The Ariel Helwani Show - Freddie Prinze Jr.

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

On today's episode, the famous actor and pro wrestling superfan joins Ariel to talk about his time working for WWE over a decade ago. Then, the guys discuss differences between WWE and AEW, his time training in Albuquerque, NM, his movie plans for 2022 (47:30) and his 20-year marriage to actress Sarah Michelle Gellar (57:05). Also, Prinze Jr. reveals his plans to get back into the wrestling business in a big way next year. Make sure to listen to the very end to witness a special bonding moment between the guys! Freddie Prinze Jr. is an American film and TV actor, writer and producer. He is also the host of WWFreddie - Wrestling with Freddie, a pro wrestling podcast. He has starred in “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “She’s All That,” “Scooby-Doo,” and much more.You can follow Freddie on Twitter @RealFJR and on Instagram @realfreddieprinze.Today's episode is brought to you by Manscaped! Get 20% off plus FREE shipping today by using the code "HELWANI" when you visit this link: manscaped.com/helwani.For more episodes of The Ariel Helwani Show, please follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app.To get more from Ariel, subscribe to his YouTube channel, read his writing on Substack, watch his work for BT Sport, and follow The MMA Hour or The Ringer MMA Show.Theme music: "Frantic" by The Lovely Feathers

Hey there everyone, welcome back to a brand new edition of The Hawaiian Show. I, of course, am Ariel Helwani. It is Thursday, December 2nd, 2021. So excited about today's conversation. And yes, I know I say that each and every week, but I love these conversations. And I also love the lovely Feathers, who gave us this great intro music called Frantic. Go check them out, support them. I'm trying to bring them back to the scene. In any event, great conversation coming up this week with the one and only Freddie Prince Jr. Everyone knows Freddie Prince Jr. You may know him from I Know What You Did Last Summer, She's All That, Scooby-Doo, a whole bunch of things. He was just in Punky Brewster. He's got

a new project coming up with Netflix. Everyone knows Freddie Prinze Jr. You may know his wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar, as well. But you know this man. I appreciate him. I respect him greatly for the work that he did in the world of professional wrestling. Yes, he worked as a member of the WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment, creative team for several years, two stints, over a decade ago. And his stories and his passion and his insight and his knowledge when it comes to pro wrestling is just unbelievable. I can listen to this guy talk pro wrestling for hours. And he just came out with his own podcast called Wrestling with Freddie WWF. And it's out wherever you get your podcasts, Spotify, Apple, all those places and more. And it's great. Listen, so far three episodes in,

and I'm enjoying it greatly. Again, he has such a great passion. And I, when it comes to pro wrestling and just the stories that he tells about his time working at WWE with the McMahon family, it's fascinating stuff to me. And so in this conversation, we talk about all of that. We talk about the state of pro wrestling. We talk about his time there, about his future plans in pro wrestling. He actually breaks some news on this show. So stay tuned for that, as well as his family life, his kids, his relationship with Sarah Michelle Gellar. We get into all of that and a whole lot more in a matter of seconds. But first, once again, we are being brought to you by our good friends over at Manscaped.

I appreciate them being our very first sponsor here on the little engine that could. They are great people. I love the product. I use the product. And so let me tell you a bit about our good friends over at Manscaped. As you know, it's the holiday season. And if you don't know what to get for the man in your life,

today's sponsor, Manscaped, has got you covered. Manscaped is the leader in men's below the waist grooming, and they have served more than 4 million men worldwide. And since I'm in the news business, I have great news to share this holiday season. You can get 20% off plus free shipping at manscaped.com slash Helwani. That's it, manscaped.com slash Helwani.

Manscaped's best-selling product is the Performance Package 4.0. I have it. I use their products, which I'll tell you more about. They're all great. I legit use them. I wouldn't be selling them to about. They're all great. I legit use them. I wouldn't be selling them to you talking about them if I don't use them. And I know that every guy that's used them, including TST, loves them as well. Now inside that performance package 4.0,

you'll find the Lawn Mower Body Trimmer, which is the best body trimmer on the market. You'll also find the Weed Whacker Ear and Nose hair trimmer. It also includes Manscaped's famous liquid formulations, the Crop Preserver, Ball Deodorant, and Crop Reviver Ball Toner to round out your hygiene routine. If you get the performance package right now, you'll receive two free gifts, the Manscaped boxers and the Shed Travel Bag. Listen, dads love it, ladies dig them, and you will too. Now, if you need some stocking stuffers, here's some ideas for you. Manscaped's 2-in-1 shampoo plus conditioner, cologne-infused body wash, Shears 2.0 luxury four-piece nail kit, crop mops, ball wipes,

Manscaped's signature cologne. These formulations are all vegan, cruelty-free, dye-free, sulfate-free, and paraben-free, so you know their products are legit. Make sure you hurry to their site to ensure these wild gifts show up before the holiday season. And while you're at it, you'll get 20% off plus free shipping at manscaped.com slash Helwani. Whether this is for your partner, your dad, your brother, your friend, get them something that they will actually use, and it's almost sure to get a laugh. That's 20% off and free shipping at manscaped.com slash hawani. Be the ballsiest gift giver this year with Manscaped. Please support them because

they support us. All right, now it's my conversation with the one and only, the inimitable, the incomparable Freddie Prinze Jr. Enjoy. I do want to mention though, congratulations right off the top on the new podcast that you recently launched, Wrestling With Freddie. Very clever. WWF. I love it. Now I couldn't help but notice, and now I'm going to go heel on you for for a second couldn't help but notice you launch a podcast great something that i'm all in i've listened to the first two episodes they're up on my spotify feed i can show you that they're all mark played however back in august we did a little wrestling preview for the ringer for summer slam and what did i say right after to not only you but everyone else the fact that freddie prince Jr. isn't doing a wrestling podcast is absolutely criminal.

This needs to happen. Lo and behold, two months later, you do a wrestling podcast. So I'd like to know how much credit do I deserve for your new wrestling podcast? a phone call just a couple of days after we had that conversation because Sarah's friend worked at or works at I heart and said, Hey, would Freddie be down to do a wrestling podcast? And I said, yeah. And then they came to me and we spoke and I kind of told them some of the stories and they were like, okay, we want to do this. We want to do this. And that's how it all happened. And the deal happened really quick.

I was excited. And, uh, I took a little this. We want to do this. And that's how it all happened. And the deal happened really quick. I was excited. And I took a little break in New York while I was making a movie. But I just did another one yesterday. The story of Jeff Hardy to the World Heavyweight Championship. So this is the thing. The way you just said that right there brings me back to your first episode. When you talk about your love of wrestling, watching with your grandmother in Puerto Rico, your early days, meeting Stephanie McMahon,

meeting Vince McMahon. I could listen to you do like a 45-minute story time with Freddie about the wrestling business. It's great hearing you talk to Xavier Woods and whomever is coming in the future episodes. But honestly, and I wouldn't vouch for all people to do this in the podcast world, you just sitting back and telling us and like I turn on the fire.

