Speaker 1: M H. Welcome back everyone to Wrestling with Freddy. And
Speaker 1: today's episode isn't even it's not the past, it's not
Speaker 1: even the current product. It's the future. I did an
Speaker 1: interview on the Aerial Helwani Show where I had mentioned
Speaker 1: one of my dreams, which is now a plan, was
Speaker 1: to start my own small, little indie wrestling federation, and
Speaker 1: we'll go into what my goals with that are. But
Speaker 1: a lot of wrestling fans saw it. Some of you
Speaker 1: thought I was full of crap. Some of you really
Speaker 1: believed in the idea. But we got so much feedback
Speaker 1: that we're gonna deep dive into the plan and the
Speaker 1: philosophy behind it, and I'm gonna share way more with
Speaker 1: you that I'm probably even comfortable sharing, minus the financials,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna get it started right now. Welcome to
Speaker 1: another episode of Wrestling with Freddie. Now stuffing up to
Speaker 1: the mic. The host of Wrestling with Freddie Freddie Prince June. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, you guys. So a few months ago I
Speaker 1: was on the m M A Hour with Ariel Helwani,
Speaker 1: who I like very much. I think he sells the
Speaker 1: sport of mixed martial arts very well and he's randomly
Speaker 1: a huge wrestling fan and if you go back a
Speaker 1: few episodes, he was a guest on here. He's a
Speaker 1: really good part of our family over here. And he
Speaker 1: talked about being at the actual Montreal screw Job with
Speaker 1: Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Because he is a France Canadian.
Speaker 1: We were having a conversation and I had never really
Speaker 1: spoken publicly about it before, but it had been a
Speaker 1: dream of mine for a long time. And and uh,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you kind of how that dream came to
Speaker 1: pass right now, because you can watch all the arial
Speaker 1: stuff on his channel. Nobody really knows this, but I
Speaker 1: almost became a showrunner for another wrestling federation whose name
Speaker 1: I will not say. A friend of mine who financed
Speaker 1: the company asked me to come help them try and
Speaker 1: get a TV deal. So I was happy to help.
Speaker 1: I love wrestling. I love the person who had this
Speaker 1: promoters back and was financing the company. I have a
Speaker 1: lot of I have a lot of respect for this person,
Speaker 1: and so when they asked me for something, which is
Speaker 1: very rare, it's an easy yes for me. There's someone
Speaker 1: I liked doing favors for, and I don't feel they
Speaker 1: asked enough. So I came in, no contract, no money,
Speaker 1: no anything, and saw their product, saw the good stuff,
Speaker 1: saw what I thought I could improve, and had another
Speaker 1: conversation with the finance. Here I met the promoter. By
Speaker 1: the way, it was an old school promoter. The promoter
Speaker 1: was very professional and polite to me, look me in
Speaker 1: the eye when we shook hands, that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: and then started selling me on on their their brand.
Speaker 1: And it was an oversell too to my eyeball anyway,
Speaker 1: and there was no need to oversell it. I feel
Speaker 1: that people should always be very straightforward when dealing with
Speaker 1: with other professionals in this in the same industry, that
Speaker 1: being show business. Not that I'm a wrestling expert, but
Speaker 1: I do you know what quality television and quality film is.
Speaker 1: So I tried to relax him and put him in
Speaker 1: ease and and well now you know it's a guy,
Speaker 1: and and tell him that, uh that I was, you know,
Speaker 1: a fan of the product and all this stuff, and
Speaker 1: I mentioned where I thought I could help um who
Speaker 1: I knew that I thought would come in and be
Speaker 1: friendly to us and help improve you know, everything from
Speaker 1: our on camera stuff to putting some credibility on commentating
Speaker 1: to training, to to all kinds of things. Not that
Speaker 1: I would train, but I knew, you know, some of
Speaker 1: the best wrestling trainers in the business, because I treated
Speaker 1: them with respect, the travels of the world that have
Speaker 1: trained a lot of people. So and I wanted the
Speaker 1: good people to work, So I didn't push on anything.
Speaker 1: I knew I was there just for story stuff, and
Speaker 1: and so I started breaking it down. And then I
Speaker 1: started being very honest about how Hollywood perceives the wrestling business.
Speaker 1: And it's not favorable, and it hasn't been ripple in
Speaker 1: a very long time, or they would have pulled a
Speaker 1: ton more professional wrestlers and lured them with with money
Speaker 1: and Beverly Hills and and girls named Beverly and everything
Speaker 1: and guy's name. Whatever you desire is here in Hollywood.
Speaker 1: They can steal your way. They've done it countless times.
Speaker 1: John Cena used to talk smack about the Rock for
Speaker 1: being a part timer, and then Hollywood said, oh, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: you talked crap about the biggest star in the world.
