My Dad's Legacy and More of Ask Us Anything

Published Dec 19, 2024, 8:00 AM

This week on Unsanctioned we listen to some of your voicemails and I get to speak on what would've been a tv series about my dad's legacy. 

I'm definitely open to new talent, to young talent, to anybody who's willing to showcase their craft. It's an art, it's a craft, and I respect the hell of it. I'm not just going to be looking for the biggest guys and the most famous you know, chicks out there. I'll give opportunities to other people. You obviously need to have, you know, a stable of well established people, but you got to have the future there too, otherwise you're going to miss out on it.

In other words, stay tuned to this damn podcast every single week.

Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?

Shouts that hit the fair? Welcome to on sanctioned Thursdays, Astling.

What Fready?

What's up? Everybody? Welcome to Unsanctioned Thursdays. Today's episode is a continuation of Wednesdays where we take your questions and we answer them last week or not last week, but on Wednesday's episode. Whenever you're listening to this. They debut on Wednesdays, took questions from the Instagram people. This week we're taking voicemails. Voicemails, I get to hear your voice and respond to you, and I'll try to be as funny as theovonn that's not going to happen. I don't know if you've heard Devon if you know who he is, but he used to take voicemails on his podcast. I don't think he does it anymore, and they were some of the most amazing segments in the world. This will not compare to that, but I'll do my best.

Hey, Freddie, Jeff and Alex mimes m I'm from Australia though I just moved to Ohio this year with my family. My question for you guys is about storylines. WWE just created two new women's titles, but I feel like they should be creating storylines. I think AW have this problem as well. Why is Damian Priesce wrestling Gunt again? Why is Finn still attacking Priest? Why does Tiffany still have that bloody briefcase? Where is Wardlow? Where is Ricky Starks? Like, I just don't care about Mercedes one A right now, but I feel like I should. The Wire Sex are another example. I feel like that all show and no delivery. You know one idea could have target everyone who ever beat bray Wyatt, but don't tell the audience right away. Have us try and figure it out and have them cost people matches at meaningful moments. Maybe it's the sorry bo trying to overcome grief. Maybe he keeps losing matches because he sees like a bray whitatt, you know, sign in the crowd, or maybe carrying cross like pulls out of masks just to taunt him, and you know he finally conquers his grief. I don't know, I'm pulling these out of my bum but, like, is it harder than I think it is to come up with ideas that land? Obviously there are good stories right now, but it just seems like there are too many that fall flat or feel samey. If you agree that there's issues here, like, how would you fix it? Is it up to the talent or the creative team?

Emma, thank you for the voicemail. Appreciate you very very much. First of first things, First, you already moved to Ohio. You might as well write all these ideas down and send them to WWE and try to get onto the creative team. They have an open door policy with resumes and they hire people off the streets, at least they did when I work there. I'm sure they still do to say degree because you have good ideas and you should try to get them hurt by more people than just me and Jeff. So I agree with you pretty much on everything, all right? Where the hell is Ricky Starks? Where the hell is Wardlow? Why don't they have stories they don't have to fight for belts? I believe belts are a superficial way to help someone get over who's not that good on the mic. I don't know why Sometimes they put the people who are the best on the mic in title run stories because they don't need that. They can fight over other things and see impunk proved when they were fighting over a risk. Band talent does not have the power to fix it unless they're at the highest of levels. If you say no and you're a mid level talent to a story, that could be the last story you ever get, because you're hurting the feelings and the egos and the pride of insecure people that exists in every walk of life. So it's on the creative team to They may be coming up with just as many stories as you have, and just as many solutions as you have, and just as many ideas as you have, but they're not getting past the people who say yes. And that exists in Hollywood and the television level, on the film level, it exists in wrestling. I know, I hear a lot of criticism of writers from you know, like YouTubers and want to be like TikTok critic critics and things like that, where they just don't understand how the business works. Like the studios call the agencies. The agencies represent the artists. So the studio calls the agency and says, here's the type of movies we're looking for. Do your writers have anything in this world? And that world is intellectual properties, things that have already been created, that already have a built in audience. Because they don't know how to market movies anymore. They don't know how to build stars anymore. The music business will not sign you an agent. You will not sign you unless you have a million followers and you've done all the work on your own and you've already turned yourself into a star because they no longer know how or they know how, but they know that it's an investment. And they're all run by corporations now which are all risk adverse and want zero investment with the maximum return possible. That's why they invest in intellectual properties. It's why you see Rocky two storyline or Rocky three storylines on Monday Night Raw and NXT. Is they're taking something that's already been liked by people and they're putting it out there again. It's very difficult to get an original idea through. The bloodline is just the Hurt Business reformed into simons, like that's what that story was. Now, they did it great, but that story existed already. It existed, and it existed before the Hurt Business existed. It was another group before that, and before that group, it was another group before. It's a storyline that has worked a ton. They turned it into fans, which turned it into the Godfather, which is cool, that's relatable. Everybody got that, So I hear what you're saying. But it's not always on creative because a lot of times the bosses and the powers that be have their own plan, their own agenda that's not as well thought out. Maybe it's just in theme, but they're going to go with that theme as opposed to going with your idea that's written out and scripted out and all that. And it happens in every form of life and it's really frustrating for audiences. I get that. Imagine how frustrating it is for the artists involved in it when your ideas are constantly getting shut down or you're getting told not yet, or yeah, we like that story, but we like it for this talent, not the talent you were thinking of. Meanwhile, you're like, I'd have to write a whole new story because this was written specifically for talent A, not talent B. And they were raised differently. They like different movies, they listen to different music, they like different food, They're completely different people. So there's a lot that goes into it. You kind of, at a certain point learn to exist within it and stop trying to change it and just stay as true to yourself and your own art as you can. But I hear what you're saying, and I think everything you said, you know, as far as your criticism, is completely legit, And I think you have good ideas, So you should write them down and you should start submitting stuff to wrestling companies as soon as possible. That's the long version of what most people will call an answer to your question.

