WEBVTT - Teaching Pro Wrestlers How to Act 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:08.760 Hello, everybody, Welcome back to w WF Wrestling with Freddy 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:13.280 and uh. I teased a big episode last week. This 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:16.400 is I'm really excited to share these stories with you. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.360 One of them is gonna make you laugh. One of 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.280 them is gonna rip your heart right out of your chest, 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.800 throw it into pieces, and then it's gonna put an 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.520 arm around you and it's gonna say, don't worry. We're 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.280 gonna take that heart, we're gonna patch it up, we're 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:33.040 gonna put it right back in there, and you're gonna 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.280 be feeling good, I promise you. And then I'm gonna 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:39.159 tell you a crazy story that I've teased that I 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.720 like to call the ice Storm. This is gonna be 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.000 a long one. We're probably gonna chop it into two. 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.440 So if you want to wait an extra week and benjam, 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.040 but if you can't wait, I promise there's some good stories. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:52.920 And that is what they call a much better tease 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.480 than last week's tease. So let's start the show. Welcome 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.760 to Wrestling with Freddy, now stuffing up for the mic. 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:06.119 The Hope of Wrestling with Freddie Freddie Prince June. Yeah, 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:10.840 all right, you guys, So I kind of told you 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:13.440 how the promo class started and it was a total fail. 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.920 And uh. I was at work at Tightened Tower the 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.319 next week and I went to talk to Jimmy and 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.759 this was Vince's guy. You've heard me mentioned him before. 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.800 I'm pretty sure he was in the army, real serious, 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.440 just to the point, no nonsense, and you know he 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:32.960 has Vince's back no matter what. Like if Vince was like, yo, man, 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.240 you gotta take that dude Freddie out, I would That 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:37.080 would would have been a rap and we would not 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:41.840 be making this podcast. So I talked to Jimmy. I said, hey, man, uh, 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.920 they put me in a room closet and I don't know, 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.560 I'll do it if that's like dudes, I have to pay. 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.480 And he's like, no, they shouldn't have done that. He goes, 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.160 I'll take care of it, and the dude did so. 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.880 The next Monday it was a raw. I show up 0:01:56.080 --> 0:02:00.240 and they have like the producers meeting is done and 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:04.120 John Laura IDAs brings all the talent in and brings 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.400 me in and he's standing in front of him and 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:10.040 he's like six five and always wearing his suit and 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:11.880 his hair is always like col him and he's like 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.560 looks very corporate, right. He used to be a pro wrestler. 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.080 For those of you don't know, I think the Dynamic 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:21.120 Dude was his name. So he says, all right, everybody, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.839 all right, quiet down, and everybody quiets down. And that's 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:29.280 the whole roster in there. There's probably sixties maybe seventy 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.960 deep then, I mean it was the room was full. 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.000 And uh, he says, as you know, I always provide 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.520 you guys the proper tools you need. And right away 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:40.760 I step and I go, yo, man, don't don't call 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.280 me a tool. And that kind of made the wrestlers 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.440 pop a little and broke some of the why the 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.560 hell is Freddy Friends Jr. Standing next to Johnny Ayson 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.399 and he's what is going on right now? And he says, uh, 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.280 we brought Freddy in and he's gonna write for a 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.360 lot of you, and he's gonna teach you guys a 0:02:57.360 --> 0:02:59.919 lot about your promos and your acting. Isn't that right, Freddy? 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.080 And uh, it may not have been the best introduction 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.600 that I've ever received, but it was an introduction. So, uh, 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.280 I stood there in front of everybody. I wasn't prepared 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:11.679 for this. They didn't tell me it was going to 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.000 happen right then, and I just kind of explained what 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:17.160 promo class was going to be. And I said, when 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.480 I moved back to Los Angeles, I started at this 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.160 acting class called the Shop and it was these two, 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:25.799 uh these two acting coaches that worked together named John 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.800 Holma and Andrew mcgarrian, and our roster there was deep 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:34.320 with talent. We had everyone from my wife to Kirsten Dunns, 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.800 to Jennifer love Hewitt, Tina major Reno back in the day. 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.240 I think Christina Ricci was in there like it was. 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.240 We had a deep, deep roster. And uh so I'm 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.400 breaking down what we did in acting class, and I 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.480 talked about scenes study, how we're gonna break scenes down 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.440 over a four week period, helped them start to develop, 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.080 you know, memorization skills so they can learn things a 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.120 lot quicker, a lot easier because I know you guys 0:03:57.160 --> 0:03:59.760 worked last minute, I said. And we're also gonna do 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.240 some techniques that are just gonna help sharpen your skills 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:04.960 in there, especially in case you do forget your lines. 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.040 I want you to have an ability to improv and 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:12.240 know where to go. And uh, I think, uh, when, 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.320 oh when John said tool, and I said, don't call 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.120 me in tool. I think Candice Michelle was her name. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.400 She goes, she goes, well, you know how I like 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.480 to work my tools, and so I'm just like, oh lord, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:25.960 this is how we're starting this off in front of 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.360 seventy people. She said that and they all laughed, right, 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.919 so I have to like blush. Um. So anyway, I 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.680 explain it, and uh, I say, we'll be starting every 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.800 day right after the production meeting. Eventually I got to 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.919 uh make it a little earlier. I convinced him I 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.560 needed more time, and that got me out of some 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.840 production meetings, which, as I've let you know, those production 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:51.080 meetings were hell. So that was the real hell in 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.240 the cell was being a writer in those damn rooms, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.040 by the way. So anyway, uh, we start the first 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.000 one and it's now this is the official one, right, 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.039 and it's pretty it's pretty deep. I'd say about maybe 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:06.120 sixteen seventeen wrestlers showed up, all young gunners right like 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:12.200 MS and Morrison, Uh Natty night heart. Um, I'll just 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:14.159 a lot of the young bucks were there. I think 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.760 Daniel Bryan was or Bryan Danielson was there, Shamus was 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.520 there all like the people who you know now, but 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.440 they were they were young gunners then, and uh I 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.520 start talking to him, and I can see like the 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.840 sus and rightfully so the suspicion in some of their 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:36.719 faces is to like, why I'm here, what my motives are? Like? 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:39.359 What the hell are you gonna teach me about acting? 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.320 Like all this kind of just toughness in their faces. 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:47.159 And uh, I start off with I said, listen, I 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:49.680 may not be I think. I said, I may not 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.880 be Robert Downey Jr. But Robert Downey Jr. Didn't give 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.839 a shit about y'all, and I do. So I'm gonna 0:05:55.880 --> 0:06:00.440 teach you everything I know and everything I believe other 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:04.640 actors use as their techniques because I've I've worked with 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.200 some of the greats like Peter Falk and just people 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.800 Brian Denny, he people who really have a strong technique 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.839 as far as building a character behind the lines. And 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.320 I asked a ton of questions until I annoyed these 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.320 these sons of bitches, But I always would ask and 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.800 they would always uh give me everything they could. So 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.359 that softened some people up, but not everyone. And I 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.440 start talking to him about this acting exercise for my 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:35.880 acting class called repetition, and repetition is basically it's a 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.400 game with one rule. You're locked in to whatever the 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:41.680 other person says. So if you and I are going 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.400 to go back and forth, just a silly example, I'd say, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.880 you're listening to my podcast. You're locked into that. You 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.880 can you can personalize it or not, but but you're 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:53.560 locked into that. So I would say you're listening to 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.479 my podcast, and you'd respond, I'm listening to your podcast. 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.520 And then i'd respond, you're listening to my podcast, and 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.800 you'd fun, i'm listening to your podcast because this is 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:04.919 getting old. So you have a low attitude on your voice, 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:07.160 and then I smile, oh, yeah, you're listening to my 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.680 podcast and that's making me feel good. And you're like, yo, 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.520 what is Freddy, I'm listening to your podcast. And it 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.960 goes back and forth until someone can't take it anymore 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:17.840 and they have to change the words of the sentence, 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:19.640 and then you get a point. First to three points, 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:21.880 you win, or in this case, we just did first 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.040 one to change it loses. So I offer all this 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.640 up and uh, I say, now I need a volunteer. 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.120 But if no one volunteers, I'm gonna choose someone. But 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:34.680 before I can say I'm gonna choose someone, MS just 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.640 stands up. And if you don't know who the miss is, 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.840 if you, if you, if you're listening just to hear 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:42.960 the crazy stories that I'm telling, and you're not a 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.680 wrestling fan. You may have seen his show on USA 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.200 called MS and Mrs or promos for it. Um you 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:53.440 may remember him from the old school uh MTV like 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.760 Reality Show Days, or you may have seen him on 0:07:55.840 --> 0:08:00.000 Dancing with the Stars as Mike the mss mssan in UM. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:05.559 So to understand them is and I don't mean to 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:07.560 take us on a side quest, but I like video 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:11.560 games and side quests are fun. To understand them is 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.080 you have to understand how this business views reality TV. 