Speaker 1: How would you like to be one as well? Yes,
Speaker 1: yes I would, And he pieced out. So it's it's
Speaker 1: a foul temptress. But it can be. It could be
Speaker 1: a beautiful temptress at the same time if you already
Speaker 1: know who you are. So we talked about what I
Speaker 1: thought needed to be done for TV based on conversations
Speaker 1: that I've already had with executives, and I said, look,
Speaker 1: I don't have the connections that I had in the
Speaker 1: nineties when I was hot shit, but but the relationships
Speaker 1: that I that I had, I'm there's only one producer
Speaker 1: I've worked with that I really wouldn't work with again,
Speaker 1: I have solid relationships. I'm always pro alway is on time,
Speaker 1: always knew my ship, never was a drug addict, so
Speaker 1: I didn't cause any problems. There was no reason for
Speaker 1: people not to dig me. So the people who had
Speaker 1: advanced up and we're in positions of authority now to
Speaker 1: say yes, some of them were my friends or at
Speaker 1: least acquaintances. So I said, here's the three places that
Speaker 1: I could take us to, and he said, I have
Speaker 1: a friend who maybe getting a promotion at this other
Speaker 1: place as well. I said, cool, if it happens, let's
Speaker 1: let's go there too. So we set up the three
Speaker 1: meetings and all three and I want to write a
Speaker 1: pilot for them as I say, look, you have You're
Speaker 1: gonna have to have something. They're gonna want to see
Speaker 1: something because they don't know wrestling. Now, well we don't.
Speaker 1: We don't really write it like that. We don't. We
Speaker 1: don't write the w Wilay I said, I don't have
Speaker 1: to write at the w W E way. I just
Speaker 1: want to show them a format so they can understand
Speaker 1: how long the show is, how long the matches are,
Speaker 1: what the back states. He goes, well, you can just
Speaker 1: pitch it. You're a great picture. And I think he
Speaker 1: did like me for that, but he really just wanted
Speaker 1: my name to help sell his show, which we found
Speaker 1: out down the room. So we go into the first
Speaker 1: meeting and it was I believe the first one was
Speaker 1: at the c W. And the gentleman that I knew
Speaker 1: there was Mark Petowitz. See I'm comfortable saying. And Mark
Speaker 1: was one of the original execs on Buffy the Vampire
Speaker 1: Slayer like way back in the day, and he runs
Speaker 1: the CW and his business model is what keeps the
Speaker 1: CW afloat. It's how they can afford to make all
Speaker 1: their DC shows, whether you think they're good or not.
Speaker 1: They have a very He came from their business affairs department.
Speaker 1: So he was a lawyer negotiating contracts, which is not
Speaker 1: usually a guy that I like. But he knows that
Speaker 1: I'm very straight up about it. And they have a
Speaker 1: crazy contract structure there as well. But those actors are
Speaker 1: still making way more than wrestlers, so as far as
Speaker 1: budget and what these these wrestlers would be paid, because
Speaker 1: it wouldn't have be a license deal like US, a
Speaker 1: licensed Monday Night Raw. They don't own Monday Night Raw,
Speaker 1: so this would still be on the cheap for them,
Speaker 1: an affordable show. They said, we don't want to script,
Speaker 1: so we go in, we pitch it, and the promoter
Speaker 1: takes over the pitch. I'm about maybe four minutes in
Speaker 1: and he and he and he takes over the pitch,
Speaker 1: and so I stopped talking. It doesn't work if we're
Speaker 1: both talking at the same time. And he goes and
Speaker 1: he goes, and it's about fifteen minutes in and I see,
Speaker 1: I see Mark shaking. Is not shaking his head, but
Speaker 1: it's an internal head shake. I've normally had twenty plus years.
Speaker 1: And I see the other exacts, and I know when
Speaker 1: they're tuning out on a pitch because I've had plenty
Speaker 1: of bad ones myself, and so he finally finishes up.
Speaker 1: And the last thing you wanna have happened at the
Speaker 1: end of the pitch is say well, thank you, we'll
Speaker 1: be in touch. That means that sucks and we don't
Speaker 1: want it. It doesn't mean your idea sucks. It just
Speaker 1: means they think it sucks. If they ask questions, there's
Speaker 1: obviously interest. So I already know where this is going.
Speaker 1: And the meeting stops, and right away Mark and this
Speaker 1: other guy I don't remember his name in stereo, they say, well,
Speaker 1: thank you very much, we'll be in touch. And I
Speaker 1: shake my head and we're walking out and Mark puts
Speaker 1: a hand on my shoulder and he says, hey, come
Speaker 1: back in here after you say goodbye if you can.
Speaker 1: I say, yeah, okay, So I go and I talked
Speaker 1: to the sales group right and uh, I say, all right,
Speaker 1: you know the next time, and and he's even apologizing, sorry,
Speaker 1: I kind of I barreled on there and you were
Speaker 1: doing great. He did not care if I was doing great.
