10 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets Revealed By Former WWE Writers
9. Freddie Prinze Jr's Moment Of Clarity
Whenever he'd be anywhere near WWE, Freddie Prinze Jr always came across as a guy as enamoured with the show as he was with him.
This lack of overtly synthetic energy is surely rooted in the role he took up with the company on two separate occasions. It was during that second stint that he realised there couldn't - for now, at least - be a third.
As he put it to Chris Van Vliet (h/t to Wrestlingnews.co for transcribing);
“There was a show called Tough Enough. They tried to bring it back and Stone Cold was a judge. There was a mom that wanted to be a wrestler and she said she was doing it for her kids. Steve Austin said, ‘That’s bulls*t. Do you know how many times I won father of the year?’ He put a big goose egg up. I was watching that show in the writer’s room and I stood up, walked to gorilla, and I gave Vince my two weeks. I said, ‘I’m trying to win father of the year. I can’t work here anymore.’ He said, ‘Talk to me after the show.’ I talked to Stephanie after the show. I let her know. She said, ‘We were about to give you SmackDown. You were going to be the head writer.’ She was disappointed. I was like, ‘You know I love you guys, but I’m a dad. I’m out.’ That was that. I quit and never looked back.”
Better the devil you know than the one you don't, and Prinze Jr had obviously looked into the eyes of the McMahon family enough to know work/life hell when he saw it.