Freddie Prinze Jr. Hints At Top Celebrity Joining His Impending Promotion
On this week's Wrestling with Freddie podcast from iHeart Media's My Cultra Network, Matt Cardona spoke with Freddie Prinze Jr. about his pro wrestling fandom and rise on the independent scene.
Freddie Prinze Jr. noted that Cardona, who is an avid wrestling action figure collector, should meet Kieran Culkin, as they both share the same passion. Prinze Jr. stated that it may be possible for them to cross paths in the near future, as Prinze Jr.'s new independent promotion may have some involvement from the actor.
"You guys would be great friends," Freddie told Cardona. "He may be one of the dudes – I'm not gonna say this and confirm it, but he may be one of the dudes in the indy wrestling brand out here, so you guys would have to hang no matter what, man."
Matt Cardona was asked about his rise on the independent scene following his release from WWE in April 2020. Initially, the former GCW World Heavyweight Champion said that he did not really know about GCW before agreeing to perform for the promotion.
"Listen, Freddie, I didn't really know what GCW was either," Cardona said. "I knew it was some sort of deathmatch style wrestling, or that's the perception out there. When you're actually watching it, yes, there is deathmatch wrestling, but there is also great technical wrestling, a lot of high-flying wrestling. I compare it to ECW back in the day.
"A lot of people think ECW was blood and guts, and yes they had that, but they had the storytelling, they had incredible in-ring action bell to bell. People were tweeting about this guy, Nick Gage. I heard about him. There was the Dark of the Ring, I couldn't even get through the episode, it was so disgusting. I'm like, I don't want anything to do with this guy.
"But the tweets kept happening and happening and happening. I said, well, sometimes in wrestling you gotta give the people what they want, right? And I knew this would create some buzz. I could have never imagined the buzz it did create. It has changed my career. It has changed my life. So I knew, OK, I will do this deathmatch. I will wrestle this Nick Gage guy, and listen, I knew there was going to be some blood.
"I wore all-white, I'm like, 'yeah, it'll be cool to have this white shirt on with some trickles of blood.' I was pouring, pouring blood. It was red. It was like blood ooze coming from my shoulder, and the referee is like, 'do you want to continue?' And when this referee is asking me if – he's seen it all, it got me scared, you know, because I was covered in so much blood, I didn't know where the blood was coming from, you know what I'm saying?
"There was light tubes and glass, and pizza cutters. But you talk about the fans? Oh my god. They hate me there. They hate everything I represent, and I love it. I love it, because for so long I was the white meat babyface in WWE, and thing is, I'm continuing to be that because in my mind, I am a white meat babyface. How can you not like me? I'm a diehard fan living the dream. How could you boo me, right?
"And then when I beat Nick Gage and won the title, bro, it was insane. People were throwing bottles, they were throwing cans, pizza cutters at me, which luckily I didn't realize – this was Atlantic City, New Jersey. The security guards had to escort me out of the building."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling with Freddie with Freddie Prinze Jr. wih a h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.