WEBVTT - I’m a Writer for the WWE 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:08.600 Hi, Welcome back to Wrestling with Freddie. I am your host, 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:12.879 Freddie Prinz, Jr. And this is a podcast that takes 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.360 you guys back to my time when I was a 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:19.480 writer at w w E. I worked there at two 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:22.639 separate occasions for a total of a little over a 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.680 year of a combined time, and I share a bunch 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.880 of stories and how those stories sort of shape my 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.360 perspective on the business. So hopefully I give you guys 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.000 a bit of perspective on that as well. But um, 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.440 it's mainly just stories. I'm not trying to preach to 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:38.720 y'all or teach you guys how to start a wrestling brand. 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.239 But today we're gonna talk about the writing process, the 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.320 creative process, the booking process, which I was really terrible 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.960 at and still am, and some stories to kind of 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:51.199 help you guys see what it was like when I 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:57.040 was working there under Michael ps Pierce, Sexy Hayes, Vince McMahon, 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.120 and Bruce Pritchard's going to get a shout out in 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.040 in this week's episode because he was sort of my 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.400 first mentor backstage. So enjoy the episode. And here we go, 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:11.480 now stuffing up for the mic of wrestling with Freddie 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:17.360 Freddie Prince June. Yeah, I'm in New York City. You 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.919 may hear me from time to time. Mentioned another writer 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.440 who was hired the exact same day I was, and 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:25.760 I call him Low Faz, So if you ever hear me, 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:28.320 say Low Fas or low that's the That's a writer 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.880 who I really kind of linked and bonded with, and 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.200 he worked there another ten years after I left. I'm 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.120 in New York City. I'm living in Manhattan. M My 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:38.920 wife and I had an apartment in downtown New York 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:40.960 and it was super quiet down there at night because 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.360 it was the business district. I love New York when 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.080 it's quiet, so weekends when everyone gets out of the city, 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.480 or living downtown at night because everything closes was perfect 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:51.680 for me. It also happened to be the same building 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:53.920 that Shane McMahon lived in. Kind of all worked out 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:55.760 and he drove me. I wasn't even tell the story, 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.080 but he drove me home one night from White Plains, 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.880 New York, which is where they housed the w W 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:05.560 E jet, which was black with the red WW on it, 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:07.040 and I got to fly on it all the time. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.240 But we were he was on the flight. This time 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:11.480 he had just sold his shares of like I think, 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.800 like a Chinese cable broadcast network or something, and he 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.239 had just come back to the family and he was 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:19.440 on this first flight with us, and we landed and 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.920 he was like, hey, Freddie, we're in the same building. Man, 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:23.760 I'll drive you home. And he had this like I 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.040 think it was like fifty six Mercury coupe that was 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:31.120 chopped and just had a monster sleeper engined under the hood. 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.320 And uh, it was me, him and the head writer 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:36.760 of Raw, Brian Gowertz, who was sitting in the back. 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.320 And Shane hit the highway and he must have had 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:44.480 this thing going a hundred thirty five forty miles down 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:46.960 the straight away. And I like going fast. I just 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:51.400 I just do. But Brian Gowerts does not. And I 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.160 look back and the look of sheer terror on this 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.840 man's face as he's looking for a seatbelt that's better 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.160 than just the waist wrap, which is all that's in 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.200 the fifty six coupe in the back seat, and the 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.240 sheer look of joy on Shane's face from causing such 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:13.959 terror to Brian was amazing. But that's not today's stories. Uh, 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.519 today I get to work. On the first day, I 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.320 took the train there. I took it with this other writer, Angelo, 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.320 and we hopped a cab. They didn't have like a 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.000 shuttle or anything like that, even though it was a 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.680 very corporate feel when you were in the offices. When 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.480 you're on the road, it's a circus, but it was 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.160 very corporate at the office. So we take a cab 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:38.000 to work, show my fancy badge that lets you in. Uh, 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.040 there's security out front, and you know, like, oh, good morning, 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.520 Freddy and h good morning. And I go up to 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:45.440 I think what was the third floor, and that was 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:49.480 the creative the creative floor, and so I walk in 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:55.280 and uh, I'm talking to Michael ps Hayes, who used 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.480 to be a professional wrestler. For those of you don't know, 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.160 he was a part of the Fabulous Freebirds and he 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:04.240 was really, really, really good on the microphone. And they 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.440 put him in the this position as head of creative 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.760 for SmackDown. And Michael had just been in some trouble 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:13.800 in the company and uh, he had just got sober. 