Freddie Prinze Jr. On Writing Jeff Hardy’s Addiction Issues Into WWE Storylines
On this week's Wrestling with Freddie podcast from iHeart Media's My Cultra Network, former WWE creative team member Freddie Prinze Jr. was riding solo to discuss his time working with Jeff Hardy.
The particular topic in question was that of Jeff Hardy's road to the WWE Championship in 2008, which Prinze Jr. was responsible for scripting. Freddie revealed that despite there being some reluctance due to Hardy's history, he saw it as an opportunity.
"I get into it with a guy named Chris DeJospeh [former WWE creative team member]," Prinze Jr. said. "He's laughing, he's like 'it's never gonna happen!' 'what do you mean it's never gonna happen?' He starts breaking down a lot of Jeff's issues in the past, rejecting rehab, having drug issues, and things like that. Those were perceived speedbumps, or in this case, a brick wall to get through, but for me, I connected hard with it.
"I connected hard with it, and I saw an opportunity. So, my father was a standup comic in the '70s for those who may just be tuning in. I've broken this down for you in the very beginning [of the podcast series] I think. He was a big-time deal, man, Richard Prior discovered him. My dad had the number one show in the country in, like, 1975 or 74, something like that. Drugs were a big part of his life in the '70s and tore my entire family apart because of it, and on January 27th, 1976, he put a gun to his head, and he had about six quaaludes in his system and pulled the trigger and he died."
Freddie Prinze Jr. revealed that he had a clearer picture of what drug addicts go through and used his experiences in life to put towards the 2008 Jeff Hardy WWE storyline.
"All the criticism [directed at drug addicts once they're known to the public] is completely justified, and that's why we showed Jeff fail and fail again," Freddie explained. "And if you look at the promos in this light, which is what I tried to do, I styled them after his matches. Jeff is a crash and burn wrestler. It builds your hopes up, build your hopes up, get up to the highest most dangerous point possible, the only place possible where if he jumps off he can end the match, and when he fails because the guy gets out of the way or he gets betrayed, or whatever the issue is.
"And so we tried to write the promos in that same sense, and I wrote these alone in New York where I just was. I was making a movie out there. So it was very surreal to be in the same city. Honestly, the last time I was there was when I was writing these Jeff Hardy promos. A lot of these images are fresh in my mind, or at least the philosophies behind them."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling with Freddie with an h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.