I'm in bed. I can listen to you talk about wrestling and play the characters and do the voices with the enthusiasm and the psychology and the acting. It's gold. It's absolute gold. So I just want to let you know you don't have to go out and book talent. You don't have to get it. Like I just want story time with Freddie. That's all I want.

That first episode, I wanted an hour and a half more. It wasn't enough. There's way more story time with Freddie than there are guests. And speaking of story time, you mentioned Stephanie. I'll tell you a story. This is the day where she earned all of my respect. And I wasn't aware of what she had done as far as the history of the business when I got there. So it was, you know, you earn my respect on a case by case basis. Right. So we were on the road to making Jeff champion, which some people were against and turned out to be rightfully so, because he was not responsible with his life and he was having drug issues at the time. And that was the reasons they were nervous to do it. But Vince had greenlit this and we were going to Armageddon and, and, uh, he had sort of the promo

of all promos, the payoff promo. He's going over at Armageddon. Not everyone is happy about it, but it's for sure happening. I know that there's no tomfoolery going on. Cause I saw some secret stuff and, uh, we're getting ready to shoot it. And I would write it on cue cards and I would move the cue cards around so that Jeff could kind of look tormented in pain during all this when he would have a hard time learning the lines in the three hours that they give them. And the power goes out in the whole arena. And I'm like, we have to pre-tape it. We can't do it live.

There's no way. And I'm like, wow, okay, we're dead.. We can't do it live. There's no way. And I'm like, wow. Okay. We're dead. I guess, I guess we're just waiting for the power to come back on. I have no lights, nothing. And Stephanie blast through the door and she goes, what are we doing? We got to get this. And I'm like, what are you talking about? We have no power. And she's like, the camera's on battery sounds on battery. We got to go. I'm like, there's no light. She's like, we're finding light. And we're in this like sweet slash like cafeteria in the upper deck of this arena. And she's like going through cabinets and drawers. So I just start going through cabinets and drawers. I go, okay, give me the flashlight. And I give her, I hand her a scotch glass, like from the bar. I go shine the green light through the glass and it'll make like a cool effect on Jeff.

And I'll shine the flashlight on the cue card so he can read it. And I'll just float around the camera. And Stephanie's like, all right, let's go. And she's just a steamroller. Like I was not thinking solution. I was like, well, we're screwed. And she comes in and she's not having it. Like just rolling up her sleeves, getting her hands dirty, digging through cabinets,

but for real getting her hands dirty. And we ended up shooting it. We do one tank, Jeff kills it. And he goes on to become the world heavyweight champion, which was something no one thought would ever happen for Jeff. And he climbed up the huge scaffolding of Armageddon. But I remember seeing that, like how much she cared. And I'm not trying to just big up the McMahon family.

Like I watched the product. There are segments I know that are for kids. There are segments I know that are for me. And sometimes I don't like either one of them. And I don't always like the way they book things. But I know they give a damn. And I know how hard they fight and kick and scream with each other and with people. They shouldn't people who are genuinely could help

if they'd let them. Um, I know they care. They just don't always get it right. But that was the day where I was just like, wow, she just like saved the whole day, saved the storyline, saved Jeff's championship. I don't know how long it's going to last. But yeah, man, she just really earned my respect that day. And it had nothing to do with the executive decision she made before that. I didn't know anything about him. She rolled up her sleeves.

She got it done. Again, I can listen to stories like that all freaking day. By the way, are you surprised Jeff is still around? Not only around, but kind of doing really well know, doing really well, like Survivor Series. He was one of the featured guys in that matches like all these years later, all the ups and downs, the drug, the arrests, all that stuff. Are you actually surprised he's still around and thriving? WWE gives way more than just second chances. They give third and fourths nearly no matter the crime.

So it doesn't surprise me. The surprising part is, I guess he's just made out of rubber bands and, and whatever Gumby was made out of. Like he just, he, I don't understand how he takes the same amount of damage that he was taking when I worked there 11 years, 12 years, however long it was and wrestles every day. I just don't know how he does it. I don't know how he does it at the level he does it. And with all the horrible addiction problems that he's gone through, to be able to stand on his feet and be proud of the man he is, I just love stories like that. And I've always loved Jeff.

We're not homies or anything. I don't know his number or his email. I just always loved him. I respected him. I saw what the fans connected with because he was an outcast. And I think a lot of outcasts can connect to somebody who sort of is kicked out of mainstream society, whether they want to be or not. And that was a power that Jeff had. So I just have always, I've always liked that. Considering you were in the trenches with the McMahons,

with some of the other guys, and it's early days in your podcast career, and I know you've done some interviews about it, but are you worried about saying too much? Are you worried about maybe having to be critical and hurting people's feelings, relationships, and whatnot? No, I mean, I feel like we were all pretty straightforward with one another. I mean, the Jeff Hardy storyline was the end of any relationship I had with Hunter. And I'm open about that, but it wasn't a secret. You know what I mean? He was very against it. He didn't think we could count on Jeff.

Hunter is a company man. And I felt creatively it was worth the risk. He didn't. And in hindsight, he was right. You know, Jeff was released from the company, I think less than a year later, because he got in more trouble. So I never blamed him for it. But he certainly, at the time, I'm sure he doesn't care now. At the time when I worked there, he wasn't having me. Like he wasn't having me. So, you know, things like that, but I don't worry about talking about that now. I mean, it's like 12 years later, he's a successful guy. I'm a

successful guy. We don't care about that stuff. And I'm not, it's not a podcast where I crap on everyone. I had a great experience there, man. I'm straight up about the Bruce Prichard stuff. Like he just threw me in the pool and threw me to the wolves and didn't want to teach me anything. But that's his philosophy is like, yo, you can either hack it or you're gone. And I'm an old school guy. So I respond to that. I don't want a million compliments and telling me that I can do it. I want you to think that I'm nothing so that every time you see me, when I do something great, you have to sit there and suck it and just take it. And so guys like Sina and JBL, and I'm tight with JBL, like we're cool. But I mean, that dude wouldn't give me the respect of my own name. Like it was just Scooby. That was my name. And I was like, we're not going to have

that. Or you're not going to like the name I have for you, brother. And eventually Vince made us work together and uh he no sold this promo that Vince wanted him to do and he did it his way and I took the bullet in gorilla for him because Vince was just cussing me out I'm sitting right next to him and he's just like that's what when I freaking wrote you were gonna slide your bullshit in here and I just like, man, and JBL's burying me. Right. And so, but I'm going to eat it. And I'm like, look, man, I just thought what I wrote was better. And at the end of the day, I got to take risks, man. I go, and if you hate me, then you hate me. But I took a shot and he goes, get out of here. I'm like, ah, fine. So I walk out and I guess JBL comes back. And the first thing he says to Vince is, Hey, that was my fault.