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.400 So everyone told me how nice Michael was. But at 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:19.600 the end of the day he didn't have time for it. 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.000 So he his patients would wear it thin with the 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.480 redding staff, is what I was told. So I go 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.039 in nice and early, um, and I go into Michael's 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.800 office and he goes, hey, well, nice to meet you. 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.320 All right, all right, he's got this like he lives it, right, 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.720 he walks it. He shows me this photo of his 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:39.880 lady who got a tattoo of him on on his 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.000 on her leg and and this I just met the guy. 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.680 And he's like, look, someone sent me this. Like, oh, 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.960 that's kind of creeping. He goes, isn't it. And so 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:50.680 so he's telling me what I have to do, and 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:54.520 he's talking to me about basically, we work backwards, is 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.560 what he says. He says, Vince gonna give you the 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.280 pay per view who he wants to work it, and 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.360 then you have to build the story that's gonna get 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:06.040 us to that match, whether it be three weeks in 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.839 between pay per views, a month, five weeks, six weeks, whatever. 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.560 We're not doing as many as we used to do, 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.280 so you get a little more time. I go, all right, yeah, 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.600 I can do that, and he goes, Now, today's assignment, 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.400 everybody's gonna go out there. I need you to build 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:21.719 me three weeks a TV on SmackDown and show me 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.400 who's gonna wrestle and give me a reason why, and 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:29.440 give me options. Freddie options is a w options. They say, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:31.239 all right, how many do you need? And he goes, well, 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.000 the first two you do are gonna get shipped on 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:36.479 just because you're new. The third one will be the 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:38.760 one we take to TV, but at production day it 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:41.440 will be about forty people who all crap all over 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.640 it and rip it to shreds. So your fifth one 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:45.240 is gonna be the one that makes the show. So 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.800 make sure you don't put that one in first. And 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.280 I'm like, yeah, that sounds like a regular TV show. 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.200 Like the first draft of your television scripts are never 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.159 the best one because the network's gonna give you horrible notes, 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:58.080 and you don't want to get horrible notes on your 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.800 best stuff. You save those. See you write kind of 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.520 a Vanila generic script, and then when they give their 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:05.600 god awful notes, you just give them the one you 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.719 wanted to write, and you say, hey, those notes were great, 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.400 and all they wanted was an ego stroke anyway, So 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:15.280 you of the executives don't even read the rewrite um 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:18.360 of them. If you say hey, that was a great note. 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.479 They just go, yes, it was, because they just want 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.200 their fingerprint on the product. You know. It's a it's 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.400 a pride thing. It's not something I agree with wholeheartedly. 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.440 But that show business. And we all know which words bigger, 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.479 and that's gonna be a very familiar theme throughout this podcast, 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.400 because the wrestling businesses show business and we all know 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:39.359 business is the bigger word. So I sit down and 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.880 I'm like, all right, um, now I have to write wrestling. 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.640 My whole life has completely done a one eighty. Like 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.440 I was wanting to just chill. I was gonna hang 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.599 in New York for a while. I had some friends 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:53.400 out there who lived there full time, and I was 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:55.479 having a lot of fun with them, and I was 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:57.840 just I'd never lived the New York life before. I've 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.120 been a Callie kid and a New Mexico kid it 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.760 and that's it. So I was really enjoying myself, and 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:05.919 all of a sudden, I take a full time job 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:10.400 basically nine to five. Those are my hours, and uh, 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:12.640 and I have no idea how to write wrestling. I 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:14.720 know how to write dialogue. I had done a lot 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.920 of ghostwriting over the years, for different TV shows or movies, 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.400 or just friends who liked the way. I wrote some 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.240 scripts that actually sold that didn't get made, but everyone 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:25.720 was like, dude, You're dialogue is sick. And my thing 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:27.840 was always like, yo, I just write all the lines 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.560 that no movie would ever let me say, because I 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.160 was always the sweet boy in the movies that you 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.600 would let your daughter go out with, never the guy 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.360 that would be like rowdy roddy. But I've come here 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.080 to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.000 out of bubble gum. Like nobody's gonna let Freddy Brend's Jr. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.600 Say that. So I would write all my fantasy lines, 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.000 and so I knew I could do dialogue. So they 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.280 give me the whole roster, and I put together like 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:54.760 this guy versus this guy, this guy versus this guy, 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.160 this girl versus this girl. And I bring it to 0:07:57.200 --> 0:07:59.520 Michael and Michael's like, what are you doing in here? 