Chris Harris Responds To Bruce Prichard's Criticism Of His WWE Run
For many years, "Wildcat" Chris Harris' WWE run was used as a punchline for the way Vince McMahon would treat top stars who came from rival promotions. As part of America's Most Wanted with "Cowboy" James Storm, Harris had a successful run in TNA. But when he made the jump to WWE in 2008, he became the generic Braden Walker, who was released from his contract after only two televised appearances on the ECW brand thanks to general manager Teddy Long's New Superstar Initiative.
Harris' entire WWE presentation was a far cry from the athlete that captivated wrestling fans in the Impact Zone from 2002 to 2008. According to Bruce Prichard on a recent installment of "Something to Wrestle" (via 411mania), this was because the former tag team champion didn't have the necessary tools to succeed in WWE. The executive recalled how the competitor had trouble with every single take of the pre-tape that introduced his character ahead of his debut match against Armando Estrada. Prichard shared that Mr. McMahon was even called in to try to make the segment presentable for the WWE Universe.
"Usually if I get called in, it's usually bad and usually I can work through it. I reached a point where it's like, 'Hey Vince, I need help here because I don't know what to do on this one.' Vince came in and after maybe ten, fifteen minutes of working with him realize that yeah this isn't going to work.
Over the years, Harris has remained mostly silent about this part of his career. However, after Prichard's comments, Conrad Thompson gave the TNA legend the opportunity to fully share his side of the story on a very special podcast.
Not making an impact
Titled "The False Finish," Thompson sat down with Harris for a one-on-one interview that was meant to be a one-off rebuttal to Prichard's recollection of events. But over three hours later, the duo addressed the comments while also looking back on Harris' storied career that included seven reigns as NWA Tag Team Champion.
In regards to his WWE debut against Estrada, "Wildcat" admitted that there was some truth to what Prichard said about taking a long time to complete the backstage segment. However, he shared that it was an exaggeration and there were other factors that played into the situation, such as constant creative changes throughout filming.
"Bruce was the producer of the segment, but Bruce was not involved here," he said. "There were other people in there that were firing off these lines of what to say... I'm not in a place where I can [say] that doesn't sound right... The lines were just so awful and I was thinking, 'You got to be kidding me. You guys aren't coming up with anything better than this?' But every time I would say what they wanted me to say."
While Thompson also shared a series of quotes from Estrada that corroborated this information, Harris continued to express his frustration because they did have to shoot the pre-tape several times. Elsewhere, the former WWE Superstar also said that he didn't receive any help and felt like he was working uphill the entire time.