I did my own thing. He tried to get me and Vince kind of liked that. I ate shit, even though it wasn't my fault. And then we were real, real tight after that. Wow. And he,

he treated me a lot different. Wow. Okay. So like, just from that story alone, I have eight followups. Wait a second. Butting heads with,

with triple H with Hunter, with Paula Beck. What is that like? He's the, he's the son-in-law. He's the heir apparent. And as a result, you guys stopped talking like you haven't talked since because you just disagreed on a storyline? Yeah, but the value that he put on that belt and the value that I had on it were very different. And so it was one of those things where

for Paul, it's protect the brand at all costs, at all costs. And for me, I was handed an assignment from Michael Hayes, who brought Jeff Hardy into the WWF and had just hit wall after wall after wall trying to get him a push. And he saw that I was getting some love from the boss. And he said, Freddie, make Jeff champion. That's what I was tasked with. And so I wrote the whole thing out weeks before it ever got approved, every single promo. And I presented it to Vince the way you would pitch a film at a studio in the nineties when you had more than 10 minutes. And Vince said, yes. And we were moving forward and very few people were against it. Kevin Dunn wasn't nuts about it. Bruce was on board and about 90% of the agents were on board. And the day of the production meeting of Armageddon, Hunter brought it up and everybody

else was cool and nobody had said anything. And I'm sitting in there nervous. And he says, are we really going to trust the championship with this guy? And I knew that was a sniper bullet, man, whether it was meant for me or not, it hit me and I'm down on the ground and I got to figure out a way up. And the only other like kind of ace in the sleeve that I kept that I didn't use in the pitch because it was good enough to get over with Vince was Jeff's merchandise sales. And those armbands that looked like Spider-Man Katja and his t-shirts, at least the week that I presented them with was outselling everyone. Wow.

And so I came out of the dark with that. And I said, listen, this guy's merchandise is already the top selling. And I showed them the numbers on that. And I said, it's outselling everyone. It's even outselling you, man. I said, we got to take a chance now while we can strike now, while everything is ready and perfect, or they're going to stop believing. And that was what got it over. Vince was like, all right, everybody get out of here,

which meant me get out of there and everyone else stayed. Me and like the agents and stuff. Right. And so we all go out and I'm not going back to the writer's room. I'm waiting to find out. And I'm sitting there with Michael Hayes and he's like, Freddie, I don't know. You know, I just, I think maybe push too hard and I just, I don't know. And he's nervous. And I'm like, come on, man, it's going to, it's going to work out. The story's worth it. You know, I'm like the, the young, passionate WWE writer. And this guy, DJ, who directed all of them was like, nah, we're going to get it. We're going to get it. And then by the end, after like two minutes, he's like, we're not going get it. We're going to get it. And then by the end, after like two minutes, he's like, we're not good. We're not going to get it. And then all of a sudden the door swings open. Hunter goes by, doesn't even throw me a glance,

which meant two things. One, he wasn't feeling me. And two, Jeff was going to be champion. And so I looked at Michael and I went in before Michael did back into the production meeting. I said, are we good? And he just goes, and grunts his gruntly grunt, and I ran back out, and I was like, I won't cuss on your podcast, but I said, we're freaking good, man. We're freaking good, and I watched it from like a side entrance, the end of the match,

and you can see Hunter removed himself from the end of the match because he didn't want to be a part of that. So he kind of rolls out of the ring and Jeff has the moment with Edge. And yeah, and then it was just weird after that. Like there was another wrestler and developmental that I wanted to work on. I had some ideas with, and he was like, hey, I'm working with him. Don't talk to him. And I was like, ah, that's it. I was like, all right, cool. I get it. I get it. So I just stayed away from his guys and I stayed away from him after that. Cause he just, you know, but again, he was right. Jeff wasn't trustworthy as champ and it was a feel good moment, but it wasn't a sustainable

one. And Hunter's about sustainable championship runs because that's bankable, reliable money for the company. And his philosophy was sound then. and it's still sound now. And I just, you know, I pushed hard on that one because I thought it was worth it. On your first episode, that great first episode, Wrestling with Freddie, everyone should go check it out. I want to ask you just one follow-up on that because it's sort of along the lines of what you're talking about here you talk about uh a story where you meet with vince and and uh is very impromptu on your first day uh you shake hands then you come back and and you're you're sitting in his office and actually

no there's someone else in his office he brings you in and wants you to basically work with this guy to correct basically his mistake he didn't like his script. You refer to this man as Brian and you say he has questionable sports teams. Is this Brian Gewirtz that you're talking about? The famous Brian Gewirtz who is like the Rock's right-hand man because you never said his last name and he's like the most famous one of all time and you say he doesn't like you. This is me putting the journalist hat on. I was like, wait a second, was that Brian Gewirtz that he was talking about? For some reason you left his last name out. Am I right?

I also said that we ended up being really cool by the time I left the company. And I only said he has questionable taste because I knew it would hurt him. I forgot that you share a very similar taste. And I did not mean it toward you. No, no, not at all. But was I right? Yeah, it was Brian. Yeah.

Interesting. And that was the most awkward way I've ever had to meet anyone in my life. No, no, honest about it. And he told you why he didn't like it. And I respected that as well. And I had, you know, I had a lot to learn when I, I could write the hell out of a monologue, but I couldn't book two guys or two girls wrestling. I didn't know who was good with who or any of that stuff. So I had to be like, yo man, who do you want to

wrestle at Survivor Series? Okay. I'll come up with a story that hopefully means something and resonates with you and do something to make it feel real and click. With Jeff, it was my dad's drug issues. And I just put all that. I say, if I want to make my father a sympathetic character, what would I write? And I just put it all on Jeff and a couple of key words that I had heard him use in the past with his imagination. And I just kind of wrapped everything around that. And that resonated with people because it was from a real place. I didn't enjoy writing all those because I was thinking about bad crap. But that's what I was good at. And I was really bad at booking. That is fascinating to me because, uh, actually Brian Gowertz went to Syracuse university as well. And every so often they would bring famous people who graduated from the school to come talk to us.

