Freddie Prinze Jr. Talks Running WWE’s Acting Class, John Cena Giving Him A Hard Time.
You might remember Freddie Prinze Jr. for his acting roles in movies like Scooby Doo, I Know What You Did Last Summer or various television appearances. Did you know he used to work for the WWE both on-screen and behind the scenes as a producer? He recently was a guest on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast and spoke about his time with the company.
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During the interview, he spoke about Vince running a promo class with WWE talent backstage in a high pressure environment.
Here is what he said:
“They did something called a promo class and he would have kids come up, and I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this before. He would have two wrestlers come up, two talent come up, and he would give them a scenario and force them to improv. But a lot of them didn’t have any experience in that. And so I get throwing kids in the deep end of the pool” (Source: Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, H/T WrestlingInc).
Widget not in any sidebars
Prinze convinced Vince to allow him to run an acting class that would be a better environment for the talent. He apparently was given a hard time during these classes from John Cena.
Here is what he said:
“I would be running an acting workshop and he would just come in and interrupt it and sort of take over the room. And I’m like, ‘hold up, man.’ I said, ‘let’s go talk outside’. So he came outside and he gave me this speech, and I respect his view. He goes, ‘look, I may be a neanderthal’ and he said, ‘but you either got it or you don’t’. And I said, ‘look, I agree, philosophically, to a certain point.’ I said, ‘but you can get better or worse at something depending on how hard you work at it.’ I said, ‘you don’t need my help. I’m not writing for you. But they do, so let me do my job. I’ll let you do your job and that’ll be that.’ And it wasn’t” (Source: Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, H/T WrestlingInc).
You can listen to the full podcast here.
Can you imagine being a WWE star coming into the company and having to cut on the spot promos for Vince McMahon?? Sounds like an absolute nightmare every day you are at work.
Let us know what you think of his comments below!