Freddie Prinze Jr. continues to work on launching his own wrestling promotion, and he provides an update on the process.
Prinze Jr., an actor, wrestling fan, and former WWE writer, has previously made it clear that he intends to create his own promotion, but updates have been few and far between. He recently joined the Premier Streaming Network, a wrestling streaming service, as a co-owner, which led to some speculation that PSN could be the eventual home for his project.
Speaking on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, Prinze Jr. provided an update on his goal to launch his own company. He stated that he has bene working on it, as he wrote a show and tried to find a producer and/or show-runner. Prinze Jr. then detailed how taking the typical Hollywood approach didn’t produce the outcome that he was looking for.
“I have been working on it. I can talk a lot about the process,” Prinze Jr. said. “I wrote a wrestling show, and it was also a promotion. It was partially scripted, and then wrestling matches as well. Depending on the talent, you can let some people do their own thing. Some people need to be written for, some people shouldn’t talk. They’re more skilled in the ring than on the microphone. It was different than what is out there today, I felt, in a good way, and I started going out with it the traditional Hollywood way, which is find a producer who’s passionate about the material and/or showrunner, attach them to the material, and then you and that showrunner/producer go to the networks.
“I don’t like this process. It adds people that weren’t an organic part of the process to it at a very early stage, and it makes it seem like it’s okay to change everything. It doesn’t always go down like that, but more often than not it does. The producers that I found all wanted to much ownership that by the time I would be done with the network and the showrunner, I’m making less than both of them, and it’s my idea. That’s normally how it goes when you sell a half-hour, or an hour-long television show.
With that in mind, Prinze Jr. explained how he changed gears as he realized that he wanted to create something that he could later license. He compared the approach to the way Vince McMahon has operated WWE, both with the shows and the arenas. Prinze Jr. then admitted that he knew he needed an education in independent wrestling.
So I wanted to shift or switch tracks and completely self-finance, produce, and create something that already exists, and license it then to studios once I can establish what it is, the way Vince does with Monday Night Raw with the USA Network. He licenses it to them, they don’t own it. He licenses it. The same way he doesn’t own the arenas he’s in, he leases them for that night. There are ownership laws that exist, but that’s not ownership. So I wanted to own it, and it’s an independent wrestling promotion, but I needed an education in independent wrestling from the distribution side and from the actual physical promotion side as well.
Prinze Jr. described how Matt Cardona introduced him to the people who help[edd create both FTE TV and Premier Streaming Network. He also called the way many wrestling companies are all on these networks a cyberpunk territory system.
“Matt Cardona introduced me to the wonderful people that helped create FITE TV, and there created Premier Streaming Network, PSN,” Prinze Jr. said. “It’s almost like a new cyberpunk territory system, where they’re bringing all these independent wrestling promotions to their network, and you can watch everything they’re doing, but more importantly, everything they’ve done.
“So a lot of the wrestlers that you can watch are wrestlers that you would see on AEW and WWE, but now you can watch their early matches. You can watch all these guys doing their thing at a young age, and with all the new wrestling coming, but on September 9, they’re doing their Premier Showcase.”
After detailing the Premier Streaming Network Showcase and commenting on his role with the PSN, Prinze Jr. then praised the PSN team. He noted that working with them will allow him to learn a lot. Prinze Jr. stated that he believes the experience will prepare him better for when he does his own show, which will likely be on PSN.
“They know independent wrestling, they have access to so much, and I can, instead of going to film school for four years, get on a set,” Prinze Jr. said. “You’ll learn a lot more. That’s what I would always recommend to people instead of getting in debt, and this is the same thing.
“It’s like, throw me in the fire and hope I don’t get burned too bad. But it’s an education and a trial by fire, and I think it’ll prepare me better when I do my own, which I’ll more than likely be doing with PSN as well.”
Prinze Je. previously stated that he had a wrestling-related project that he hopes to start in the next year. Check out his comments here.
WrestleZone will provide more information about Prinze Jr.’s wrestling promotion as it becomes available.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to WrestleZonre with an h/t for the transcription.