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:23.680 And it's not fair. But it goes film, television, professional wrestling, 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.240 and then reality TV is below that, like reality TV 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.200 is nothing more than a cash grab. It's all show 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.960 business and we all know which words bigger. But the 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.440 reality shows the cheapest show to make. You don't have 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.800 to pay the talent anything, and you can make a 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.640 fortune off of it. But they don't respect wrestling, but 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:45.440 they respect reality shows even less. A good comparison would 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.200 be the comedy version of THEO Van who everybody loves now. 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:54.360 But when THEO Van who's selling out arena's nationwide, started 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.000 out in comedy, he was a guy from real world 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.960 road rules and every comedian hated him and no one 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.960 would help him. People would steal his steal his time 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.439 slot just so he wouldn't go on because they didn't 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.640 want this guy who basically they look at it as 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.679 like you got a lottery ticket, you didn't earn it. 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:14.920 Now they are a handful of comics, a very small 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.400 handful who looked after THEO. One of them is I 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:19.400 know this story because one of them is my best friend, 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.240 Josh wolfe Um, who said, you know, hey, man, I'm 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:24.200 happy to give you advice because he doesn't really care 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.000 what other people think. Josh is just a different cat. 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:41.320 So eventually THEO was so damn good that he earned 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:45.480 everyone's respect. And now the dudes on the Joe Rogan 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.360 podcast and every other show and people love him, and 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:50.480 TVs are trying to give him deals so he can 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.600 make a show because his style is so unique. So 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:58.280 MMS came up on the reality show circuit and said, 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:01.360 as a grown man, I want to be a w 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:05.080 w E superstar, and that was a take. Again, it's 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.320 not wrestling is not as respected as I wish it 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:11.840 was in this business. So he was made almost a 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.000 joke on that show. Now all of a sudden, he 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:17.480 gets a chance to be a pro wrestler, and a 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.360 lot of these wrestlers are looking at him the same 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.600 way those comics looked at THEO, like, you're here because 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:25.800 you got famous on a reality show. You're not here 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.720 because you earned it. So the chip and I don't 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:30.800 know this for a fact, This is just me applying 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:35.240 my life experience to these situations. But the chip on 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:40.200 on Mrs shoulder, which is no longer there, was as 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.200 big as a house. Okay, you couldn't you couldn't miss it. 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.840 And he stood up before I could complete the sentence. 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.680 And I respect the hell out of his but he 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:50.400 did not like me when we were there, and he 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:52.840 and I aren't like buddies now, we don't like even 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.400 wish each other Merry Christmas or anything like that, but 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.120 we respected each other very much. And so he gets 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.280 up and I say, so you remember the you know 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:02.640 the rules, and he goes, yeah, I got it. I 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:06.000 got it. It's just so like dismissive with me right, 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:07.560 And I go all right, do you want me to 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.199 start for you? And he goes no, no, no no, no, 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.200 I'm ready, I'll start. I'm like, oh, and now I 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:14.960 get my eyes go wide right. It's like a wolf 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.839 seeing a rabbit with a limp, because this is in 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.800 his world, no matter how good he can do. I've 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.880 been humiliated in this exercise a million times in front 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.800 of all my peers, and I know how that pressure 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:30.920 builds by the time you have to repeat the same 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.280 sentence four times. And he hasn't felt this. But the 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:38.600 dude is fearless and he does not care what obstacle 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.000 you put in front of him, and what you say 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.640 he can't do, he will do it and he will 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.160 put it in your face. And I love this dude 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.679 so much for this. So he goes no, no, no, 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:50.679 I'll start, and I go all right, man, go ahead, 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.160 and uh, excuse me. If you hear me, curse now. 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.079 But if you don't want to hear me, curse, just 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.400 you know, mute this part. But he says, what the 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:03.840 fuck are you gonna teach me about acting? And I again, 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.320 my eyes just like the whitest they've ever been in 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:08.880 my life. And I go, what the funk? Am I 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:12.400 gonna teach you about acting? And he goes, what the 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:16.680 And we go back and forth and eventually he breaks 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.240 because he can't take it. It's he goes about six 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:21.720 rounds deep with me, which is good. I mean that's 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.280 the normal amount of pressure. And then he had to 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:26.400 change the sentence and I pointed at him and I 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:28.640 was like, oh I Everyone was like, oh, you lost, 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:32.920 you lost. And he sat down and then other people started. Uh. 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.640 Other people started getting up after that and taking a 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.160 shot without me being there. Now they kind of saw 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.199 it happen, so they were starting to go on each other. 