Speaker 1: I think he just was looking for a door to
Speaker 1: get opened so he could try to sell a show. Right,
Speaker 1: they leave, I go back in and Mark goes, what
Speaker 1: the hell was that? He actually didn't cuss. He rarely cusses.
Speaker 1: He goes, what was that, Freddy? I say, I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: it wasn't the meeting that I thought it was gonna be.
Speaker 1: I said, I have a different pitch if you want
Speaker 1: to hear what I think wrestling could be. Although I
Speaker 1: know you guys aren't in the market for this. He goes, well, listen,
Speaker 1: we don't want to buy a wrestling show, but let
Speaker 1: me let me see what you got. Say all right.
Speaker 1: So we go back and the financier, the one who
Speaker 1: called me, who me for help. I said, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. So and so is not going to
Speaker 1: do that again. Uh, please don't leave, Please come to
Speaker 1: the next pitch. I say, I'm not going anywhere. Don't worry.
Speaker 1: I made a commitment work good. So I have a
Speaker 1: good conversation or what I think was a good conversation
Speaker 1: with the promoter and uh, I say, look, I'm not trying.
Speaker 1: I'm very directed him. I say, I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: steal your your show. I don't have a contract. I
Speaker 1: get no money if we sell this, none, not a
Speaker 1: not a single dollar. I just want to put my
Speaker 1: friend in a position for this type of wrestling to
Speaker 1: succeed because the ku genera can be because I believe
Speaker 1: in this type of wrestling, so stupid and uh he says, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: you know or all on the same. So the next
Speaker 1: place won't take a pitch without a script, which is
Speaker 1: what I thought. So I write one up and I
Speaker 1: try to give even the wrestlers that I can't fit
Speaker 1: into the show wrestling a moment backstage, a little time
Speaker 1: to shine. Right without telling me before we go into
Speaker 1: the pitch, dude rewrites everything that I did to make
Speaker 1: it fit more what he wants. Now you can look
Speaker 1: at this two ways. This is his baby. It's his baby,
Speaker 1: and here comes this jerk with his ideas and what
Speaker 1: he feels are major changes. Even though I stayed true
Speaker 1: to every single character. I spoke with every wrestler before
Speaker 1: I wrote for them, and noticed I didn't say before
Speaker 1: I made changes because I made zero. I worked with
Speaker 1: what I was given because I didn't know that I
Speaker 1: wasn't being paid. It was a favor. So you show
Speaker 1: me what you think your best self is, and that's
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna work with. I'm not going to change
Speaker 1: the thing and I didn't, so the whole script gets rewritten.
Speaker 1: We go and we have the pitch and he lets
Speaker 1: me pitch, which was really cool and it's a great pitch.
Speaker 1: We killed it. They seem actually into it, which I
Speaker 1: was surprised by. And this woman says, you know, Freddie
Speaker 1: called me afterwards. So I call her and she says, Hey,
Speaker 1: we're actually excited about this. I'm excited to read your
Speaker 1: your pilot. I said, yeah, quit. I go. Look, it's
Speaker 1: just a temporary thing, just so you can kind of
Speaker 1: see what the flavors are and how the show goorks
Speaker 1: goes okay. So I get a call that night from her,
Speaker 1: which is weird. It would always be an email, and
Speaker 1: it would never be that night unless it was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, we love this and we have to
Speaker 1: buy it, in which case it would be a phone
Speaker 1: call because they don't want to avoid my lawyer cost
Speaker 1: the more money. So I say hello, and I know
Speaker 1: who it is, and she goes, Freddy, did you write this?
Speaker 1: I said yeah. She goes, and we have a good
Speaker 1: enough relationship. She goes, I really didn't respond to this
Speaker 1: at all, and I was like, really, what about this? This?
Speaker 1: So and so monologue. I thought that was a promo
Speaker 1: we call it, but monologue they called. I go. I
Speaker 1: thought that would be right up your alley because there's
Speaker 1: no there's no monologue at all. I did say monologue.
Speaker 1: Be goes, there's no monologues at all, Like, what do
Speaker 1: you mean? Send send me the script because now I'm like,
Speaker 1: I already know what's happened, and everything has changed every
Speaker 1: single page. And I called my friend back. I got yed.
Speaker 1: This old man is trying to sabotage me. I don't
Speaker 1: know why. I don't have a contract with him. You
Speaker 1: don't what I don't. I was doing a favor, but
Speaker 1: clearly he does not want my help. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: step back. I go, if you want to read my pilot,
Speaker 1: I'll send it to you. She goes, don't even send
Speaker 1: it to me. I'm not buying this show, said, all right.
