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Reaching out to share today’s episode of iHeartMedia’s Wrestling with Freddie podcast, which features WWE Champion and Lead Singer of Fozzy Chris Jericho chatting with Freddie Prinze Jr. about the importance of letting wrestlers write their own promos, the beginning of his rockstar journey and doing things for the right reasons.
EPISODE LINK: Corazón de León Chris Jerico
Chris dives into AEW and how it’s creative freedom compares to WWE
“You cannot write a promo for me that’s going to be better than what I can write for myself. In WWE, after working there for a dozen years, I had more freedom to do that but a lot of other guys didn't and would have to do what they’re told. Therefore, it gets stagnant, sterile, it doesn't feel real. AEW, from day one has always let the guys do their own promos, write their own stuff. Let the pro’s be pros, that’s what we’re paid to be, whether it be on-screen, behind the scenes, lighting or whatever.”
Chris compares his wrestling fame in Mexico to being like the “Beatles”
“It [Wrestling in Mexico and Japan] wasn’t based on size, it was based on athleticism and showmanship. When I was 22 years old, I was a coverboy. I was on the cover of all the Teen Beat magazines in Mexico... Wrestling had just come on TV a few years prior, so wrestling was huge in Mexico. It was very much a Beatles’-type reaction. You’d come out of the arena and [girls] would kiss you on the cheek, grab and pull [on you].”
Chris dishes that wrestling initially hindered Fozzy’s success
“[In Hollywood], you get stuck in a mold that people want you to be in. Fozzy, at the start, was probably more hindered by the fact that I was a wrestler rather than helped. I think we had to work twice as hard to get people’s respect because there are so many bands in Hollywood from different actors and such. And that’s fine, everybody should do what they want to do but I don’t think anybody took it as seriously at first solely because I was the singer. What really kind of opened the door was the fact that we never quit, never stopped and we worked, like I said, twice as hard. The real difference is when we started getting played on rock radio.”
Freddie tells the story of meeting singer Exene Cervenka and why it made him have a soft spot for Rockstars
“It was my twelfth birthday, it was 1988, and I was in my uncle's backyard in Brentwood California. Exene [Cervenka] and the punk band X were there… She [Exene] sang a punk-rock version of ‘Happy Birthday’ to me and my cousin Kate. As she was leaving, I asked her to sing another song. She said “I can’t, I’m going to a Belinda Carslile concert.’ And in my head I was like ‘What? Belinda Carlisle?’ And she goes ‘yeah, I’m going to kick her f***in’ a**’ and she just walked out! I’m twelve, so until I was like sixteen I believed she legit went there to beat the hell out of poor little Belinda Carlisle. I’ve always loved rockstars because of the very first encounter I had with them, which was her!”
Chris gives Freddie his best advice
“Nothing is ever a failure unless you don’t try it.”
ABOUT WRESTLING WITH FREDDIE
Actor and wrestling enthusiast, Freddie Prinze Jr. pulls the curtain back on the world of wrestling in his new podcast, WWFreddie – Wrestling With Freddie. While fans may know Prinze from his ‘90s films like “She’s All That” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” his first love is wrestling. In this show he’ll take listeners on a personal journey sharing stories from his time as a writer for the “WWE” (World Wrestling Entertainment) and chats with current wrestlers and hall of famers. Get ready to rumble as we go Wrestling With Freddie.
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