And Emma is awesome. Long time follower of the show keeps up with everything, and it's always nice to us online and giving us all the praise and talking wrestling.

So yeah, thanks Emma.

This next one's coming up from Richie C.

All right, Richie, let's see what you have to say.

Huge fan of the show. I really appreciate all you guys do. Love the relationship between Freddie and Jeff. I actually have a non wrestling question for Freddie. I'm a huge admirer of your dad's stand up. I'm a fellow Latino artists as well, and he's a huge inspiration to me. I was curious if there has ever been any talk of doing some sort of documentary or something that you were in charge of to honor your father and show the rest of this new generation how special he was.

Thank you. First of all, your name's Richie. I know you're Latino bro, and the first thing I was gonna yell was Richie. Yo, man, thanks so much for the love to my dad. I really really appreciate that. You know, I've never talked about this before. I can talk about it a little. There was an idea in the works at Warner Brothers to do my dad's story, but the people involved were super flaky and not focused that not all of them, but two of the main people involved. It was more I think a pet project for them than something they were super passionate about. When they approached me. They had tons of passion, right, and it seemed like this was on the forefront of their brain. But nobody would talk to them because everybody loved my dad and wanted to protect my dad and wanted me to make wanted them to make sure that it was a positive project and not like a hit piece or they just talk about drugs. Right. So I was involved for a little bit, and I helped them get access to all these people, people like Pam Greer, who's basically like my godmother. People like Paul Williams, who I call Uncle Paul. He's a president of ASCAP still to this day. Famous musician from back in the day wrote The Rainbow Connection, which everybody knows all these people. My dad's best friend was Jay Leno. They taught my dad how to drive like None of these people would have even spoken to them under any circumstances had I not made it clear that this was going to be a positive piece, or at least I had been convinced that it was, and then once I got them all those names, I just stopped hearing from them all together, and they were like making moves without me. I'd find out like weeks later there was already a script here and this that, and I was like, I didn't even get to read it. And it was only because one of the people involved, who's a decent guy, called me and told me what was going on, assuming that I was in the loop. And I was not in the loop. So I quickly squashed that and made sure that nobody else spoke to them, and those people will never speak to those two gentlemen ever the fuck again. And they were big time players in Hollywood, and I'm sure they're you know, I'm sure they've been a hero to someone that they've had a meeting with, but they certainly weren't that with me. And I think I'm still waiting for a call on if there's a script done or not. And this is like two years ago, so maybe they will, but yeah, so I don't. It left such a sour taste in my mouth. I don't think I would go down that road again. At least it wouldn't be with my permission, and they wouldn't have access to any of the people who actually knew my dad, So it would just be a fraudulent kind of fake thing if anybody ever made because all those people respect my family too much to go on the record. There's guys like you know that just need the attention and want to be involved that would say they were friends with my dad when they probably just like partied and did coke with them once or twice. But that would be the only story they'd be able to contribute. They wouldn't be able to tell you who my father was in any way, shape or form. So yeah, it did almost happen once, but it kind of it fell apart because things weren't handled correctly. And I don't you know, they tried to remake the show years ago, and I wouldn't give the approval for that because it just looked like they were just it was for a money gig, like they were just trying to cash in on what my dad, you know, helped create and help make special. So yeah, we debted that too, Yeah, don't I don't know, Maybe if the right people came along, it would have to be it have to be people that I already had a relationship with that I already know, so that I know exactly what kind of human beings they are and I know what kind of business they do. It wouldn't there wouldn't be a stranger on this planet that would convince me they're the one that's going to do it. I would just say no. It would have to be somebody that I that I have a relationship with already. So there you go, man, that you asked the right question and you got the first time I've ever talked about it in the history of my life.