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:01.720 I go, Here's I brought you some options this. A 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:04.440 couple hours later he goes, ship, don't bring it to me, 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:08.200 give it to d J. And that's christ Joseph, who 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.400 um in the beginning, like most people, probably wasn't happy 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.560 I was there, but he and I got crazy tight 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.560 by the end of this and one one of these 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:22.200 podcasts we're gonna get into the Jeff Hardy story and 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.560 Chris is a big part of that. It was Michael, Chris, 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.720 and myself who were responsible for making people give me credit. 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.280 But that's not true. Um, I was a part of 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.720 a wrestling triumvirate um that got Jeff to the title. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:38.520 But that's a story for another day. So I bring 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.400 this to Chris and he's looking at me like, wait, 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.160 what are you doing? And I go, I'm bringing you 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.800 the options and he was like, oh yeah, let me 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:49.480 let me see it. And I go did I do 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:51.680 some Ryan goes no, just nobody does that. And I 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.200 was like, oh, all right, he told me to do it. 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.000 I'm bringing it to you. And so he's looking at 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:57.640 what I got and he goes, I'm sorry, man. He goes, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:08:59.319 none of this is gonna work. And I was like, well, 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.160 what do you mean, and he goes, well, this guy 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.320 can't work with this guy. This guy can't stand this 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.480 guy because he slept with his girl and he's still 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.040 wrecked over. These two girls hate each other, and this 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:11.920 guy is never gonna lose a match to him for 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:17.240 reasons X Y Z, and literally there's a flash that 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.440 goes through my head where I was like, Yo, you 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:23.240 need to quit, Like you don't know what the hell 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:25.640 is going on. You don't know who like, you have 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.080 to know who likes who, You have to know who 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.920 can work with who. By the way, I would still 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.040 be a terrible booker to this day, even with all 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:34.560 the stuff that I learned. I would have if I 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.680 had my own wrestling brand, the World Wrestling Federation, I 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.720 would have to hire like Cornet or DJ or somebody 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.679 to book every match and I would just you know, 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.040 help them come up with a reason why. And then 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.400 whoever needed help writing, I would just write for them. Um. 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.160 So I get humbled. So and DJ wasn't being a 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.320 jerk or anything. He was just being real like he 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.760 had to write the whole show and had a bunch 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.520 of writers that you know, he would have to rewrite 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.160 a lot of the time. Um, and it was a 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.880 frustrating job because he knew he was gonna get rewritten 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.920 again on show day. Because Vince wouldn't even read the 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:16.520 SmackDown script until the morning of SmackDown. All his focus 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:19.880 was on Raw because Raw was the cash cow. Um 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:21.960 when I worked there, which I think with oh seven 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:24.920 and oh eight or o or oh nine and two 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.200 thousand ten. I can't remember those dates, but you guys 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.720 don't know that better than me. Um. So anyway, I 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.760 sit down and this writer, Angelo comes up to me 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.240 and he goes, hey, man, let me help you. And 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.960 this dude is like a wrestling thesaurus. All right, I 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:46.360 learned more about the history of the bit man arn 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.120 Anderson and Angelo. And Angelo grew up just a fan, 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.920 not even in the business, but he just knew every 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.120 match by heart, every story by heart. He was up 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.360 on something called a dirt sheet, which I had never 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.480 even heard of, which was basically the national and wirer 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.760 for for wrestling fans. It was like a tabloid site, 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:05.880 which I just in the eighties. I don't know if 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.480 that existed, Like if guys did that, we would get 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.680 beat up by other guys because that wasn't a guy 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.800 thing to do. He saw a little old ladies getting 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.920 the inquiry, not dudes in their twenties and thirties, unless 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.600 there was like Aliens. Maybe I don't know. Um So anyway, Uh, 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.719 I'm super humbled. Di stude. Angelo comes like goes, let 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.000 me help you out, man, and he says, these guys 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:30.040 have wrestled before. It was three years ago. It was 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.600 in Phoenix, Arizona, and he's telling me the whole and 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.160 I'm looking at this guy like, dude, what bro Like, 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.320 how do you how do you know this? So he 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.000 really helps me adjust it and I put together like 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.480 my first group of wrestlers, and uh I bring it 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.520 back to Chris and to DJ in about an hour 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.079 and he legit. When I walk in, he goes, yeah, man, 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:54.679 what do you need? Like he just doesn't he does 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.680 not want me in there at all. And I said, uh, hey, 0:11:57.720 --> 0:11:59.800 I just I'm trying to get better, dude. It's like 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:01.840 hash course, man, can you just take a look at this? 