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.680 And I had to tell them when it was just them, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.640 I said, now, listen, when we did this class when 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.360 I was a young buck, you know, like one years 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.160 old and uh doing this and it's you know, it's 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.800 a bunch of pretty people in an acting class and 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.400 this exercise. And I'm telling them this as candidly as 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.400 I'm telling you guys now, I said, you know this 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.760 exercise inherently when it's a boy and a girl, they 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.240 step closer and closer to one another and it gets 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.560 sexier and sexier every time, especially if both people are single. 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.360 It just happens. It's the nature of the beast. I've 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.600 seen it a thousand times to to not know for 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:16.920 a fact this is true. And I said, when it's 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.240 two men, it gets closer and closer, but it almost 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.240 always turns into a fight. And I said, and when 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.240 it's two women, y'all usually keep it civil and clean. 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.040 I said, So here are the rules. Y'all ain't allowed 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.720 to make out and you're not allowed to hit each other, 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:36.400 I said, but everything else is a go. So they 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.520 start doing their thing, and the repetition starts going well, 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.320 and when we finish it's about an hour. I explained 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.240 to them what I want them to do well. First, 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.280 I explained to them what I feel the benefits of 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.880 the exercise are, and the first as two fold. The 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:54.160 first being there's a million different ways to cut a line, honestly, 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.560 so long as you commit to it and have a 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:01.120 thought behind the line. The only long way to execute 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.120 a line on camera is to not believe it, to 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.120 not commit, and to be embarrassed or scared to fail, 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.080 which leads us to the second benefit of the exercise, 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.920 a fearlessness to fail. If you're willing to fail in 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.800 front of your peers, the people that you're working with 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.560 and unfortunately competing with, because that's how this business does artists, 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.640 then you're gonna be more willing to fail out on 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.120 the big show because you've already done it. You got 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.760 back up, your career wasn't over, and you're getting another opportunity. 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.360 Another promise that I made to every single wrestler that 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:36.720 walked into that room was I would never film a 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.160 single session, and that nobody in the like the brass, 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.200 none of the agents, nobody would ever see anything they 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:45.840 ever did because they were nervous if they did something 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.400 and it wasn't good, that that would get them buried. 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.400 And that was a very legitimate concern because I've seen 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.520 people get buried at that company for far less. Um. 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.080 They could just have a bad promo and FCW and 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.720 it's nothing to do with them. It was just written poorly, 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.760 or they are a person who needs a writer. Um, 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.800 But they were done and didn't get a shot for 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:08.800 like another two or three years, you know what I mean. 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.120 So so I understood that fear, and I made that 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:13.720 promise and I kept it the whole time. I did 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.600 tell them any time I saw something special. I had 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.760 promised Vince that I would report that directly to him 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:21.160 if there was somebody that I thought, because I just 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:23.760 wanted all cards on the table so everybody knew what 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:27.200 time it was and uh, and everybody knew what what 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:32.280 what was going on. So as the promo classes began 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.480 to kind of take shape, I had sort of my 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:40.520 regular ten, and then there'd be about I don't know, 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:45.960 eight to twelve, sometimes less, just depending on on travel 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.000 and things like that and what time they were going 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.320 to be able to get there. But we were doing 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.800 this every single week, and a lot of people who 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:59.640 weren't getting camera time, I felt deserved camera time. Eve Torres, 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.760 who's now Eve Torres Gracie. She was a former Divas Champion. 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:09.240 She knew how to act. I could just tell, and 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:11.680 so I gave her. I wanted everyone to do a monologue, 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:15.280 which they call a promo, and it's just a paragraph 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.800 or two where no one else is speaking. You're communicating 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.160 a message to your either to the person you're speaking 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.680 to or to the audience. And I gave her this 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.880 speech from Beautiful Girls that Rosie O'donald cut, which just 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.880 talks total trash on beautiful girls and how their life 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.480 is so much easier and they can fail more in 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.880 all this and the classes over and Eve comes up 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.840 to me and she says, Freddy, I I can't do this. 