Speaker 1: So it's the third meeting that's coming up, and I
Speaker 1: text dude to UH to talk about the pitch, and
Speaker 1: I don't hear back. And then Uh. I texted him again,
Speaker 1: it's about a week out. I don't hear back. Third
Speaker 1: fourth fit text nothing. I text the boss the finance
Speaker 1: here and I say, hey, what's going on. So I've
Speaker 1: texted homeboy a few times. I haven't heard anything back
Speaker 1: our meetings in like two days or this was a
Speaker 1: text that I wrote. And I get a phone call
Speaker 1: back and she says, uh, Freddy, I'm really sorry. I
Speaker 1: thought he told me he was gonna he was gonna
Speaker 1: talk to you, but he doesn't. He doesn't want to
Speaker 1: work with you, and he's really uncomfortable, and so we're
Speaker 1: just gonna walk away. And I said, let me ask
Speaker 1: you something. Did his friend get the promotion that he
Speaker 1: was talking about? And it's dead client on her end
Speaker 1: of the phone, and I literally almost said the name.
Speaker 1: I literally go, this is insane. I said, I was
Speaker 1: doing this for free, and now that he doesn't need
Speaker 1: me to get a meeting at a TV network because
Speaker 1: his friends there, he's just kicking me out. And she goes,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm so sorry. Da da da dada.
Speaker 1: I go, it's all right. I go, I'm not mad
Speaker 1: at you. I go, you know, it wasn't It wasn't
Speaker 1: a job anyway. Best of luck, good luck. And they
Speaker 1: actually got a TV deal without any of my assistants whatsoever.
Speaker 1: They didn't need it. I didn't have anger when it
Speaker 1: was over because it was just more weird and the
Speaker 1: kind of guy he was was so old school and
Speaker 1: and transparent that you know, I wasn't trying to smash
Speaker 1: on the guy before or after the fact, because it's
Speaker 1: just a different were from different generations, and neither one
Speaker 1: of us is going to change. So instead of getting angry,
Speaker 1: all that energy started, Like I don't know, man, It's like,
Speaker 1: do you know when you're in a dream and you
Speaker 1: know you're about to wake up and reality starts to
Speaker 1: slip into the context of the dream, so all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, whatever you were dreaming feels much more attainable.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense to anyone out there at all?
Speaker 1: It's happened to me a million times in my life,
Speaker 1: and I feel like it's one of the main reasons
Speaker 1: why I've never not accomplished a goal that I set
Speaker 1: my mind to. Every everything I wanted to do in Hollywood,
Speaker 1: I did everything I wanted to do. In wrestling, I did.
Speaker 1: I'm not even done with jiu jitsu, but every goal
Speaker 1: I said in jiu jitsu, I've accomplished so far and
Speaker 1: that journey will never in thank God. So I started
Speaker 1: dreaming about wrestling. I started dreaming about men's wrestling, women's
Speaker 1: wrestling bodies smashing together, or as Biggie would say, medi men,
Speaker 1: media manly men slapping meet against one another. That's a
Speaker 1: Biggie would say. Shout out to Biggie, I'd love you.
Speaker 1: So I start having this dream, and I remember my godfather,
Speaker 1: Bob Wall Rest in peace. He said, dreams are what
Speaker 1: happens when other people are making plans, and that philosophy
Speaker 1: is one of the main reasons. Now it's one of
Speaker 1: many reasons that I've been able to find success. I
Speaker 1: don't spend too much time dreaming. The moment I have
Speaker 1: the dream and I know it's something I want, I
Speaker 1: start planning. So the first thing I did was call
Speaker 1: my accountant and I said, Hey, I'm gonna try to
Speaker 1: figure out how much money I need to uh to
Speaker 1: start a wrestling promotion, and I'm gonna hit you back.
Speaker 1: And he said, you better go get a job because
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let you spend any of the money
Speaker 1: that you saved up over the years for wrestling promotion.
Speaker 1: And I respect my accountant. I called my manager, I
Speaker 1: called my agent. I said, yo, man, I want to
Speaker 1: go back to work, and they said, great, Why And
Speaker 1: I told my manager the reason why you started laughing
Speaker 1: at me. You said, you're absolutely insane. I said, I know,
Speaker 1: man as, but I'll have fun doing it. I only
Speaker 1: want to work with, you know, good people. We don't
Speaker 1: have to be, you know, desperate for stuff. But let
Speaker 1: people know that I'm that I'm hungry. And I had
Speaker 1: never worked for Netflix before. I didn't really know anyone
Speaker 1: over there. So I had like a video general meeting
Speaker 1: with them and it went well, and they offered me
Speaker 1: this romantic comedy. Of course, it's it's always a romantic
Speaker 1: comedy if it's for me, if it's if I audition
Speaker 1: for your movie it's an action movie, or like I
Speaker 1: want to be a tough guy or something like that.
