As PWMania.com previously reported, actor and former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. opened up about his plans to start a wrestling promotion on his recent podcast. Prinze Jr. elaborated on the process while appearing on the Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw podcast:
“My philosophy is this. There’s over 200 dramas on television. There’s over 150 comedies on television, there’s over 400 reality TV shows on television, and there’s three wrestling shows. So there’s tons more room but my plan is a little different. I’m not looking for a TV deal, at first. I want to have a couple of years where we’re still filming everything. But I need time to fail. I’m already real estate shopping, I’m already looking to own a place where I can have a venue where it’s not too big, where it’s not too small. I bought a lighting kit from the Fox boxing crew. They were replacing their old one and it was like a $38,000 rig and I got it for six grand. I don’t know if I’m supposed to say that [or] if they’re allowed to sell it. But it’s in storage. I’ve already got a lot of things that I want for it. I’m about a year and a half away from being fully ready to go. But I want to take my time with it. And then once we’re ready to go, I want to have a fully SAG show. And that year and a half gives me a time for all my wrestlers in my roster to get vouchered so that when we do go, it can be a SAG show. My wrestlers are gonna have insurance, retirement, and everything that comes with the Screen Actors Guild. I assure you, it’s not all good [because] there’s a lot of BS with our union as well. But it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It’s been a goal of mine for a long time. I don’t know how far down the goal line I’ll get. But I’m going as far as I can go. And if I fail, I don’t care, man, I’m still going all the way. But as far as getting it up and running, that’s a no brainer. I already have a plan for that. I just want to make sure that in the year and a half [that] I’m as prepared as possible to go to TV with something that’s never been done before. Because it’s going to be hard. No one’s been able to pull that off. And I understand why but I think I got some sneaky ways, doing seasons, having a limited roster, things like that. The Star Wars business model like on the Mandalorian where they don’t pay anyone but the base scale rate, like I can do that with some of my other guys and then save the bigger checks for other people. But I’m working hard on it man.”
“I have a friend who literally has run the CW for the last 20 years. And they have a really good business model in place. It’s how they maintain all those DC shows for so long. And I asked a lot of questions to a lot of people and I’ve been asking a lot of wrestlers as well and people who have built things you know, I spoke to Cody [Rhodes]. And I’ve spoken to Cody multiple times. So it’s a lot to learn, but I feel like I’m going slow and steady and I’m learning it the right way.”
(quotes courtesy of WrestlingNews.co)