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:42.960 And I said, what do you mean why not? She 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:47.520 goes she's talking about me. I said, yeah, that's the 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.320 perfect reason why this is gonna be. I want to 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.040 see if you can handle this. I want to see 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.600 if you can do this. And so they got three 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.480 weeks to kind of work on it, perform it. I 0:16:57.480 --> 0:16:59.880 would give notes things like that, and in the fourth 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.560 week I expected them off book and uh and ready 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.440 to kick ass. So on the fourth week she comes 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:11.720 in and she cuts this promo and she straight like 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:16.120 breaks down, like full on like tears, and it's everyone 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.240 in there. She finishes, okay, and everyone in there we 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.520 would always clap when someone was done. Do you want 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.879 to build their egos up? I don't want to break 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.240 them down. That's the w w E philosophy that I 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.200 do not agree with. Break them down to build them 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.119 up in your image. That's a heavy fingerprint, and heavy 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:38.840 fingerprints are usually dictated by ego, not by imagination. Light 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:43.479 fingerprints or imagination. That's why Van Gogh's paintings look so awesome. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:58.560 So anyway, she breaks down and no one claps, including me, 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.560 and she's sitting there in tears, right, and in tears, 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.959 and about three seconds go by, four seconds go by, 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.359 and then like all the wrestlers, not all of them, 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.640 but like four or five wrestlers get up and they 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.160 all go to her and it's just, oh my god, 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:16.080 that was and they're hugging her and like holding her up. 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.120 That was amazing. Oh my god, that was so good. 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.399 Oh my god, yea great. And I'm sitting there like, yo, 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.879 do the wrestler just moved me, like what just what 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.879 just happened? And it was like one of the first 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:34.520 like real moments that I saw with talent there that 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:36.679 that just kind of like it just sort of messed 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.440 with my head, right. So I talked to Vince about this, 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.480 and I say, yo, man, Eve is like doing next 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.119 level stuff up there where I'm wanting to tell her, 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:48.760 you know, you need to get out this business in 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.159 audition for like TV shows and movies. You could have 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.840 been wonder woman. So she should have been a great 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:59.119 wonder woman. So he's like he just gives you that grunt, right, 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.359 which means I'll think about it if I get around 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:06.360 to it. And it sounds like this, that's it. It's 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.399 not just that means like, I don't want to hear 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.639 this crap anymore. But if you get the triple, he's like, yeah, whatever. 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:16.560 So a few weeks go by and Uh, all of 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:20.800 a sudden, I hear that he's gonna be the general 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:26.280 manager of Monday and Iraw. And in this instance, the 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:30.119 storyline died. It came around I think a year and 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:34.040 a half later, but they had this great idea on 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.399 how she was going to become the general manager, and 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:39.840 it was her just being in the right place at 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:44.240 the right time, and the current general manager was making 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.840 a fool of themselves and she comes in with a 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.040 solution instead of a problem. And that's what Vince likes. 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.679 He's solution oriented. Now, granted his philosophy as Reaganomics. He 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.480 fixed his problems with money. But Eve was coming in 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.880 and fixing a problem with an idea, and it got 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:05.240 all the way to TV and then uh, Pritchard said, 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:07.560 there was a lot of talk in this episode and 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.280 it got killed. Um, but it came around later and 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:13.440 she did a great job with it. Anyway, that's the 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.920 Monday night Raw. We go to SmackDown on Tuesday and 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:20.040 Johnny makes the same speech, but this time doesn't call 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.879 me a tool, which is great. And I start to 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.280 work with the SmackDown group, and this is when I 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:33.359 meet Natalia Nightheart and Natty. To know her is to 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.159 love her. You just you can't help it. There's nothing 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:43.240 evil insider. She's too nice to her own detriment. She's 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:47.680 too good for her own detriment. And her and I 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.879 I've seen her. She had some tears. I was I 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:53.760 was a shoulder that her, that her head was on. 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:59.800 I mean, you gotta understand this woman. When she was 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.600 like her most over was when the women's division was 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:08.800 beyond afterthought. Okay it was. They received five minute matches, 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:12.439 and two minutes of it was their damn intro. So 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.360 they get three minutes to tell a match, and her 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:19.439 finisher is a damned submission that she only gets to 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.520 apply for about twenty seconds, and you can't tell a 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:24.960 story of how much pain the other her opponents in 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:27.879 because then they'd only have like sixty seconds left in 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:31.840 the match, So it limited anyone with a submission hold, 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:33.720 which is why very few of them did it, and 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:37.440 when they did, it wasn't traumatic because they got no time. Right. 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.720 So this is what all these women were going through 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:47.120 when I was there, and my relationship with Natty lad 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.199