Speaker 1: If it's Sweetie sweet Cakes, then they're like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: give that crap to Freddie. So I read this script
Speaker 1: and it's charming as all hell. It's a Latino family,
Speaker 1: and you gotta remember that's always been something I've been
Speaker 1: insecure about because my father was half so I'm only
Speaker 1: a quarter, right, So I was never really fully except
Speaker 1: did I felt by a lot of the Latino community.
Speaker 1: I think I've touched on this before. It used to
Speaker 1: be called the n c l A or the National
Speaker 1: Council for Larrassa, and now it's something different. But screw
Speaker 1: those guys straight up. I told them I didn't speak
Speaker 1: Spanish on purpose, just to hear what they would say
Speaker 1: about me and my father, and they said it all baby.
Speaker 1: So anytime I get an opportunity like that, and it
Speaker 1: isn't often, at least a lot of times, I'll change
Speaker 1: the name after the fact, Like on his name was
Speaker 1: not Cole Ortiz. Coal is not a Latino name. His
Speaker 1: name was like Cole McGuire and they're like, oh, look,
Speaker 1: we hired Freddie and this will look like we're a
Speaker 1: diverse show. Ha ha. It's Ortiz And that's what Hollywood does.
Speaker 1: That's diversity for them. Everyone's white until you hire someone
Speaker 1: that's not and then you change the name. So anyway, um,
Speaker 1: I take this this joy. I meet with the director,
Speaker 1: female director who I just Her name is Gabriella, and
Speaker 1: I just fell in love with her. Man. She gave
Speaker 1: me some of the Granted I hadn't worked in forever,
Speaker 1: so notes weren't fresh in my head, but some of
Speaker 1: the things she said to me just unlocked a ton
Speaker 1: of ship. I got to work with this great actress,
Speaker 1: Amy Garcia. You guys know her from that show Lucifer.
Speaker 1: She plays the nerd. She basically plays Shakira in this movie,
Speaker 1: and it's like sexy and the opposite of her character
Speaker 1: on Lucifer. She's just a stone assassin and she's partners
Speaker 1: with a j who we've had on this show. They're
Speaker 1: too crazy Puerto Rican girls and their writing partners, and
Speaker 1: I swear in ten years they're going to be running
Speaker 1: the business. I'm doing this movie and it's making me
Speaker 1: fall in love with acting again. And as hungry as
Speaker 1: I was getting to act again, it never outweighed the
Speaker 1: desire to start the promotion. So long winded story. Notice
Speaker 1: I didn't say long story short, because that was not short.
Speaker 1: Here's the plan. I was talking with Sam Roberts, who
Speaker 1: has a lovely podcast as well, the Sam Roberts Show
Speaker 1: last year Professional in the Damn Business, and he mentioned
Speaker 1: g c W. He goes, you have to watch it.
Speaker 1: They tell a story every single show and it's great.
Speaker 1: He goes, they're gonna ask some stuff that that you
Speaker 1: don't vibe with, and they're gonna have some stuff that
Speaker 1: you love, I know it go okay. So I watch
Speaker 1: a g c W show and sure enough I see
Speaker 1: a death match, and I'm freaking like, it's just too much.
Speaker 1: It was too much blood for me, right, too much,
Speaker 1: and there's room for blood and wrestling. I believe that
Speaker 1: it's a it's a big, big part. And it wasn't
Speaker 1: every match in g c W, which was smart, but
Speaker 1: I was not. I was not prepared. I watched the
Speaker 1: rest of the show and I thought they did a
Speaker 1: great job. And I started watching other shows, older shows,
Speaker 1: old Ring of Honor. A started listening to Jim Cornett
Speaker 1: and his philosophies on wrestling, started listening to other promoters
Speaker 1: and people in the business and their philosophies on wrestling.
Speaker 1: I started watching what other wrestlers were trying to do.
Speaker 1: I started asking everyone I knew in the business questions.
Speaker 1: Then I started looking at arenas locally here and and
Speaker 1: what it would cost a rhom. And then as I
Speaker 1: saw what my opportunities would be in this business, as
Speaker 1: there would be more of them after I did the
Speaker 1: Netflix one, I started saying, well, I can accelerate the plan,
Speaker 1: or I could keep the plan as it is, do
Speaker 1: a couple more of these and own the space, which
Speaker 1: I believe right now is the plan that I'm going
Speaker 1: to execute. I've already have a commercial realtor that I
Speaker 1: know and love. She's already looking at properties for me.
Speaker 1: I would love to have a all time home for this.
Speaker 1: The plan was originally a two year plan. Now I
Speaker 1: should have the money for a three year plan, meaning
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to make money for three years before
Speaker 1: I'm like, yo, man, i gotta go do another day movie.
