During his tenure as WWE Chairman Vince McMahon rarely missed an opportunity to have fun at someone else’s expense. Sometimes this involved directly mocking them on television, on other occasions things were a little more subtle.
Freddie Prinze Jr. enjoyed two runs with WWE as a writer and producer between 2008 and 2012. This meant that the actor as heavily involved behind the scenes, at one stage working on the creative team for SmackDown. However, despite this, much like the rest of WWE’s staff, Prinze Jr. remained at the whim of Vince McMahon.
Vince McMahon Pranked Freddie Prinze Jr. On SmackDown
Speaking during a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, the actor recalled being pranked by McMahon while working on the blue brand. Prinze Jr. explained that McMahon was aware of his dislike for celebrity magician Val Valentino who found fame on television where he exposed how magic tricks were performed. So naturally, when Valentino made an appearance with WWE, McMahon made sure that the writer was the man to produce the segment.
“I don’t like all the behind the scenes stuff, you know, there should be magic left in it, otherwise everyone feels like they can do it and everyone can’t. I don’t like all the behind the scenes stuff in movies, I don’t like the masked magician, screw that guy Val Valentino or whatever his name is.
Vince made me produce a damn segment with him when the show, when Smackdown was on the UPN, and so was his [Valentino’s] show and he [Vince] did it just to rib me. And I was like you know I hate that son of a b*tch. He just laughs like ha ha ha and I’m like son of a b*tch, and had to go and produce that schlock. So I wanted all his tricks to fail. Screw that guy, man, all those YouTube videos. ‘Here’s so and so did this…’ Screw that video, man.
Like you’re taking away someone’s livelihood when you do that. You know what I mean? Just so you can make a couple bucks? That seems dirty and shady to me. Everyone’s got to hustle, I know that, but I don’t have to respect everybody’s hustle.
So yeah, man, I’m not, I’m not about that. So it’s gonna be different and people see it [Freddie Prinze Jr’s promotion] and then they can judge for themselves. They can click with it and love it, or they can not click with it and hate it, and you’re both right.
However you feel about art, you’re correct. Because it’s art. It’s never going to be viewed the way three plus three is viewed. Because it’s not, it’s not science. But uh, but yeah, man. So I’m not as concerned with that as I am. I want to execute this the right way. And I want it to be my vision, not anybody else’s vision. And the proof will be in the pudding man.”
No prank was ever too much trouble for Vince McMahon once he had a target in mind. Jonathan Coachman who previously worked as a announcer with WWE, once recalled McMahon having him arrested as a joke.
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