One day when I was a student there, he came to speak to us only like 15 people showed up, but I was such a fan boy that I was more excited about that than when, you know, some of the famous broadcasters would come up because this was for the rock. Yes., but I was such a fanboy that I was more excited about that than when some of the famous broadcasters would come up. Because you knew he wrote for The Rock. Yes, yes. I was like, this is like Rock's pride. This is 2003, 2004. I was like, holy crap. The guy, Rock's guy is here? So when you said

Brian, the light went off. When that voice and those words and you realize they came from that brain, it's so it's almost like that movie, The Mighty. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's wild.

Like, Brian is the sweetest, most non-threatening, non-abusive person in the world. Like, he had to learn how to talk trash back by working in the WWE with all those trash talkers where it's just non-stop, just costs a barrage of insults all day. He had to learn how to do that. He's the nicest guy. And then to realize he was writing every, all those rock insults, that's a tribute to his talent. You mentioned Kieran Culkin. He was at Survivor Series. He's a part of Succession. He's having

a great career. My first crush as a young boy i'm talking like six seven eight whatever was macaulay culkin i was obsessed with macaulay culkin i went to home alone five times i had a whole shrine on my wall i wrote him a letter he sent me a signed uh picture and you mentioned going to wrestling events with macaulay culkin betting on wrestling events with macaulay we would gamble yeah a $100 a match. What a life, Freddie. So he's a hardcore fan. I know he's dabbled a little bit on the indies and whatnot,

but he's really hardcore. So, yeah, Kieran was the most hardcore in the beginning. Kieran got thrown out of a match because he threw a beer at the big show, at a house show back in the day. So he has hardcore stories. Legit thrown out? Oh, yeah. They threw him out of the building. Wow. Okay. Actually, I'm going to probably have back in the day. So he has hardcore stories. Legit thrown out? Oh, yeah. They threw him out of the building.

Wow. Okay. Actually, I'm going to probably have him on the podcast to talk about it. You got to, yes. Yeah. So he was really hardcore. And then Mac and I weren't quite as hardcore. And then we started falling back into it after the Attitude Era.

And we were both working our brains out back then. We didn't have a whole lot of time. and I had gotten away from the brand for a while. And so from that WrestleMania, which was Flair's retirement match, I really invested a lot more time and energy into what they were trying to do, who I liked, you know, who I wasn't really clicking with all that. And Mac and I started traveling to shows and we would gamble. We would bet a hundred bucks a match on who would win. And he was like, his knowledge of how they're going to tell the story is greater than mine.

And so he would win a good 80, 90% of the bet. I'd be out about eight, $900 every time we went to one of those matches. When you went to work for them, did you ever try to recruit him? He came and did a segment when i was like the the gm of raw the guest gm and randy bust my back he came and did like a segment but i it wasn't something that he he wouldn't have liked their structure so it wasn't something that i would even uh bring up to him but kieran was the one who kind of like flirted a call he's like hey man what He's like, hey, man,

what's it like? What's it like writing? He asked a few questions, you know, and he would have been, I think, great at it. I think he's the best actor on HBO right now. And he can write just as well as he acts. So he would have really thrived. I don't think Mac would have liked the schedule as much. Mac is a gypsy, man. He's going to do what he wants to do, and he's okay if you don't like it. He's very comfortable with who he is. He had to grow up fast, and people that grow up fast kind of figure stuff out a little quicker, you know? And so he knows what makes him happy and what doesn't. I've known him a long time. We have game nights here at the house, and he finds a way to cheat the rules and outthink the people who create the games. He won't even exist in that kind of a structure where you're like, no, Mac, it's Monopoly.

These are the rules. And the first thing he says is, but what about this? You know what I mean? It just doesn't work for him. So that corporate life there at WWE, he would have hated it. That is amazing. Are you watching right now the product? You're watching the product right now?

I am. I don't always enjoy it, but I watch it and my kids watch as well. My son's a little too young. He likes more MMA. He likes the real stuff. But my daughter likes the storytellers and I'm friendly with a few of the wrestlers. And so she knows them and works on her gymnastics for moves that like Lexi Kaufman teaches her. You know what I mean?

So like, it's, it's a little different for us, but my daughter analyzes it. And she tells me like, when she doesn't like a gimmick, she calls it a gimmick. She's such an inside jerk. And she's such a creep with that. She'll be like, I don't like his gimmick dad. And I'm like, I know I don't either, but you got to just let it play out and hopefully it'll be okay. And so it's, you know, she has her favorites and they can do no wrong, but if it's somebody that they're exploring a gimmick with these kids, they spot it right away. They know there's not a commitment there. They know it's not original. They know it's not from the mind of the performer.

And my daughter rejects it. And granted she's a little inside, but if she's doing it, other kids are too does she think it's real no does your son no he says dad is this the real fights or the or the pretend ones i say this is the pretend ones and he'll go okay i'm gonna go watch anime and he'll go watch japanese but that's fascinating you said your son is a little too young and so he likes mma more he he trains jujitsu with john jocks Machado, man. Like he wants to watch MMA. He wants to see the real stuff. And you're okay with him watching MMA.

He like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it's really beautiful to me, but he watched a Brian Danielson match and, uh, Brian Danielson versus who was it?

Uh, Eddie Kingston, I think is who it was. And he, he liked Eddie Kingston more. Wow. I was like, what are you talking about, man? You like, I was like, it was. And he liked Eddie Kingston more. Wow. I was like, what are you talking about, man? I was like, he's sick on the mic, but you like his wrestling more?

He goes, yeah, he just fights. I was like, all right, cool. Respect. So he liked that. But otherwise, he just wants to watch what he calls the real guys. Okay. So this is a tremendous segue. You're teeing me up left and right.

Who's putting on a better product right now? AEW or WWE? Okay, so I think for the first time, you could make an argument that AEW is closer to balance than WWE is. I don't know if you win that argument, but here's how I'll explain it, and then I'll give you a definitive answer. Okay. Okay.

WWE is clearly overwritten and the hands are on and the tight, the grip is tight, right? AEW is, you could say underwritten and the grip is more there to catch you if you fall. It's, it's a loose, comforting grip, right? And I think the best wrestling is somewhere in the middle where the people who aren't great on the mic have a rider that they are with, that they work with, maybe travel with, some kind of connection where they're riding for them and working with them. They can be working promos in house shows and then presenting them on tv if they want what whatever their process needs to be but some wrestlers need to be protected from themselves

wwf on the other hand i feel you need to allow people like braun breaker man braun breaker serious why can't you just have his name i just give him his name. Why does everybody's name have to be like Brick Brackman? It's not 1987 and it's not The Simpsons. You're supposed to be presenting a real product that can appeal to not just one demographic. Like we're just going for kids. I don't think you can just go for kids with professional wrestling because it wasn't originally intended for kids. It was people thought it was real back in the day and they were real fights. And these were adults there that were buying into these storylines.