Speaker 1: You have to be in Scooby, almost said Mother Treuk,
Speaker 1: and have to be in Scooby Part seven or some
Speaker 1: crap like that to keep inflouid. So so I started
Speaker 1: looking for properties, and then social media did what social
Speaker 1: media does, which is like feeding frenzy. Right, It's like
Speaker 1: baiting the water. And there's a lot of of wrestling
Speaker 1: instagram pages and websites out there that do dirt sheets
Speaker 1: and wrestling news and things like that, and they need content,
Speaker 1: and so they picked up on this and put it
Speaker 1: out and then all of a sudden, all these like
Speaker 1: indie wrestlers and indie refs and indie musicians who have
Speaker 1: done wrestling stuff all started reaching out. And before I
Speaker 1: get into this, let me say something. Whether you were
Speaker 1: being real with me or whether you were trying to
Speaker 1: troll and crap upon me, thank you. Some of you
Speaker 1: wrote some stuff that was like you took the time
Speaker 1: to not only say, hey, man, I would love to
Speaker 1: come and be a part, but here's some wrestlers that
Speaker 1: I respect and I think you would too. And for
Speaker 1: you to take the time to do that, and it's
Speaker 1: not just one cat that did that. That's the most
Speaker 1: beautiful part of the wrestling community to me. I love that.
Speaker 1: That's what acting used to be. I think I may
Speaker 1: have told this story, but I did a movie with
Speaker 1: Peter side Quest. I did a movie with Peter Falk,
Speaker 1: who was amazing. People know him as Columbo, but this
Speaker 1: guy was doing Cassavetti's movies in the seventies. Man is
Speaker 1: just a gangster actor. And he was talking to me
Speaker 1: one time on on the ride to work. We would
Speaker 1: take the same van to work every day as in
Speaker 1: New York City. We were both staying at the Essex
Speaker 1: House hotel, and he would make me buy him his
Speaker 1: true one hundred cigarettes at like two o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 1: and the guy would just light one off the other
Speaker 1: as it was going out, and he would run scenes
Speaker 1: with me over and over. I was a naive, inexperienced actor,
Speaker 1: and he was investing so much time in me, so
Speaker 1: I'd buy the this cat's cigarettes how a light in
Speaker 1: court for the guy. He was given me film school
Speaker 1: one oh one in three months, and I was getting
Speaker 1: four years of an education, right. But he used to
Speaker 1: tell me about how it used to be. How freddy
Speaker 1: are He said, Uh, do you and your acting class,
Speaker 1: you know, you get together? You do this? Do you
Speaker 1: do that? It was always like a family for me
Speaker 1: and and Nick and John. He's talking about these legends
Speaker 1: and I had to look him in the face and
Speaker 1: just be like, nah, man, it's it's not like that.
Speaker 1: It's cutthroat and everybody's ready to kill each other for
Speaker 1: a job. And he looked so disappointed. I never saw
Speaker 1: him long for the past. He was a life through
Speaker 1: the windshield guy, at least that's what he tried to
Speaker 1: impart on me. Always look forward, Freddie, always look forward.
Speaker 1: And so when I see that in the wrestling world,
Speaker 1: and I've met so many cool cats, man, so many
Speaker 1: of you are awesome. And for the ones that talk
Speaker 1: trash for real, thank you like that motivates me way
Speaker 1: more than people say. And you can do it like
Speaker 1: I would have much rather say some have someone say
Speaker 1: you suck. That will never happen that way. When it does,
Speaker 1: you just have to sit in that like it's there
Speaker 1: every week on TV, and you have to know that
Speaker 1: everything you said was dead wrong. That to me has
Speaker 1: always been way more fun for both parties, I think,
Speaker 1: because then at least you're getting to watch more wrestling.
Speaker 1: So thank you that said, I'm not hiring anyone yet.
Speaker 1: I'm not hiring anyone yet. So if your friends ask
Speaker 1: you if this story is true, you tell him yes,
Speaker 1: and then you send them the link to this episode
Speaker 1: so that you don't have to have the thirty minute
Speaker 1: thirty minute explanation as to win. So plan on having
Speaker 1: this thing up and running in eighteen months. That's my plan.
Speaker 1: There's a way for me to get it done sooner,
Speaker 1: but it requires me going to Australia for three months
Speaker 1: and leaving my family. So I'm not a big fan
Speaker 1: of of of doing that, um, regardless of of how
Speaker 1: kind and respectful the studio is, unless I was in
Speaker 1: a position where I had to. I love being a
Speaker 1: dad it's the reason I walked away from the business
Speaker 1: in the first place. However, there are moments where I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know what they could come for the summer. You know,
Speaker 1: we could get it done and then I can get
Speaker 1: these cats in the ring. So my goal. I don't
Speaker 1: know how long I want the show to be yet.
Speaker 1: I think I want a two hour show at least
Speaker 1: in the beginning. I doubt I'll have a TV contract
Speaker 1: right away. It's very difficult to maintain ownership and get
Speaker 1: a TV deal in the beginning like that, if you're established,
Speaker 1: they can come in and license you or by a
Speaker 1: portion of you, but you'll still be in control. So
Speaker 1: if I started off as live shows and I film it.
