Credit: cagematch.net,

Who: Cactus Jack

Date: 03.10.1995

Promotion: ECW

Event: Hardcore TV #128

Feud: Raven vs Tommy Dreamer

At the time, ECW was in the midst of a hardcore wrestling boom, with Dreamer and Raven at the forefront. Cactus Jack, known for his anti-hardcore persona, was positioning himself as a purist who believed the industry had been misrepresented in the media. The promo was a direct jab at Dreamer’s persona and the extreme style ECW was promoting.

Cactus Jack: “You know, I’d like to kind of apologize for my behavior. I’m embarrassed. Certainly feel a little stupid about the way I acted on the show a few weeks ago, because I get a little emotional when I talk about wrestling, because wrestling’s been my livelihood for the past 10 years, it’s enabled me to live out my childhood dream. So for me to come out on a show such as the ECW television program and bad mouth the wrestlers there, well I’m sorry. But I think in order to understand what’s going around my head and going through it, you have to understand where I came from, and what my goals were when I got into wrestling.

See, back in 1985, there was a program on 20/20 that challenged the wrestling industry, kind of portrayed it in a negative light. And Tommy, if you’re listening, try to understand that I was about the world’s biggest wrestling fan. And for me to stand in front of that television set and see people running down a business that I loved and held dear, even though I knew very little about it. To see my friends laughing at me, saying, “That’s what you want to get involved in?”

And that night I went to bed not with visions of sugar plumbs dancing through my head, but of broken bones, of battered bodies, of bloodied corpses, saying to myself, “If it’s the last thing I do, if I have to hold myself up for a human sacrifice, the world will respect professional wrestling.” Oh, and that dream came through. Yes, I’ve sacrificed myself for the past ten years and left the better part of my past lying on concrete floors, from Africa to Asia to South America to right into the middle of the ECW Arena.

And what’s it really done? Where have we really come to, lying in a hospital bed in Munich, Germany, watching my ear being thrown out into a garbage can, not being able to take it on the trip back because I don’t know the German word for formaldehyde. And having the nurse walk into my room, looking at that piece of my body that’s laying at the bottom of the garbage and saying “Das ist doch alles ein Schauspiel.”, which means “It’s all a big joke.” Excuse me, I didn’t know! Do you open up the lungs of a smoker and say, “Oh my golly, I thought smoking was supposed to be good for you.” Do you open up Terry Funk’s non-functioning liver and say, “Oh, I didn’t know four decades of heavy drinking took this kind of toll.” So if they show that much respect to a patient, what made me any different?

Because I was a wrestler, and professional wrestling will never be respected, no matter how many teeth I lose, no matter how many ears I lose, no matter how many brain cells have to die. And so it comes down to the point where it’s just not worth it. It’s not worth it, and Tommy Dreamer, you’ve gotta start looking realistically at wrestling as a way to make a living, nothing more and nothing less. And as long as it’s strictly business, well, you may as well be cuddled in the welcoming arms of World Championship Wrestling because ECW fans will be the death of you.

You see, they realized, and they were smarter than any of us, that they rule ECW wrestling, not us. What happened, Tommy? You came back from All Japan Wrestling with your trunks and your boots and said, “By golly, I’m gonna wrestle.” Did Giant Baba hand you a dozen eggs and say, “Hit these on Jumbo Tsuruta’s head?” You’re a disgrace to the profession, Tommy. You’re becoming a damn fool, and I can’t sit back there and take it, because I’ve got a moral obligation!

You see, when I survey the wasteland that is professional wrestling, Tommy, try to understand, I am but a failed experiment in human sociology. And I can accept that. But never in my sickest dreams did I imagine that there would be other people taking dives onto concrete floors, committing human suicide on my behalf, like I’m the patron saint of those sick sons of bitches. Is that all I stand for, Tommy? Is that all I stand for to sit in an arena where JT Smith lands head-first on the concrete to hear the fans chant, “You fucked up.” Well, fuck you! Who the hell do you think you are? We’re not a wrestling organization anymore, we’re the world’s damn biggest puppet show. And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna stand in the arena and let you call my match. “1, 2 ,3 jump, 1, 2, 3 jump.”

Well not me because I’m nobody’s stooge, and Tommy Dreamer, if you had a little bit of pride or a little bit of common sense, you’d realize those people don’t love you, they laugh at you. You took the worst beating this sport’s ever seen and they still laughed in your face. And I stood there with my arm around you six months ago and endorsed you saying, “He’s hardcore, he’s hardcore.” Well, for that I deserve to die a terrible, painful death, Tommy, because I feel responsible. And I go to bed at night and I’m not sure where I’m going to spend my eternity. And you, Tommy [laughs], you’re my salvation, because by delivering you to a better organization where you can be appreciated, loved, and held with just the littlest amount of respect in the Turner family, then maybe there’s a chance for me, too.

So please, Tommy, for my sake, think it over. Because a ‘yes’ to Cactus Jack would mean a great deal to me. And a ‘no’, well, I’d have to take that as you’re putting a big ‘okay’ stamp of approval on my eternal damnation! I’m counting on you, you little selfish bitch! Don’t make me hurt you, because I can. Don’t make me do it, and if I do with God as my witness, it won’t be in front of those little scumbags at the ECW Arena. It will just be me and you Tommy, and you don’t know when it’s coming and you don’t know where. So, unless you wish to damn me to the depths of hell, answer my call and say, “Okay, Cactus, you win, I’ll put on the suspenders, I’ll groom that mustache and I’ll call Uncle Eric and say, ‘Count me in.'”

Because not only would you be doing yourself a big favor, not only would you be helping your life, you’d be saving mine. You’d be saving mine. You’d be saving mine!”

Fans and critics have praised the promo for its raw emotion, storytelling, and authenticity. It humanizes Cactus Jack, showing vulnerability and trauma behind the anti-hardcore mask. Many see it as one of the most compelling promos in ECW history, blending personal history with a critique of the industry.

In short, the promo wasn’t just a feud moment — it was Cactus Jack’s way of defending his philosophy, his career, and his respect for wrestling as a profession, while simultaneously attacking the hardcore trend he felt was devaluing the sport.

I was just watching this promo. And, I was never able to convince my children of how great pro wrestling is. But, my youngest, my 12 year old, heard the passion in Cactus’s voice and came into my office from the kitchen where he was doing dishes and asked with genuine concern in his voice, he asked, “Dad… what happened to him? Is he going to be all right?” Go watch it here: https://youtu.be/LdkIsX0cdBE?si=ehd5SG3rpm748H_T