Freddie Prinze Jr. revealed on his latest podcast how the Kung Fu Naki character got approved on WWE programming.
On the latest episode of Wrestling with Freddie, Freddie Prinze Jr. spoke about Shane McMahon and how easygoing and chill he was when it came to pitching storyline ideas to him. This led to the story of how Kung Fu Naki got approved.
Funaki mentioned the name on the October 10, 2008 episode of SmackDown before making a full transition to the martial arts-based character. As it turns out, Shane McMahon was the one who approved it, but it wasn’t too difficult to get him on board.
“Shane is so chill like he doesn’t want any of it, at least that was my sense when I was there,” Freddie Prinze Jr. said. “He would come in the room. We would pitch ideas, and legit, he would just go, ‘okay.’ Shane Helms, The Hurricane, had this idea. And he wanted Funaki, remember Funaki? So he wanted to give him one more little TV run. And he goes, ‘Dude, I got an idea. What if it was Kung Fu Naki?’ And all of us were drunk and fooling around. We were like, No, that’s so bad. But we love it!
“And he starts [singing], ‘That’s my man Kung Fu Naki, my man will down some Saki,’ and he started singing this whole song that he wrote. So we’re like, Alright, dude, we’re gonna pitch this to Shane. If this gets through, that’s the funniest thing ever. Right?
“So Shane walks in the room, and this guy DJ goes, Shane, what about Kung Fu Naki this week on SmackDown? And Shane goes, ‘okay,’ and just walks out. I was like, oh my God, Kung Fu Naki is gonna be on TV. Kung Fu Naki’s gonna be on TV, and R-Truth rapped it for him. That’s how much everybody loved that guy, though. They were all willing to embarrass themselves even just to get him over a little bit and give him one more little mini push. And that was when I saw a lot of that brotherhood that apparently doesn’t exist there right now.”
READ MORE: Freddie Prinze Jr. Says His Wrestling Promotion Is Not A Dream: It’s A Plan And It Will Be A Reality
What do you make of Freddie Prinze Jr.’s comments? Are you surprised how easily Shane McMahon okayed the Kung Fu Naki character? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you are using any of the quotes above, please credit Wrestling w/ Freddie with a link back to this article for the transcription.
