Freddie Prinze Jr. On What Vince McMahon Said When He Tried To Push WWE Tag Division

Hollywood actor Freddie Prinze Jr. worked as a creative writer for WWE on two separate occasions. His first stint with the company was between 2008 and 2009, before returning in 2010 then departing again in 2012. Prinze Jr. was hands-on during his time with the company, helping develop WWE Superstars, especially with their promos.

On his most recent podcast Wrestling with Freddie, where he delves into his time with WWE, Prinze Jr. spoke about the guidance he received from current NXT General Manager, William Regal.

"William Regal, also known as Steven Regal, is and was one of the single most helpful human beings while I worked at that company," Prinze Jr. said. "He would warn me about people. He would help show me what wrestlers' strengths were, and to write my promos, to fit the type of wrestler that they were, because I was not doing that. You don't want to write a Luchador like a big man, you don't want to write a big man like a high flyer. There's a different attitude when you're seven-feet tall. You don't have to say as much, you're seven feet tall."

As much as William Regal offered him advice, Prinze Jr. felt that with his own work on the creative team he let the tag team division down.

"I connected with Harry [Smith] a lot and I really wanted to get him and TJ [Tyson Kidd] over," Prinze Jr. said. "I worked to do it, but, you know, I have plenty of failures. We can talk about those too, but the successful ones are usually cooler and funner stories. I failed those boys, I never got over that. I failed The Uso's too.

"Tag team wrestling is tough, man. I remember Vince. I was working so hard on building the tag team division and Vince said 'Freddie, I gotta pay four guys for one f****** match?' I kind of went 'oh...' I had never looked at it like that. Again, it's show business. I was in charge of The Colon Brothers. I named Primo, for crying out loud. That was my name, Primo Colon. It kind of changed my perception of things and changed the way I approached storylines. I couldn't pitch for as much anymore."

Although Freddie Prinze Jr. felt as though he let Harry Smith down during his tenure, he detailed a scary, yet funny story involving Harry and former WWE SmackDown Women's Champion, Natalya.

"We're in promo class and you guys all remember the rules. There are no make-out sessions allowed and there's no beating each other up. These seem like reasonable requests as far as an acting coach and the talent in that room go. I feel like everyone should be able to follow those rules, but apparently not. It was little Nattie Neidhart [Natalya] who decided to break it," Prinze Jr. began. "So, she and Harry are in there, and it's a repetition, and they're going back and forth about, you know, I don't even remember. 'You ain't s***, no you ain't s***' but they're getting closer and closer. Everyone knows that there is no chance of anything, like, smoochie smooch with those two because TJ's her man, like forever. So they're getting closer and I'm like 'this is weird, I don't know where this is going.' At this point, we were doing points. So if you changed up the sentence, the other person got a point but it wasn't over until somebody got three points. So they change it up and he says something to Nattie about 'that's why you are, where you are and I am where I am.'"

"I'm watching Nattie throw this right hand like a John Woo movie, man. It's full slow motion and I'm pretty sure a bunch of doves took flight behind it as it traveled through the air. Harry's hands are down at his side and he's sticking his chin out like 'what?' Nattie's hook comes through, an open hand hook, like if you saw The Godfather and how he'd talk about open hand slapping people off their stools. It's like a Godfather slap. It's like two-by-fours smashing against each other to simulate a gunshot. Everyone in the class at the same goes 'uhhhh' and then I jump out of my seat before I even let the breath out and instead of breathing out I just go 'WHAT THE F***..' and I curse. I'm trying to control myself but it was a big F-bomb. I'm not mad. I'm scared. It's the loudest shot I've ever heard in my life. Harry looks at me with a freakin' smile on his face and goes 'Bro, it's all good.' like nothing happened!"

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling with Freddie with an h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.