Speaker 1: By the way, if you want to know if I'm serious,
Speaker 1: I already purchased a used like kit that was an
Speaker 1: arena kit used even used these mugs is expensive, but
Speaker 1: I want this to look legit. So it's literally sitting
Speaker 1: in my storage unit because my man was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: this dude selling it at a really good price if
Speaker 1: you want to get in on this. So I did.
Speaker 1: I think I want to start it as a two
Speaker 1: hour show. I wanted my storylines based in reality. I
Speaker 1: want to give the women and the men equal time
Speaker 1: on the roster, and then the goal is to bring
Speaker 1: the show to television. And I mentioned this on Arials podcast,
Speaker 1: but it's important to me, so I'm gonna say it again.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to be a SAG show, And what
Speaker 1: that means is I wanted to be a union show,
Speaker 1: which would mean each and every single one of my
Speaker 1: wrestlers would be a member of the Screen Actors Guild
Speaker 1: and be entitled to all of UH insurance and medical
Speaker 1: benefits and retirement plans that that entails. Now, I will
Speaker 1: say this, the Screen Actors Guild is not the best union,
Speaker 1: all right. There's a reason every c b A they
Speaker 1: lose more and more. Actors should not be in charge
Speaker 1: of their own union. Most actors are far too sensitive
Speaker 1: to be able to negotiate, or to even be able
Speaker 1: to hire an insensitive lawyer that's willing to be cut throat. Producers,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, don't seem to have that issue.
Speaker 1: So although I love my man do let Hill and
Speaker 1: his representation, I've been asked to run many a time,
Speaker 1: and I don't think that would go well. It would
Speaker 1: turn into a TLC match very quickly. Um, but I'll
Speaker 1: always vote for Mr Hill, even though you talk trash
Speaker 1: on me about on Monday and I raw that was
Speaker 1: cold blooded. But anyway, so the goal is to get
Speaker 1: them all unionized, right, which is a big deal, which
Speaker 1: is something I I would support all wrestlers to go after.
Speaker 1: It won't happen under Vince's rule, but I believe when
Speaker 1: the w w E cells, that should be very first
Speaker 1: thing that every single wrestler should have on the forefront
Speaker 1: of their of their goal list is unionized day one.
Speaker 1: That it should be a walkout the day, the day
Speaker 1: they sell the company, the day they sell it to
Speaker 1: whoever new ownership is. Every wrestler should be like, good luck.
Speaker 1: We want unionization. And I'm telling you right now. And
Speaker 1: the only reason I'm saying this is because I had
Speaker 1: a conversation back in the day and I know it
Speaker 1: to be true. Now I don't know if it would
Speaker 1: still be in effect, but I'll tell you the conversation
Speaker 1: I had, um rest in peace. Bernie Martin. He was
Speaker 1: a United States Marine and he was a local I
Speaker 1: don't remember which which part of the Teamsters union he
Speaker 1: uh he repped, but he was a Teamster and he
Speaker 1: was my driver, my wife's driver, a bunch brother actors
Speaker 1: that he was just the best, one of the best
Speaker 1: men I knew. And I was talking to him one
Speaker 1: night about professional wrestling, and uh, he asked if they
Speaker 1: were unionized. Then I said no. He said, I want
Speaker 1: to introduce your buddy of my named John. I didn't
Speaker 1: know John was the head of the Teamsters union at
Speaker 1: the time. Um, he may still be. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he's alive. This is a very long time, over
Speaker 1: a decade ago. And uh, he said, you should talk
Speaker 1: to some of the wrestlers there and let them know
Speaker 1: that if they did have interest in unionizing, Teamsters would
Speaker 1: support that and absorb them bring them in, which would
Speaker 1: be insane. Now that's good for the teamsters, right, because
Speaker 1: they get more union dudes, and it's a group of
Speaker 1: workers that would never compete for any job that a
Speaker 1: teamster has, so there's no risk for the teamsters. It's
Speaker 1: all reward. The wrestler's reward is the benefits of insurance, health, medical,
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, so they don't have to be
Speaker 1: self insured anymore. Right, And then they also get power
Speaker 1: in negotiation. A teamster lawyer does not have time, nor
Speaker 1: are they impressed by any executive anywhere, any suit on
Speaker 1: the planet, like they just not have name. So the
Speaker 1: wrestlers I talked to all told me the same thing.
Speaker 1: That's never gonna happen. I said, why, They said, because
Speaker 1: Triple hs wouldn't go for it, and uh and they're right.
Speaker 1: And literally that's what every single wrestler said. So that's
Speaker 1: why I think when the sale comes and then it
Speaker 1: literally is someone else's property, that's when wrestlers need to
Speaker 1: be like, hey, let's start thinking about our future and union.
