Freddie Prinze Jr. claims WWE didn't allow the former World Champion to become a "serious" character

Freddie Prinze Jr. has a lot of stories about his time in WWE despite his stint as a creative writer lasting only a few years. He recalled the story of a former world champion (who was yet to win world title gold then) who wasn't allowed to have a serious character in WWE.

The story goes back to the days of NXT when it was still a game show. NXT has transformed from a game show to a developmental territory to a full-fledged third brand and back to a developmental show. It has taken multiple forms, and the current version is known as NXT 2.0 with an entirely different direction.

Speaking of the game show days, Freddie Prinze Jr. recalled a story on his podcast Wrestling With Freddie about former TNA World Heavyweight Champion EC3 when he was known as Derrick Bateman - mentored by Daniel Bryan. FPJ revealed that EC3 constantly pitched serious stuff for himself, but WWE never gave him the opportunity:

"I worked with EC3 when NXT was like a mentor show. He was given a goofy gimmick where he was a comedy guy and he was kind of pitching serious stuff. I didn't think that it wasn't going to work, he just wasn't going to get the opportunity to get that bit over at that time because they just didn't see that. They wanted silly stuff. And when he went to TNA he became that guy and got it really over. None of us thought it wasn't going to work, but he just wasn't going to receive that opportunity there." (20:35-21:25)

Ultimately, it worked out for him for a short period of time as he enjoyed a lot of success as the face of Impact Wrestling. His WWE return stint would prove unsuccessful and so would his return to Impact Wrestling.

Freddie Prinze Jr. and EC3 are on parallel paths

EC3 has been under the spotlight in the last few months after the creation of a new wrestling promotion known as CYN - Control Your Narrative. It hasn't gotten off to the hottest start, but they are building up a roster filled with big names such as Braun Strowman of WWE.

Freddie Prinze Jr., meanwhile, is also in the works to start a wrestling promotion of his own. It will be interesting to see how he does things differently in a market filled with several promotions. Many hope that it will lead to the discovery of talent that wrestling fans are unaware of.

Are you excited to see Freddie Prinze Jr. start his own promotion? Who would you like to see him sign? Voice your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

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If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Wrestling with Freddie and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.