So you have to leave an element of that. And I think that's where a scripted hand can help. But again, if you're too heavy handed and I had to learn this when I was there, there are some wrestlers that no matter how cool I think it looks on paper, once it comes out of their mouth, it's not theirs. It's just not theirs and they can't say it. And so I'd literally have to kind of like teach them how to write and then how to act what they wrote. Right. So it would be more like, Hey,

do you remember when we were talking and you got mad at me? Cause I told you that wasn't good enough. I would, you know, I was tough on him. And, uh, and you got mad and you were like, I do belong here. I was like, that's where you need to. And it would be things like that. And then all of a sudden they would just say things they said before and we'd write it into the promo. And that was near the end when I was leaving that I really figured that, that methodology out. Cause otherwise, man, you know, I was ghostwriting stuff and there wasn't any co-writers on that, or I was writing for my show and you know, they were my scripts. So you were saying what I wrote, unless you had a better joke, which a lot of times they did. But, uh, but so I had to really learn how to not just write for

someone, but teach them how to sell it. Because not everyone's a pirate in real life anymore. It's hard to sell that. So you got to teach them how to kind of bring something real to it. Like I said, the stuff with my dad for Jeff. I would ask a lot of personal questions that they didn't always like, and then try to insert that into what they were doing. And so right now, I mean, I asked you the question, I'll answer it.

And then I want to throw it back to you. I think the AEW product is a lot more interesting. It's a lot more real. It feels tighter. The stuff like MJF and punk together, like that's riveting stuff. That is gold. Isn't that tremendous? There's nothing.

I mean, they tried to be creative. I'm not supposed to love that guy, but I love, he even talked shit to me on Twitter in gimmick and said, don't, don't like a tweet I post if you don't follow me. I think he even like cussed at me. And I was like, I didn't want to compliment him because that's the wrong thing for my generation to do. I'm supposed to get mad at him, but I was just like, dude, I got to follow him. So I was like, done deal, dude.

Done deal. And I love him. So listen, currently, I think AEW is doing better product and servicing the fans better, the majority of fans better than WWE is. And I include NXT in that. If NXT was still the way it was, then I would say WWE is still servicing the mainstream and the hardcore and the kids in a better fashion simply because they had more variety. But now they're turning that into like the, you can't do that on television version. I hate it. The new look with the colors.

It's like Nickelodeon from the eighties, man, which was cool when I was a kid. Everybody liked Moose and Alexander and opening the lockers and closing it. But that doesn't belong anywhere in professional wrestling ever. And I'm not a fan of it. And AEW, like you said, is much more real. I like that the people who can talk, talk. It's so nice to hear CM Punk say a promo that wasn't written. It just feels so good. Even in WWE, he got to freestyle a lot, but there were

certain moments he had to hit, especially when he was in there with someone like Vince. Otherwise, it's going to be a problem. So for him to have that kind of freedom, for Brian to have that kind of freedom, and for them to finally get to showcase who I think are going to be some genuine pillars. They build this company on like an MJF, even though I'm not supposed to like him, I really like him, but I hate it. Right. But, uh, but yeah, man, I just think they got some people trying to do things in an old school way, but with some new school ideas and philosophiesies as far as how a match should go. But MJF is an old school wrestler. So if old schoolers are hating on him, y'all are looking

at the wrong thing. His matches might be new and faster and bigger spots and more kickouts than what you're comfortable with as a surveyor of art, so to speak, but he is old school and he is committed to it. And he is okay. If you know, he doesn't like you and that's some like rapper shit, excuse me. That's some rapper stuff. You could cuss by the way. Okay. Okay. But yeah, I love him and I really like what they're doing right now, but before the switch, I'd still would put WWE above and what's going to happen to Timothy Thatcher on that new NXT? What happens to a guy like that? What can you do with him there?

It ain't even their fault if they screw him up now, because he doesn't fit in with that. They should just let him go, and he can find a better place to showcase his skills. I love that guy. Well, and you see like Adam Cole, look at the pops that he's getting, and they had him, and they didn't bring him up.

You know, it's interesting. They keep saying that they don't pay attention. However, I don't know if you saw yesterday, Edge is referencing the MJF Punk promo in his promo towards Miz. So they're clearly paying attention, right? I think certain guys and girls can get away with it, but the majority of the roster cannot and would get in trouble if they did. But someone like Edge, he's got to get out of jail free. He can say what he wants to say. He's never going to disparage the WWE. So he gets that kind of freedom.

But are you surprised that they would even, because someone's watching, he's like, wait, what is he talking about? You go out, you seek it. Are you surprised that they're even referencing, even acknowledging the competition? That's not really like them. Sure. And I get that philosophy. I mean, I even heard it from Vince when I was on the plane as far as not referencing them, but I've seen them break their own rules a lot, you know, in the, just to see what happens and then tighten up again. And I think everyone has, but yeah, I guess it's, I guess it's somewhat surprising, but I don't think you'll see that with everyone. I don't think everyone can get away with it. Maybe Xavier, maybe Roman, Edge.

I don't even know if Miz can – Miz can pretty much get away with whatever he wants, I think. But I don't know. Maybe they'd even bark at him. I don't know. I spoke to Daniel Bryan or Bryan Danielson. I keep messing that up. I watched that interview. I watched that interview. I loved that interview.

Thank you. Yeah, he was like in a hotel before a match was going to happen. It was wild, man. He just came off so normal finally. Like I love him. Was that not like him? I haven't seen a lot of his interviews. Why?

Is he usually not coming off normal? WWE can be very tight, you know? It can be very tight you know it can be very tight and it's not for everyone man Brian wants to you know have a farm and feed a village and wrestle outside in a cornfield and that's just not that it's like Macaulay right like there's just certain guys that I don't think click with it and I was so glad to hear that he got free. And I knew, I knew everyone knew he was going to be great, but I knew he was going to be more comfortable and you would see a much like more honest version of himself and who he is. And he spoke well of everyone and you believed everything. Cause I, I believe he genuinely thinks that and feels that way. And I love him. He was

one of the first wrestlers to come to our wrestler acting class. When I started the acting class there, he was one of the very first ones and busted his ass so much, man, from here to here in a month. You know what I mean? Like he was the first one to memorize stuff, even though they had four weeks, he came in the second week off book. I'm like, bro, my acting class didn't do that. I was like, that's so awesome. Like he was great. AJ Mendez was another one who was great like that. Like there were just certain people who were like, bro, my acting class didn't do that. I was like, that's so awesome. Like he was great. AJ Mendez was another one who was great like that. Like there were just certain people who were like, yo, I'm all in, give me more, give me more. And that's how he was. And, uh, you know, he had the LaBelle lock. They couldn't call it that, but he had that. And I called Gene,

