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Prichard had been working as a top trainer for Florida Championship Wrestling since its inception and had been with WWE since 2007 when he replaced Bill DeMott as the head trainer for now-defunct developmental Deep South Wrestling.
In a bit of irony, I am told that Bill DeMott has been tapped by the company to replace Prichard and will take over his duties training talent in FCW going forward.
DeMott's name is interesting because the reason he was removed from the position for the first place was complaints over his training methods, including accusations of running talent too hard. Eventually, WWE began requiring that the training sessions be videotaped and sent to the office.
DeMott responded to those complaints in his autobiography, "The Last Laugh" (click here for details), writing in part (lifted from aforementioned link):
"When we all trained together at Gold’s Gym, nobody complained about anything. We worked those kids for two to three hours a day and nobody grumbled or whined. However, on our first day in the new building, those problems began … in spades. When we were working at Gold’s Gym, everyone was blowing up, but that was a good thing because nobody was really in great cardio shape. When the time came for everyone to show what they could do in the ring, the kids were quickly separated into two groups: "those who could" and "those who couldn’t." As soon as the dead weight began to realize they weren’t as good as they thought, and they couldn’t hang with some of the others, they began making phone calls and sending e-mails to WWE to complain about their "mistreatment." In most cases, they blamed me for asking them to do things they shouldn’t have to do.
The intensity of the workouts dictated how the "problem children" handled themselves. Whenever we had a particularly grueling workout, I knew I would be getting a call from the office asking me to explain why I was doing something or another. It became absolutely ridiculous to have a really good day of training, only to get a phone call at the end of the day with someone telling me so-and-so was complaining about being thrown out of the ring. Other complaints ran the gamut:
"We’re expected to do too much each day." (we trained four days a week for "maybe" three hours a day)
"The conditioning is too much for us to handle."
"We have to begin training too early in the morning." (eight o’clock)
"Bill plays favorites and doesn’t push them as hard as he does the rest of us."
"Bill brought in some of his friends to intentionally hurt the people he doesn’t like."
"Bill talks nice to some people and treats others like dirt."
"Bill took so-and-so out for a drink, but didn’t invite me."
"Bill invited a group out to his house for dinner, but didn’t invite me."
Bill gets in the ring and stretches the guys he doesn’t like."
The list of complaints was endless. At one time, we had too many kids in the building at the same time, so we had to split the training into two sessions (that was about the time Dave Taylor was brought onboard as the second trainer) so everyone could get more training and ring time. One group was "rewarded" and called the "A Team," while the others, the "B Team," had to train with me as "punishment." It was simply a rib. One of the guys in my group came up with the idea for a t-shirt and we asked everyone (from both sessions) if they wanted to participate and order a shirt. The response from both groups was unanimous: "Yes." Printed on the front of the shirts was — I’m just happy to "B" — and on the back was — HERE! It was just a play on words about the "A" and "B" team bullsh—.
Even that warranted a call to Talent Relations. Someone called to say they hadn’t been asked to participate and they didn’t get a shirt. I got a call from Dreamer that night and was told we were no longer allowed to wear the shirts because it offended some of the trainees. I was told if they did, they would be fined. When I hung up the phone, I said to myself, "Fu— that," and I continued to wear it. The students continued to wear them every chance they got — to the gym, to Saturday workouts, and out on the town. They were proud to be known as the "B Team."
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