Freddie Prinze Jr on the time he was kicked out of Gorilla Position.
Being a writer in WWE seems to be a thankless job according to every writer who has ever spoken about their time in the company. Even Freddie Prinze Jr, a famous Hollywood actor, had to bow down to the wishes of Vince McMahon when he worked as a member of the WWE creative team in 2008. Appearing on Ariel Helwani's MMA Show, Freddie Prinze Jr. told the story of when he was booted from the Gorilla Position by Vince McMahon following a JBL promo.
"JBL used to call me 'six months' because that's how long he gave me. After that, he called me Freddie. I got to write a promo for him and Vince re-wrote it," recalled Prinze Jr. "He was like, 'He has to say it this way. Tell him to say it my way, damnit.' I go to JBL and told him, 'Vince wants you to say it word for word like this, so we have to work on it.' JBL said, 'I don't need to say it word for word. I got it.' He goes out there, and he does what I wrote. Vince is like hitting me, 'God damnit, Freddie, I told you, you son of a bitch.' Just screaming. I don't want to throw JBL under the bus, so I said, 'I thought my promo was better. I thought the other one was too 80s style.' He goes, 'I did that on purpose!' [I apologized] and I got thrown out of Gorilla [Position]. JBL comes back and totally takes the bullet for me and tells the truth. I think it was a test to see what kind of a dude I was to see if I would throw someone under the bus to save my own ass. I passed that test and got a lot of love from Vince after that."
Not only did Prinze Jr. help write promos for wrestlers, but he also led promo class, taking over for Vince. You can read how Freddie became the top dog in promo class by clicking here.
You can view the full interview with Freddie Prinze Jr. in the video above.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Ariel Helwani's MMA Show with a H/T to Fightful.
