By Steve Anderson
"Pro Wrestling Illustrated", May 1996

1996 being an election year, many politicians will be seeking your vote. But Tommy Dreamer and Raven want your support, too: They didn't win Feud of the Year for 1995; now they're hoping you'll give it to them in '96!

At the end of each year, wrestlers anxious await the results of the balloting for the annual PRO WRESTLING ILLUSTRATED Achievement Awards. Winning one can launch a career for a rookie or perhaps lend credibility to a tag team.

Wrestlers desperately want to win these awards. At times, they campaign for them. Then this year's winners were announced, there was jubiliation and disappointment from all camps. But the most vocal reaction came from two wrestlers in ECW.

They were not competing for Tag Team of the Year or even Match of the Year. They had their cruel hearts set on the Feud of the Year designation. Ironically, the award did go to a pair of ECW wrestlers—Axl and Ian Rotten, for their blood-splattering, flesh-tearing family feud—but there were two others who felt that they deserved consideration.

Tommy Dreamer and Raven agree on almost nothing. They're determined to wipe each other out of wrestling. However, they agreed that for all the blood they spilled and pain they suffered during their many wars in 1995, they deserved to win Feud of the Year.

Yes, instead of being satisfied that an award came to a promotion other [than] WCW or the WWF, they were furious that you, the fans, were more inclined to vote for the Rottens instead of them. And, strangely enough, both men are promising that this "snub" will only result in even more intense and violent matches in 1996. That'll teach ya!

And you thought Bob Backlund's presidential campaign was bizarre?!

"We spilled just as much blood as those damn Rottens," said Tommy Dreamer. "Sure, they're brothers, but that doesn't make them any more deserving. Just look at what Raven and I did to each other. It was almost a felony."

"Dreamer and I are foes in agreement," concurred Raven. "Neither of us, nor anyone else, has ever seen battles of such sheer intensity."

More than 70,000 fans cast votes for Feud of the Year for 1995. Each has his own method of selection. Some measure the number of matches, the length of the feud, and outside factors, including whether the combatants used to be close friends, or, in certain cases,whether they are siblings. But only 2,194 fans selected Raven vs. Dreamer as the most memorable, while the Rottens received 16,203 votes.

"Bottom line is that I hate Raven," said Dreamer. "But I wanted something to show for all these cuts, scars and broken bones. I know that I was in one of the most intense battles of the year. I wanted recognition. I'll get it next year if it kills me!"

"We agree that we deserved the award for last year," said Raven. "And we agree that we will earn that in 1996. You mark my words."

But why would two men risk their own well-being and livelihood for n award that rarely has any long-term impact on any wrestler's career?

"You've got to understand how ECW works," said ECW Commissioner Tod Gordon. "These are not ego-driven superstars. These are streetfighters out toe destroy each other. They don't care about titles."

"Guys like Hogan want their mugs on the cover of that year-end issue," said ECW manager Paul E. Dangerously, who is not affiliated with either Dreamer or Raven. "They need that engraved plaque to say that they're most popular or the best wrestler of the year. The wrestlers here engrave their awards on each other's foreheads. Our promotion is based on intense feuds."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad ECW got the award," added Gordon. "But I've never seen anything like Dreamer vs. Raven. The Rottens just carved each other up in match after match. Dreamer and Raven's battles bordered on the macabre."

Dreamer and Raven are, in some ways, like all other wrestlers. They set goals. But whereas others are out to win titles, Dreamer and Raven just want to continue their war in 1996, and they are still motivated by hatred and revenge. But perhaps just as important now is to finish the next calandar year with a plaque in their hands and their bloody, mangled faces on the Feud of the Year page.

"Just take a look at the runners-up, and you tell me that Tommy and Raven shouldn't have been there," complained Dangerously. "Nastys and Harlem Heat only spilled a lot of mustard. Jarrett and Ramon fought on aluminum ladders. Flair and Savage battled over who was older and more decrepit. Sickening. Just sickening. What are these idiots that voted thinking?!"

What's sickening is what Dreamer and Raven may have in store for the coming year. 1995 featured everything from Dreamer piledriving Raven's valet, Beulah McGillicutty, to Raven hanging Dreamer on a makeshift crucifix. With both men having added motivation to turn up the intensity of their feud, ECW officials may have to decide just how "extreme" they're willing to allow their wrestlers to get. Raven and Dreamer's safety—in not their lives—may be at stake!