go to the hospital. That's hard. And then to kind of, like I said, talk smack about it, it's a different era in a different industry than it was the Wild Wild West back in the day. There’s going to be some hell to pay on Saturday."
Hale Collins, left, and Vik Dalishus walk with the Awesome Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship. (Smoothlenz photography)
Now, it culminates in Saturday’s match which is set to be just another chapter in the rivalry.
Dreamer told Fox News Digital he’s relishing the opportunity to perform at the MJN Center once again.
"Listen, man, I'm wrestling 37 years. I never thought I'd have this beautiful career. that I have. Some people are amazed I'm still walking. I feel good," he said. "I had two matches this past weekend. I have three matches this upcoming week … It’s an honor. It's an honor to step in the ring. It's an honor to share a locker room with … I've wrestled Cowboy Bob Orton and Randy Orton in that building alone. I've seen wrestling there as a kid. I watched Miss Elizabeth walk in and manage Randy Savage and I was like, who is this person? You saw Andre the Giant get laid out by King Kong Bundy and they cut his hair. And then for me, I performed there for ECW. I broke my neck there, I broke my back there all in one night on a pay-per-view. To work there for ECW, WWE, TNA and my own House of Hardcore, I had a wrestling school there, I'm so in that culture there.
"Coming out of COVID was a scary time for everybody and then to see wrestling back there and the way the fans have rallied around ACW because just like they're two guys from the community as well and never forgot where they grew up and wanted to bring exactly what they promised – Awesome Championship Wrestling to the Mid-Hudson area. That area used to say this all the time, we don't appreciate something until it's gone. And it used to have ‘Monday Night Raw’ there every what two weeks, something like that. And then, look how much it costs to get into ‘Monday Night Raw’ now and you had it in your backyard all the time. And these two guys, The Now and ACW, they're bringing wrestling back to a hot bed of pro wrestling. And you've been to the shows they’re all really, really entertaining shows and it's a great night out. It's affordably priced and it's an awesome day for pro wrestling."
Tommy Dreamer makes his way down the ring (Provided to Fox News Digital)
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ACW’s Indypendence Day takes place Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. ET.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/pro-wrestling-legend-tommy-dreamer-vows-violence-upcoming-acw-match-new-york-hell-pay