That's interesting, man, that's the first time I had a good job.

Richie.

I don't know you, but man, Richie, I'm gonna believe myself off with that. On Hold on, this one's coming in from Wayne.

Hey, Freddy, I'm a huge fan of your podcast. I love the fact that you're pursuing your own wrestling company. My question is, would you consider a partnership with AEW one that would allow you to use some of their talent from AW to help get your company started and exchange you and some of your celect already family and friends would make appearances at AAW Paper View and Dynamite to help them develop a stronger image to the entertainment world and possibly in the future do some shows and storylines together.

Thank you very much. Thank you for the question, Wayne, I appreciate it, and one hundred percent Yeah, definitely be open to working with, you know, just about anybody that's willing to do business. And if AAW wanted to have that kind of a partnership the way they they've established with other independent promotions, then yeah. And I've had conversations with with wrestlers from all over that if they were available and could would be, would be down to help and see what we're trying to do. But again, I have to get far enough down the road that it's real. Otherwise I'm just wasting people's time. You know. I've hit some speed bumps that have sent me backwards down the road a bit, and I'm having to kind of not start from scratch, but damn near scratch. So yeah, I definitely would be open to doing a partnership with AW or there's that many people out there. Awwww. I don't know about WW, but for sure with AW.

Very nice that that concludes our our voicemails. I do have about two minutes left, so I want to just run by for you. These quick rapid fire questions that you could just you know, answer if you don't mind, Freddy, we had so many people are afraid to talk, I think and put their voice out there. But thank you, Emma, Richie.

In Big Wayne Man not little Way.

What are your thoughts on The Ultimate Warrior? This is from David. He says, I always liked his character.

So The Ultimate Warrior was like the first wrestler interaction I ever had. When I was a little kid, and I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Tingley Coliseum, which is where they did rodeos, and it literally had dirt floors, and a bunch of kids ran up. They were doing a battle Royal or Royal Rumbles, so I can't remember, I was in third grade. It was like forty years ago. They all ran down to the guardrail. So I asked my mom if I could run down too, and she said yeah. So I ran down to the guardrail and the wrestlers were coming out to get in the ring and start the match. Here comes the Ultimate Warrior and I've never seen somebody so jacked in my life. And he's walking by and out of all the kids that the security could have hassled, they hassled me, and I just feel this meat hilt just right on the back of my neck. You got to get out of here, and I'm scared to death. I'm like eight years old, man, and so I'm gonna leave and I'm pretty upset, and literally, the Ultimate Warrior. You hear him yell out, it's okay, you can stay, and he was right next to me. I looked over and it was The Ultimate Warrior and he smelled like baby oil, sweat and dirt, that's how close he was. And he had the bicycle tassels on his biceps and I could have reached out and touched him, and the security guy fucking let go because he was afraid of the Ultimate Warrior and would do anything the Ultimate Warrior said. And I got to sit there and watch all the wrestlers come out before they got in the ring and started the match. So that was my first experience with him. As I got older and started watching his matches, I started not liking The Ultimate Warrior because his matches weren't very good and he didn't really know how to wrestle the way I liked wrestlers to wrestle. He had like a move and that was it, and so as I got older, I didn't think he was very cool and I didn't know much about him outside of that. But yeah, as a kid, I thought he was a cool guy because he saved my ass, and as a grown up, I was like, man, maybe I was wrong. Maybe it's not that from.

