Freddie Prinze Jr. Opens Up About Plans For His Wrestling Promotion
On this week's Wrestling with Freddie podcast from iHeart Media's My Cultra Network, former WWE creative team member Freddie Prinze Jr. opened up about the potential future launch of his own wrestling promotion.
The Scooby-Doo actor revealed that plans are starting to fall into place for his organization, which has yet to be named, and disclosed some further details about what is currently in the works.
"I started looking at arena's locally and what it would cost to rent them," Freddie said. "And then, as I saw what my opportunities would be in this business, as there would be more of them after I did the Netflix one [a holiday rom-com movie currently untitled], I started saying, well I can accelerate the plan, or I could keep the plan as it is, do a couple more of these [movies] and own the space, which I believe right now is the plan I'm going to execute.
"I already have a commercial realtor that I know and love. She's already looking at properties for me. I would love to have a full-time home for this. The plan was originally a two-year plan, now I should have the money for a three-year plan, meaning it doesn't have to make money for three years."
Freddie Prinze Jr. revealed when wrestling media outlets began to report on the news he was launching a promotion, a number of wrestlers and musicians reached out to him. He revealed, at present, he is not looking to hire anyone, but thanked those who did get in touch with him.
"I'm not hiring anyone yet," Prinze Jr. disclosed. "So if your friends ask you if this story is true, you tell them yes, and then you send them the link to this episode, so you don't have to have the 30-minute explanation.
"I plan on having this thing up and running in 18 months. That's my plan. There's a way for me to get it done sooner, but it requires me going to Australia for three months and leaving my family. So, I'm not a big fan of doing that, regardless of how kind and respectful the studio is, unless I was in a position where I had to. I love being a dad, it's the reason I walked away from the business in the first place."
Freddie also explained that he would initially like his show to be two-hours in length, but understood he would have trouble finding a TV deal at the start. He also detailed a few elements of the show that fans can expect to see.
"If you want to know if I'm serious, I've already purchased a used light kit, that was an arena kit," Prinze Jr. said. "Used, even used, these mugs are expensive, but I want this to look legit. So it's literally sitting in my storage unit because my man was telling me this dude was selling it at a really good price if you want to get in on this, so I did.
"I think I want to start it as a two-hour show. I want my storylines based in reality. I want to give the women and the men equal time on the roster. And then the goal is to bring the show to television, and I mentioned this on Ariel's [Helwani] podcast, but it's important to me, so I'll say it again, and I want it to be a SAG show.
"And what that means is, I want it to be a union show, which would mean each and every single one of my wrestlers will be a member of the Screen Actors Guild and be entitled to all the insurance and medical benefits and retirement plans that, that entails."
Freddie noted that he had brought unionizing up with WWE Superstars when he worked at the company, but he received the same answer every time that Triple H wouldn't go for it. Prinze Jr. believes when Vince McMahon sells WWE, the wrestlers should start thinking about their futures.
"So the goal is to get them all unionized, which is a big deal," Freddie Prinze Jr. explained. "I would support all wrestlers to go after it. It won't happen under Vince's rule, but I believe when the WWE sells, that should be the very first thing that every single wrestler should have on the forefront of their goal list is unionize. Day one. It should be a walk out. The day they sell the company, the day they sell it, to whoever the new ownership is, every wrestler should be like, 'good luck, we want unionization.'"
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling with Freddie with an h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.