Freddie Prinze Jr. Discusses His Time as a Writer For WWE, Working For Vince McMahon

 Former WWE writer, and current Hollywood superstar Freddie Prinze Jr., recently sat down with GQ Magazine and discussed a variety of topics. In the interview, he talks about how he became a writer for WWE, what it was like working with Vince McMahon, his thoughts on WrestleMania, and more.

 

Below are some highlights from the interview:

Please explain to me how a big-name Hollywood actor ends up working for the WWE?

I think it was 2007 or 2008. I don’t remember the exact year, but I went to WrestleMania and I was speaking with a lady who worked for the company. She was asking what I liked about the show, what I didn’t like, and I was just very honest with her. She said, “I would love for you to have this conversation with Kevin Dunn or Stephanie McMahon.

Anything I haven’t done before is interesting to me and I loved wrestling already. I wasn’t working at the time so I was like, “Yeah, I’ll come talk.” I didn’t even realize what I was signing up for at the time.

So I went in and sat down with Steph and told her a lot of my ideas and she said, “I love these ideas, make sure you have the courage to say them in front of my father.” I said, “You don’t have to worry about that, my pool is heated 365 days a year whether he pays me or not.” I wasn’t trying to be arrogant, but I felt very confident that I could write, you know? I wrote my own show, I knew more about wrestling than any actor, that’s for sure. And so I signed up full board and took the train every single day from New York to Titan Tower in Stamford, Connecticut.

Say Vince green lights an idea, how does it go from just an idea at the office to being on actual TV?

Once you get to TV, it becomes a different pitch process. Now the script is more complete. We’re told how much time we have for specific matches and the time for segments. Now it’s almost like round robin where everyone is in the room and has a say—the writers, the agents, the people behind the cameras. Everyone gets their words in there and Vince considers what everyone is saying and he gives the final “Yay” or “Nay.” Once he says yes, then the writers need to hustle to link up with the wrestlers. I would always email at least a rough draft to the wrestlers early and say, “You know, a lot of this stuff is probably going to change, but it’s live TV.” If it’s a backstage segment, I’d be directing and producing it. If it’s in the ring, you go in this secret room called Gorilla where Vince sits with all the monitors, watching them like a hawk. You sit right next to him and you’re talking the camera trucks through what is going to happen. If you’re lucky enough to have had time, you’ve already rehearsed it, but usually you’re telling them, “Okay, we’re gonna interrupt him here and now Kevin Owens is gonna come out and he’ll say his piece.” You’re basically making sure everything is going off without a hitch as best you can and the wrestlers either sink or swim. It actually has very little to do with me at that point, it’s their job to get over. Then afterwards your wrestler comes up to you and looks at you like a puppy dog, even though they are 6 foot 10 and outweigh you by 200 pounds, and say, “Did I do a good job?” And it makes you feel very strange and weird. But that’s basically from script to show right there.

Why did you end up leaving then?

We had this show called Tough Enough on the USA Network that Stone Cold hosted. There was a girl on the show who said she was doing this all for her kids. And Steve laughed at her. He said, “Let me tell you something. You know how many times I won Father of the Year being a professional wrestler?” And he took this great Shakespearean beat and he held up the number zero and just mouthed it. “Zer-oh.” Those words messed me up. I wanted to be Father of the Year. I genuinely want that award. So I quit. I gave them my two weeks notice the very next day. It was really hard, but I wanted to be a dad.

You can find the full interview at this link.

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