The wrestling realms of the w W. Remember those promos that he would do, like just yeah, man, this second one.

They were so random, promos never made sense, not one of them made.

So they're better than the Steiner promo with the Math. This was coming from mister Gercia Math. Will you have open tryouts from when your wrestling promotion gets started.

I'll have opportunities for a lot of people when when they come in. I've had a lot of people reach out to me on Instagram. I may not have responded to all of them, but I've responded to a bunch and said, hey, when you hear about me getting this shit green lit, hit me up, man, and if there's something for you, I'll give you an opportunity to come work. And if I click with what you're doing, we'll find something for you on the show. And if I don't, I'll just tell you to keep working. I'll let you know what I didn't respond to. So yeah, one hundred percent. I'm definitely open to new talent, to young talent, to anybody who's willing to showcase their craft. It's an art, it's a craft, and I respect the hell of it. I'm not just going to be looking for the biggest guys and the most famous, you know, chicks out there. I'll give opportunities to other people. You obviously need to have, you know, a stable of well established people, but you got to have the future there too, otherwise you're going to miss out on it.

In other words, stay tuned to this damn podcast every single week. You don't want to miss it. Now, this next one, really quick, We've got about a minute left. Is Jack Pot Jeff Die having his debut match when the Fieration debuts on TV.

Hell no, that's the only old open tryout that gets next is the Jackpod Jeff Die. First of all, he'll get injured right away. He's in his forties now, it's not gonna happen, and he can focus more on the interview or the pre show or post show, or if he learns the name of the moves and he starts saying Solo Socoa instead of Sequoia. Then he can do some announcing, but he's got to get the name right otherwise it turns into Mike Adamley and we got Jeff Harvey instead of Jeff Hardy, and then everybody hates you for the rest of your life, which Jeff might actually like. So you'd probably screw the names up on purpose, jamaking me crazy. Kofe Oh. When Mike Adamley said that on NXT in whatever year that was, I thought I was gonna jump off for I had to you guys, listen to this and we'll close the show with this. I'm the guy that basically told Mike Adamley he was fired from WWE. They gave me this segment. He was not doing a good job. He just couldn't keep up with the moves and the characters' names and their finishes, and every week just major, not little screw ups, like major screw ups. And I felt so bad for the guy. It just wasn't the right He did so great with American Gladiators, like he was the man on that. He was so good on it, and it was just the opposite effect on this. He just didn't click it didn't work, and they have it they were going to fire him that that night, and they gave him this one last segment where Randy Orton disrespects him so bad that he slaps Randy Orton across the face and he strikes a WW talent and that's why he's gonna get fired. And so I have to bring this segment to him, knowing that they're firing him, right, and Vince is like laughing about it. I'm like, come on, man, don't make me do this. And he's like, ah, like he's just he took so much joy and entertainment and the suffering of others. And so I gulped at his dude, and I go, hey, man, you were ready to work on the segment. He goes, yeah, I read, I read the script. Am I am I getting fired? And I was just like, oh my god, dude, Like what do I say? Like in my head, I'm like, well, you never know what could happen, Like you know, it could turn into something, And then in my heart I just it basically said yeah, man, it doesn't it doesn't look good. And he was just like oh shit. And I'm sitting there like fuck you guys for making me do this because everybody knew he would know, you know what I mean, Like, that's not my job. Man, I'm not human resources. I'm not I don't deal with talent like that, Like, that's not my job. Was just a writer and a segment producer. And I'm having to tell this guy that, like this job's over. And I felt so bad. And granted he did not do a good job, like I think he would even admit that and acknowledge that. And I'm not trying to like talk shit. This happened years and years and years ago. It was just such a tough spot, man for him. Randy knew it was a tough spot for Randy, and having to deliver the news was just like, you know, it's not as bad as a doctor coming out and saying, hey, your son didn't make it. But as far as what I've had to experience in my profession, that was what that moment represented to me. So yeah, so there you go. Man. I don't know how we got on that, but we got on that all right. Boys and girls, Thank you for tuning in. Happy holidays, see you next week. Peace. This has been a production of Iheart'smichael Toura podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Wrestling with Freddie

Actor and wrestling enthusiast, Freddie Prinze Jr. pulls the curtain back on the world of pro wrestl 
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