uncle Gene all my life. So I kind of had that click with him right away. And I was like, dude, he taught me how to choke guys out in the third grade. And I got suspended from school for, because then I was like, no, it's my uncle Gene. Don't you know who he is? And they didn't care. And so like, we kind of clicked right away and I've always liked him, man. So of note, what he said, and it's interesting that you talk about the acting school, you know, he's there and he's like waiting for the script. And there was no script, right? When he got to aew and he he said that that was kind of refreshing that was like the one subtle shot he was very complimentary and very

i don't think it's a shot though it was just a fact okay fair enough but is there something to be said for too many scripts like look at what they're doing the real yes even though you were a part of that script writing process a hundred percent but remember this i have the benefit of hindsight right yeah like 10 plus years removed and we spoke about this a little bit earlier which is there are some wrestlers i don't think should have a writer and there are some that i think desperately need one and when you see someone thrive on the microphone, like Daniel, I think all his promos in AEW, the short and the quick are better than every promo he ever did in the WWE already. He's been there three months and I don't think he has a better WWE promo

than what he's cut there in AEW punk. You might argue. Cause he had some pretty epic ones. Were you there for the pipe bomb? No. You had already left? I had just left the company. I had literally just left.

Work or shoot? I think it was a little bit of both. I know there were moments to hit, because I know who wrote it. Wow. But I also know they told him, hey, man, if you got some things you need to say, say it. Wow. And Vince is down for it. Vince is like, yo, you want to go?

Let's go. Those are the best, right? When you don't know if it's a work or a shoot. We had that very recently with Becky and Charlotte. In your opinion, was it a work? Was it a shoot? Were we all being worked? It felt real to me.

I think it was real. Yeah. I don't, I mean, I guess if you, if we analyze it forever, we can talk ourselves into anything, but I mean, I'll put it to you this way. I, I know that they, that there's beef. I know there is. I know there is. I have friends that wrestle. I know that there's beef. Like, So it's unfortunate. Hopefully, they can make money off of it. Hopefully, everyone can get past their own issues. Something my uncle told me when I was very young, he was my dad's manager in the 70s. He was Richard Pryor's manager. He was Prince's manager. This dude's been in the game forever. And he said, Freddie, it's show business. Which word's bigger?

And at 12, you don't get what he's trying to say. But once I got in this business and I realized which word's bigger, you start to have a better perspective on things. And you don't personalize every decision that gets made. And if you're on a show that gets canceled, you kind of understand why. Whereas when you're in your 20s and early 30s, like I was when my first show got canceled, it hurt. It was a sword to my stomach. It's just a business decision. And so as you get older, you get wisdom. I got enough gray hair to prove it.

And I think there's enough wisdom around them where they can do some business. But they had the match. They didn't hurt each other. Nobody looked like they were trying to hurt the other person. It looked like they were trying to have a good, clean match. They got the semi-shady roll-up from the babyface, which gives them a place to go because it didn't feel like a legitimate win. That's the old-school WWE way of making it longer when they don't have a story to do it even though they handed them one um but uh i mean they literally gave it to you but uh but yeah i

think it was i think it was real from what i from what i know but they still protected each other i just hope that they they don't rush it like they do everything else like this is the kind of thing or maybe you have to rush maybe i'm just 45 years old and like slower first acts in movies, you know, like, I don't know. I'm not the demographic anymore. So for me, I would love to see it play out for, you know, the better part of a year where they go back and forth, just hating and trying to make life miserable for one another at every opportunity. That doesn't mean every week they're on different shows, but at every opportunity to keep each other's name in the other's mouth at every opportunity,

I think is good. I hope they don't just end it in a month and then they move on. This happens to me. I wonder if it happens to you as well. When they release these guys, especially for no rhyme or reason. And when I say guys, I mean,

you know, the males and females, it kind of turns me off. I get bummed out. I'm like, what, like I have a hard time supporting, supporting you know it's like what keith lee's gone carrying cross you just brought this guy up uh hit row like doesn't it make you does it make you question your no it makes it makes me want to start a wrestling brand that's what it makes me want to do oh like everybody sees that and they get sad i see that and i get hungry i get get hungry. I was in Karrion Kross's DMs.

For real? For real. The day it happened, I was like, hey, man, I didn't go back to work for fun. Like I went back to work to invest in things, you know. So imagine having Keith Lee and Karrion Kross on the same roster and making people wait to watch them fight and just keeping their stories connected, but separate, connected, but separate. And even if it was just indie shows, which is what it would have to be, you know, I'm not trying to go in for $50 million on something, but there's so much talent out there now that I think people would love to watch. I mean, they literally had evil macho and evil Elizabeth with Carrie and Scarlett. And I loved them. I loved them.

Then they separate them and bring him up and destroy his entire look. He looked like a legitimate linebacker who could kill you. He was huge. He was thick. He could work. He could talk on the mic a bit. And with his girl, he had magic heat. And they're like, let's take away all the good stuff and put them in like a porno gladiator mask and red suspenders. And I literally, I think I even

tweeted about, I just wrote red suspenders. Are you kidding me? Like I was so not even mad. You know, like when a parent says, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. Like that's how I felt. It's like, oh, who said yes when they presented this? I know it wasn't him. So, you know, that kind of stuff makes me want to take my finances from one idea and then put them into a brand new one, which I've flirted with before and maybe one day i'll do but when i see those releases it makes me think about it much more seriously wow so so is this legit i mean this feels kind of like exclusive are you interested in re-entering the wrestling business yeah in an independent fashion yeah never on like a huge main scale thing like i've flirted even with brian kendrick's wrestling pro wrestling,

which is basically like comedy, cosplay wrestling. Like if the kids in the hall and Vince McMahon had a baby and it wanted to start its own wrestling brand, it would be this. And I've even flirted with that a little bit and talk to networks about interest and things like that and TV rights and stuff, do things the old sort of Jim Cornette way. And, uh, and yeah, as far as business model goes, we obviously think very differently. But, but yeah, again, I can't book. So I'd have to have somebody help me with that. But I can make you give a crap about the person I'm wanting you to give a crap about. So, so yeah, it's something that I think about often, often. Wow. And do you feel like, are you just thinking about it? Or are you talking to people about it?

Because you're in an area with a lot of great shows, right? There's PWG, there's a lot of good shows out there. Are you actively? The most that I'm comfortable saying, and we can talk more, is before I took the Netflix movie, I spoke with my accountant about, hey, if I wanted to screw around with an indie you know, what would I need to do? And he said, you'd need to do ABC. And so then I did, I did a, and I'm getting ready to do B and C. So, you know, it's definitely something that I'm, I think about a lot. I think about a lot. I really, I don't, I couldn't handle the schedule that WWE had, which is why I quit. It was just, it's too legit, man. There's just too, you're always gone.

