When Rene Dupree was hired by WWE in 2003, he was still a teenager. Nonetheless, the young French-Canadian had already been around the pro wrestling business for virtually his entire life. His father, Emile was a promoter who ran his own company in Canada. This meant that Dupree had more experience than many by the time he signed a WWE contract. Dupree's comfort around the industry was perceived as arrogance as soon as he entered the WWE locker room. Many of his older peers felt uncomfortable around the man, because he seemed so laid back and relaxed. It's more normal for newcomers to the WWE system to feel they have something to prove, but that wasn't Rene's approach. Kevin Fertig, then working in the developmental league Ohio Valley Wrestling, noticed this straight away. Fertig would soon play characters like Mordecai and Kevin Thorn, but he marvelled at how disliked Rene Dupree was backstage in WWE. Veterans didn't like his attitude, feeling he should have been much more humble than he was. It's fair to say this hurt Dupree in the long run.