Speaker 1: So I hope you guys do, but if you don't,
Speaker 1: this could maybe be a model one day, you know, three,
Speaker 1: four or five years, six years from now where they go,
Speaker 1: holy crap, these efforts are actually pulled that off. Man,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. So that's I mean, that's the big of it.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm legit. I got a I got an email
Speaker 1: on Monday, yesterday. This is a Tuesday, we're recording on Monday.
Speaker 1: I got an email with three listings that I was
Speaker 1: already one. Two of them were nonsense, but one of
Speaker 1: them actually looked pretty good. It was a no at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, but it actually looked pretty good.
Speaker 1: So I'm looking in different parts of town. I don't
Speaker 1: have a name yet. It's not gonna be the Federation's
Speaker 1: I want it to be reality based. I'd call it
Speaker 1: West Coast Wrestling, but there's already a w c W,
Speaker 1: so I can't do that. But I'll figure something out.
Speaker 1: I'm down to hear your thoughts. If you guys can
Speaker 1: come up with a cool name, then uh then yeah,
Speaker 1: of course I say that, and then in the Instagram
Speaker 1: post that everybody like cool Scooby Scooby Dooby Wrestling. No,
Speaker 1: I want it based in reality. So while you may
Speaker 1: think that witty joke is a good joke, I would
Speaker 1: remind you that Ricky Gervais said wit is the lowest
Speaker 1: form of human um. So bite your tongue or break
Speaker 1: your finger before you crack that joke. Now even more
Speaker 1: people do it. Um. But yeah, serious for real though,
Speaker 1: if you think you have a cool name for it,
Speaker 1: I'll give you credit. I might even give you a
Speaker 1: couple of bucks for it. You can what you claim
Speaker 1: the domain name and hold it hostage shroke from me. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, So that's that's the goal. I want women's
Speaker 1: and men's wrestling. I want the storyline is based in reality.
Speaker 1: I want my wrestlers to be unionized performers, and yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I just want to make good wrestling. I don't. I don't.
Speaker 1: It's not a dream, it's a plan and it will
Speaker 1: be a reality. My only thing is how quickly can
Speaker 1: I pull it off and at what sacrifice. I've said
Speaker 1: this before. Wrestling requires a hundred percent of you to
Speaker 1: do it right, regardless of what side of the camera
Speaker 1: you're on. It's one of the reasons I wouldn't go
Speaker 1: back to w w WE. I couldn't give him a
Speaker 1: hundred percent. Can't travel all over. But if I had
Speaker 1: a local show in Los Angeles in an office that
Speaker 1: I could go to every day, and I would have
Speaker 1: a booker because I cannot book to save my life.
Speaker 1: I can, but I can really write, and I can
Speaker 1: connect with people, and I can pull good performances out
Speaker 1: of people when their bosses didn't think that performance was
Speaker 1: within them before. I know I can do that because
Speaker 1: I've seen it happen. I know what my strengths are.
Speaker 1: Damn well, know what I suck at. I was told
Speaker 1: that I suck at enough, So yeah, so that's that's
Speaker 1: the plan. I hope you guys support it. I hope
Speaker 1: you dig it. If you don't, you can be just
Speaker 1: as vocal because, like I said, that stuff motivates me too.
Speaker 1: I want to make you eat it, even if you
Speaker 1: don't want to admit it. Later on you can go silent.
Speaker 1: It's just as satisfying and seeing you go hey man,
Speaker 1: right on, I was wrong, you pulled that off. So
Speaker 1: so yeah. So that's that's the episode today. No past,
Speaker 1: no no present, only the future. And I think the
Speaker 1: future for wrestling is bright. I think this is a
Speaker 1: about to be a huge rebirth for wrestling once this,
Speaker 1: especially once the sale goes through and they will find
Speaker 1: a buyer for it and they will sell the company,
Speaker 1: And once that happens, I think wrestling is really going
Speaker 1: to explode and just take on a whole new life.
Speaker 1: And I hope it goes back more old school because
Speaker 1: art usually go moves in cycles, right in a circle,
Speaker 1: and it's constantly evolving, but eventually it has to get
Speaker 1: back to an idea that existed before that that inspires
Speaker 1: a new move. It happens with painting, with movies, with fashion,
Speaker 1: with sculpture, it happens with comedy. It happens with wrestling too.
Speaker 1: So that's today's episode. I appreciate you guys listening. I'll
Speaker 1: be back next week with a brand new episode. Until
Speaker 1: then on behalf of myself my awesome producer Alexis. But
Speaker 1: thank you for listening. We'll see you next week. Right here,
Speaker 1: I'm wrestling with Fredday Peece. This has been a production
Speaker 1: of I Hearts Michael to podcast Network. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: H m hm