Always. And I just couldn't hack it. I thought I could. They even tried to protect me and said, hey, take time off. We don't want you to burn out. I'll never burn out. And then boom, I burned out. So they've seen it before.

And I could never do it again. But if I had like a local LA indie show with a small like TV deal, there's a thousand TV channels out there. I don't care which one it's on. You know what I mean? If I'm financing the thing, they don't have to worry about anything but getting content. So it's definitely, it's definitely something I've, I've invested time and energy in just no, no money yet. Right. How likely is this to happen in 2022? It depends how many movies I do in 2022. Oh, do you have a lot on the docket? I have one that I'm going to do. If I do two, then that's A, B, and C. And yeah,

then it'll be something that I start pursuing aggressively. Wow. So you were just in Brooklyn for several weeks. Is that the Netflix thing that you were shooting? I did a Netflix movie out there, a romantic comedy with an amazing actress, Amy Garcia, who a lot of people know from Lucifer, but she's my sister for life. I told her, I said, hey, if you ever need a hundred grand and a fake passport, I got you. I got you for life. She's my home girl. And I loved making it. And it started my relationship with Netflix, which was good because I had never worked with them before. And I walked away before they came into the game. So yeah, that was a good relationship to start. And I have another movie that I'm getting ready to do. And I had some crazy conversations on some dream stuff that got way further than I thought. And I'll let you know,

man, I'll text you if something awesome happens that we can talk about, but I'll tell you off air for sure. Okay, fair enough. Now, the Netflix rom-com with Amy Garcia, when does that come out? It'll be next Christmas and they'll do posts and all that crap or next Thanksgiving probably. And the working title was Christmas Quinceañera, but I don't know what they'll name it at the end of the day. Okay, but it's an English-speaking movie. Yeah, it's English-speaking, which is why they'll be changing the title of the movie. Right, right, right, right. We're not quite at the place where white people speak Spanish yet and appreciate it, but one day, one day.

I didn't even realize, again, another thing I learned during your podcast, the amount of time that you spent in New Mexico, in Albuquerque. Yeah, man. Which is a place I've been to several times to go to the Jackson Wink Academy over there. You probably left by the time that was a thing. But have you been back? Did you ever go back to train there? I've never been to their camp. But I wrestled there.

I took karate there. That's where I met Johnny Tapia. And he got me into boxing. Right. And, uh, I really fell in love with, with boxing. And then when I went back to California, I think it was 89 or 90 was when my godfather, Bob Wall, uh, said, I want you to meet someone. This is John Jocks Machado. And he had one hand and I was like, and I was a good wrestler. And he goes, I want you to grapple him. I was like, yo, are you joking? And I was like, you know, I was full of puberty and testosterone.

I was like, yeah, whatever. And in like eight seconds I was done. And he had me on my, on his shoulders and he's spinning me around going, which window, which window little Freddie. And I was just like Chris Tucker in, in a Jackie Chan movie where he's like, which one of y'all just kicked me? And that's when I kind of fell in love with jujitsu. And I've been in love with – you had your crush on Macaulay. Mine was on John Jackson, and I still crush on him today.

And you get to train. I mean you get to train with the guy. I'm still writing Macaulay letters. He's only – Bro, so I invited you to one of my nerdy games that you said wasn't quite your thing. Was he a part of it? Yeah. You didn't tell me that. I would have signed up in a second.

Yeah, he's a huge dork, man. He loves D&D and all that crap. Yeah, what, the Dungeons & Dragons thing that you did? We weren't going to do Dungeons & Dragons. It was going to be like a cool futuristic street racing thing. Okay, if I'm being honest, you didn't quite sell it like this. I think you actually sold it as Dungeons & Dragons. I probably did.

Is this a joke? I wasn't sure. I played Dungeons & Dragons when I was seven, and I was honored. And I will be honest with you, I actually thought of it because of the respect and admiration I have for you. But then reality sunk in, and I was like, I can't do this. You're a busy man with a real life and with children. Xavier Woods does it too. I was his dungeon master for his YouTube channel in season three.

I don't even know what that means. What does that even mean, dungeon master? You write a movie and there are actors that are playing in the movie, but based on choices they make, you better have some alternative options. Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books in the 80s? Yeah. It's a game. It's that book, but as a game. You play this with your kids too?

I've ran one. I focused them on history. So they were all in the Boston Tea Party and they had to choose whether they were going to stop it or help it go off. And they chose correctly. But none of them had a sailing skill and they tried to escape in the boat and they drowned at sea. So it was a terrible ending for 10-year-olds at the the time but they're 12 now and my daughter writes the stories now she like she didn't she doesn't need my help anymore so are you back because you know you said that and i'll just keep you for a few more minutes thank you so much for the time are you because

you know kind of what got you into the wrestling world was the fact that you were done with acting and you just wanted to be a dad and focus on your kid. Are you back now? Is the retirement over? Are you back to full-time acting, looking for work, okay with being away for a few weeks? Yeah, I won't work at the same time Sarah works, right? One of us always has to be here. But when the opportunities come and it's something that I click with and they like me, then yeah, I'm down. And once my daughter started showing interest, I wanted to show her what I could do. And once I let my accountant know what I was wanting to do with the next phase of my life, he's like, yo, you need to go make some movies. So that's the plan, man. I have a goal. I have a destination in mind. I have a map on how

to get there. And now it's just about driving down that road and dealing with the flat tires and this potholes and all that crap. What do you want to do in the next phase of your life? I want to genuinely want to start a wrestling brand. Well, that is it. I really, really want to do that. I got close on a couple of things, man. I almost took over creative for women of wrestling for a while wrestling before AJ ended up doing it. And, uh, like I said, I spoke with, uh, with Brian about him and his brand. Cause I thought it was really funny and unique and interesting. I mean, he literally has a mummy wrestler that wrestles slow because the mummy will be slow. I love it. Like it's, it's, you would have to be on it like HBO at 1130 at night, right? Like that would be the time slot for it. Like it's, it's, you would have to be on it like HBO at 1130 at night. Right. Like that

would be the time slot for it. Like in the old days when they would put weird stuff like dream on, on like late at night, it would have to be like that. And I don't think that's their vibe, but, uh, but yeah, I think about it a lot, a lot. And, uh, there's a lot of, you know, I'm friends with more wrestlers than I am actors, Ariel. You know what I mean? I just got along with their, with their attitude and their, their sort of approachlers than I am actors, Ariel. You know what I mean? I just got along with their attitude and their sort of approach more than I click with most actors. So I can count on one hand how many actor friends I have. Well, I did turn down the Dungeons & Dragons request.