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:03.560 And he goes, yeah, I'll take a look at it. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:05.599 I'll talk to you at the end of the day. 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.480 So this is still like not even lunch, and I 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.960 got nothing to do for the rest of the day. 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.120 So everybody like goes to get lunch and they're doing 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.240 their thing, and I stay in the office and I 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.960 just start writing promos. I just start I just started 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.240 writing promos. And it was an undertaker one and I 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.000 didn't show it to anybody, but I just I just 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:27.319 held onto it. And it was kind of about this 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.640 young this young stud who was going to challenge him 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.080 in what he thought was a different way. But the 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.040 Undertakers seen it all, He's heard it all, and this 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.800 is just another young warrior trying to climb them mountain 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:44.000 and it's gonna be another failure. Um. And this became 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.800 the promo that everybody loved. That Undertaker cut in London, 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:52.679 UM on Jeff Hardy's Rise to the to the title, 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.520 and it was Jeff Hardy saying, you know I'll be 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.160 the one and Undertakers like many before you have walked. 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:00.920 I don't remember what. I wrote this a long time 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.920 ago and I'm forty five years old now, um, But 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:06.920 so I write this, and I write a couple other 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.679 ones for some of the other talent there, and one 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.839 of them was Brian Kendrick and h they called him 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.200 the Brian Kendrick. And to know Brian is to know 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:21.200 that his mind is fully right brain operational. There is 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.800 no left brain function right. The right brain is the 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.160 creative side. The left brain is the logic side. If 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:28.840 you want to know if somebody's lying to you you 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.640 asked him a question about something that happened. If they 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.600 look up into the left, they're remembering factual information. If 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:38.440 they look up into the right, they're creating a story 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.680 of fiction for you to know. So that's just something 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.960 cool for everybody to use to find out when their 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:55.160 lovers are cheating. What I write this promo for Brian. 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.760 He was getting ready to separate from Paul London. They 0:13:57.760 --> 0:13:59.920 had a good tag team thing going, but Brian could 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.600 really talked um, but he was a smaller guy. So 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.920 I wrote this other one for Brian, and I only 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.319 really remember the first sentence, which is there's a fine 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:13.440 line between genius and insanity. And Brian was one of 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.559 the guys that I had on my like booking sheet 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.960 that I gave to a DJ. And at the end 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:20.960 of the day, DJ comes up and the only one 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.200 that got approved was Brian's match. So I asked if 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:28.000 I could get sixty seconds of backstage time or promo. 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.040 I asked for promo time. He said no, I say, 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.680 can I get sixty seconds backstage just to kind of 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.400 show this new character. I mean, the guy's never been 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.320 solo before. He goes, yeah, I'll give you sixty seconds, 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:39.840 but you have to time it out. I've never even 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.200 known about that concept timing it out. I would just 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.040 my undertaker promo was They asked me how long it was. 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:47.680 I was like, it's as long as it is. But 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:49.960 with live TV you just can't get away with that stuff. 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.920 So anyway, I write this thing, and and DJ really 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:55.920 likes it, and he puts it in the show. So 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.200 now we're going to travel and I wasn't on the 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.440 jet US yet, so I took a regular plane and 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.080 we're gonna shoot Monday night RAW. I get there. I 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.880 haven't written anything for RAW. They put me on SmackDown 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.640 to kind of help me learn the rope. SmackDown wasn't live, 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.760 it was taped. They could fix screw ups a lot easier. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.880 So now it's the live show, it's the big show. 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.840 And I'm at my first production meeting and right away 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:26.120 Vince tears up the entire script. After about thirty people 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:29.680 give notes, which sitting I'm sitting in the back next 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:33.040 to DJ and Freebird, and Freebirds already like hat it. 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.200 He doesn't. He's not given a note. He's like, I'm 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:38.560 a SmackDown. I'm not dealing with this nonsense. So we're 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.200 sitting back there and Vince says, how do we fix this? 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:47.960 And no one speaks, and he gets crazy mad. No 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:51.520 one's got a one single god, god, damn my, damn right, 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.280 and he's just going off. So now nobody wants to 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:57.480 raise their hand again, right, So it's just dead silence, 0:15:57.840 --> 0:15:59.920 and you just hear poor brang go where it's get 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:01.960 this number two pencil that he would always hold in 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.360 his hands, and you just hear this and this snap, 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.760 and for whatever reason, it broke the tension for me, 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.720 and I just I threw out an idea. I said, 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.400 I compared Collie to Andre the Giant, not as in 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.640 terms of quality of wrestling, but just in terms of size. 