Freddie Prinze Jr. Recalls How He Won Over MVP In WWE

This week on WWE's The Bump, former creative writer and well-acclaimed actor Freddie Prinze Jr. stopped by to promote the Punky Brewster reboot that's available now on Peacock. After discussing his role on the show, the panel spoke with him about his one-year position in WWE as an imaginative integral of the promos created backstage. He explains how his position came to be from 2008-2009.

"I came in, and I was done acting. I went to Mania, and I spoke to this lady, who worked for the company, and we just talked about the show, and she was like, 'Man, you should talk to Steph about these ideas. I think she would really like them,'" Freddie Prinze Jr. recalled. "So, I went and talked to Steph. She said the same thing that lady said, 'You have to talk to my dad about this.' So, I went and talked to Vince, and he was awesome...He was like, 'We could really use you here, son,' I was a fish on a hook."

Prinze Jr. recalls his very first time being backstage and how he made MVP a fan of his.

"I started writing segments, and I earned respect from the bottom up," he noted. "I saw MVP, and he can back this up; this writer that used to work there named Chris was struggling on a promo. I already knew what the promo needed to be. I'm sitting there, and I see MVP looking over, and he did not like me. I was like, all right, he's either going to knock me out, or he's going to love me; either way, I'm going over there and pitching this idea.

"I go over there and say, 'Hey, you guys, I think I have a cool fix.' All I did was pitch him the last line of the promo that I improved in my head. He went from hate to oh, that's good. Right when he said that, I did the whole thing. He went out and did the promo, and the whole crowd went nuts for it. He killed it. Once MVP got on board, more wrestlers started to get on board."

Since he was a little kid, Prinze Jr. has always been in love with professional wrestling. In his interview, he tells a very heartwarming story on when exactly his adoration began.

"When I was at Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the Tingley Coliseum, they came and did a Battle Royal – just a house show," he mentioned. "The Ultimate Warrior ran out. The way Tingley is built, there are pillars everywhere. We didn't have any money. People thought I grew up rich. My father was famous – super famous – for only two years. We weren't living great, and we had cheap tickets.

"I was behind the damn pillar, and I snuck up past the rail. Man, I'm going to get choked up saying this; I went up close to the rail, and the usher came in to move me, and it was right when Ultimate Warrior was coming out, and he didn't let the guy push me out of there. He grabbed me and pulled me, and gave me a one-armed hug, and said it's ok to the usher...The guy didn't make me leave. From that moment, I was locked in. I loved Warrior from that moment."

You can watch Freddie Prinze Jr.'s full interview here. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE's The Bump with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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