If you're looking for a great manager, old school, some will refer to him as Heel Wani who can cut a fire promo on anyone can i please raise my hand i mean whenever you start this cheers no audition necessary wow no i should have pulled out my my luchador masks i have a whole i have mine right over here too i'm in a drawer right over here dueling luchador masks all right i'll grab it i'll grab it one time one time i'm gonna grab mine too i mean freddie prince jr and i wearing dueling luchador masks i take off my glasses when i do this this is fantastic what's better than this right guys here i am heel wani oh there he is oh his is way cooler than mine well that's tight

yeah you got the you got the legit ones oh look at that that is beautiful come on baby that's el gway where'd you get that uh from uh luchador mask the guy that makes uh calisto's masks made it for me he made it for you yeah oh geez you're way cooler than i got this at a a store outside the arena triple a in mexico city you have a custom made now like did you have any say in the design or did you just say no i had zero say in the design how do you feel about the design i love dude are you kidding how do i feel about it's incredible it doesn't matter how i feel look at that why did he choose that that logo he just thought it looked badass man like the takate eagle bro yeah yeah yeah could you imagine if like your wife or

one of your kids just walked into the room right now and saw you talking wouldn't be the first time ariel wouldn't be the first time won't be the last i got about 30 other masks right over there from superhero stuff to they live zombie mask remember that rowdy rowdy piper movie oh yeah yeah i have one of the zombie masks right over there with hair on it it's creepy i have chick masks in case you know chick comes through and like yo the dude's got masks but i don't get a mask. Yes, you do. I got hot girl and cat woman. Come on, man. Does your wife have a mask?

If she wants, she could be hot girl or cat woman. She could be a luchador if she wants, but I don't think she's rolling with the mask, dude. It's just one of those things where she shakes her head in shame, but knows she's stuck with it. Does she watch with you? Wrestling? It depends.

If it's one of the people we know that's been to the house, then she'll watch. But otherwise, that's not her thing. Do your kids want to be actors? My daughter talks about it, but she wouldn't be allowed to do it until she's 18. Oh, why? We don't need child actors in this house. We make a good enough living. They don't need to be doing that. They need to focus on school, on the real world, things like that. And then if she's 18 and she's like, yo, I'm trying to get out there, I'll be

like, all right, you got to try to get yourself an agent. And she's got to come up humble. She's got to come up the right way, which is weird to say in this lucha mask, but it's true. I love it. And you have been with your wife around 20 years, right? Yeah, we've been together like 22, 23. We'll be married almost 20 coming up. That is a unicorn relationship in your business, right? Where you live. What is a unicorn anywhere, man?

I mean, it's incredible. I mean, both of you being very famous, being famous before you before you met remaining famous what has been the secret to keep i mean it seems from afar you guys have a great relationship a great family loving family i love to see how much you care about your kids cook for them love being their dad you don't flaunt them out there it seems like you're very proud but private as well to a degree what has been the secret to keeping this relationship so strong? were friends first. She knew exactly what kind of guy I was. She knew where I was at morally. She knew what my tastes were in art and music. She knew what my annoying things were like wearing masks, which I had even back then. What my strengths and weaknesses were, how I felt about relationships, monogamy, like all that, all the, all the important stuff that you should, that you should know. And, and I knew all that about her and we were both just in a place where we were ready

to have a serious relationship. And so it clicked. And that's, I think the best way to start a relationship is friends first, the best way to keep it going. All I can say is you have to be on the same path, but you have to know that there's going to be other paths that branch off from that. As long as you guys are coming back together periodically, you're still on the same path together moving forward. It's when those paths bring you so far apart that you can't even see where you started. That's where a lot of my friends have gotten in trouble. So we try to stay on the same path. And then the simple version is

I can cook, she can't, and I still make her laugh. So even as I get old and ugly, she still wants to be full and laugh. So we ain't going nowhere, man. I love it. I've taken up too much of your time. Thank you for doing this, Freddie. This has been a blast. I love picking your brain. Again, I know a lot of people share this sentiment. Wrestling with Freddie is a tremendous listen. And I'm not just saying it.

I was pumped when you announced it, when you told me you were doing it, when the first episode came out. Please give me more of this. I can't wait. So when does it come out? Is there a day? I'm so bad at this. It's either Thursdays or Fridays that it comes out,

but you can, you can hear it just about anywhere. Yeah. And Spotify, Apple, all those places. Yeah. And they're all around like 30 minutes, 45 minutes. They all fall in that zone. So I'll never take you too long. I won't get you all the way through rush hour,

but I'll get you through a little bit. It's a great listen. I urge everyone to check it out. Congrats on all your success on the new Netflix gig, getting back into the acting world and this new wrestling promotion that we're gonna freaking dominate together along with Macaulay Culkin and the Culkins and Doogie Howser and all your famous friends we're all gonna come together and freaking dominate this business for now though all the best to my friend happy holidays and thank you very much for doing this yo it's my pleasure I love how long we talked in masks that's the cool that's the coolest shit ever ever and if y'all didn't

like that deal with it so like i said wasn't that great stuff i mean again even if you aren't a pro wrestling fan the passion the fire the knowledge all that that he has for the world of pro wrestling, I just love it. And of course, I'm interested in that world. And in particular, the behind the scenes part of that world, so great to pick his brain. It is kind of still surreal that Freddie Prinze Jr. was a member of the WWE creative team. Could you imagine what was that like? That was like over 10 years ago.

He wasn't that far removed from those movies that I talked about earlier, Scooby-Doo and whatnot. Crazy. And it's great to see that he's still into it. And how about that scoop where he's talking about getting back into the pro wrestling business. Could you imagine Heelwani making his debut for Freddie Prince Jr.'s new promotion? Massive box office. I hope you enjoyed the conversation. I hope you are enjoying these conversations the last few weeks. I feel like we've been putting out good stuff. AJ Hawk, Daniel Ricciardo, of course, back in the day, Pat McAfee, Frank Izola, Kendra Lust, the list goes on and on. I hope you've been enjoying this. Please do check out our stuff over at youtube.com slash Ariel Helwani. Also, when you like, when you download, when you subscribe, when you rate, review, when

you comment, all those things really help. Believe it or not, they help. So please continue to do that. Thank you very much for your support. We have a couple more shows in 2021. We'll take a small break and then we'll come back. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode on this here channel. So continue to follow, subscribe, do all the things that you do.

Thank you to the Lovely Feathers for their great music. Thank you to Manscaped for their support. Thank you to my producers for their help as well. And most importantly, thank you to Freddie Prinze Jr. for his time today. And you know what? Above that, thank you to you. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for checking us out. Have a great weekend. I'll talk to you next week. Thank you.