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:22.920 And I said, what do you throw the great Collie 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.320 in there? And he just smashed. I don't want to 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.240 give the reasons why this became what it was, because 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:32.400 it would damage somebody else's career basically because they got 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:36.040 like jobbed out, right, But I pitched this thing and 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.400 and Vince goes, well, we'll just do that. It wasn't 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.400 a good idea, but it was something, right, And uh, 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.800 he goes, Freddie, you're gonna shoot it, and I'm sitting 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:46.800 there like, what am I gonna shoot? That bitched a 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.600 match in a ring, and Freeberg goes, you should have 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.080 just kept your bleeping mouth shut. And so now I'm like, 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:55.480 all right, I'm gonna be learning some lessons here. And 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.000 so the production meeting ends. It's like two and a 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:03.520 half hours long. It was just just death, but being 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.560 drugged by a horse while you're still alive, just knowing 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.880 you're gonna die at the end. It was horrible. And uh, 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.440 I meet Bruce Pritchard and I'm already exhausted just from 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:18.400 the production meeting, Like it was crazy. The notes were psycho. 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:23.879 I've never heard dialogue options like that ever, Like it 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.760 was just a different world for me, and I didn't 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:31.200 I didn't respect their their process. Add yet I still 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.159 thought I could do this way better. Right, So I 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.560 meet Bruce Pritchard, who was Brother Love back in the day, 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.520 and he had these big, rosy red cheeks and had 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:45.840 this like eighties reverend evangelical gimmick going where he's like 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.440 I love you, and I'm like, yo, is this brother? 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.199 Is this brother freaking Love? Like I didn't know about 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:54.159 the behind the scenes stuff. I had never read a 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.320 dirt cheat, and he's like, hey, how are you doing? 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:57.960 All on? Bruce? Good to meet Fredd, And all right, 0:17:58.000 --> 0:17:59.400 I almost show you what you're gonna be doing. I'm 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.520 kind of meant were you And I'm like, all right, 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.720 and he's just good old Texas boy. And I grew 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:05.439 up in New Mexico, so I've seen a lot of 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.800 these guys and I kind of know you gotta you gotta, 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.639 you know, let them know how great they are and 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.639 how gracious they are, or or they're gonna stop with 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.040 it real quick. So we get up there and and 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.040 I'm looking around. He goes, so we're gonna do the 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.680 Andre Walk. The camera's gonna be nice and lowe, and uh, 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:23.719 he's gonna be approaching the ring. We're gonna just make 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:25.320 this look real great. Okay. I go all right, and 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:26.960 he goes, all right, I'll see you later, and he leaves. 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.640 This just me. Okay. He didn't introduce me to a crew, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:36.480 a stage manager, a cameraman, gaffer, that someone who does lights, audio, 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.359 which we didn't need, no nobody. He just left. I'm like, 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.479 all right, so now it's time to hustle. So I'm 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:46.800 running around backstage. Um, I'm just asking guys like, hey, 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:48.439 hey man, what do you do here? He's like, oh, 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.320 I'm magic, which is like their word for props. I'm like, sorry, 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:53.560 wrong guy, I'm Freddy. Nice to meet you. I see 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:57.200 this dude with a camera. His name is Luise. I go, hey, man, uh, 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:59.720 could you help me shoot something backstage? And he says, 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.679 I'm on another I'm on another shot. Who are you? 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:04.919 I said, I'm sorry man, I'm Freddie Prince Jr. And 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:07.880 he goes, hold on what and I go, I'm I'm 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.280 shooting this segment. He goes, you aren't shooting a segment. 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:12.760 I go yeah, man. He goes, you've worked here. I 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:16.200 go yeah, because you're Freddie Prince Jr. I go, yeah, man, 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:18.920 but I need a camera. He goes, bro, I got you. 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:23.080 So Luis is awesome and he runs back and uh, 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:26.320 I find the Great Collie and he doesn't speak English 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.480 and I don't speak Punjabi. So I walk into a 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:32.120 knock on the locker room door. Another wrestler comes out, 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:33.919 one of the younger guys on the restaur and I go, 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:35.439 my allow to go in there. I don't want to, 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:37.440 and he goes, who do you need? And I said 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:39.840 I need Collie, and he goes, all right, So he 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:43.800 goes and I've never met the great colleague. But the 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:47.800 guy is legit, like seven foot four, okay, like he's 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.800 a legit giant. He ducks to get out of the 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.800 basketball arena locker room door where the doors are built 0:19:55.920 --> 0:20:00.800 for tall, large statuesque type men, and he ducking and 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:05.040 turning his body sideways because his shoulders don't fit if 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.800