Freddie Prinze Jr. Once PItched A Dream Women's Wrestling Match Between Beth Phoenix & Awesome Kong
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In the never-ending litany of wrestling podcasts, low-key, Wrestling With Freddie is a true hidden gem. Actor and writer, Freddie Prinze Jr., is a die-hard wrestling fan whose fanboy roots reach all the way back to the raucous Puerto Rico crowds. Thanks in part to his fame, he got to live out some of his wrestling dreams when he joined the WWE Creative Team in 2008 and again in 2010.
Related: Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Relationship With WWE, Explained
On his show, he comes off affable and humble, and obviously a huge fan who is proud of his accomplishments in the business, and regretful of how he handled some situations as an outsider. One of those situations involved setting up a dream match between the incoming Awesome Kong and Beth Phoenix for the then-Divas title. It certainly might have been a WrestleMania show-stealer, had The Undertaker not squashed the whole angle. A link to the full episode where Prinze discusses this situation can be found here.
Kharma Was Supposed To Face Beth Phoenix At WrestleMania
With Kia Stevens, aka Awesome Kong, aka Kharma, finally getting a shot at the big time, Freddie was the writer tasked with getting her over and eventually getting Kharma and Beth Phoenix in the same ring. The job was assigned by Stephanie McMahon herself. According to Prinze, his idea was for Kharma to come in as an indestructible monster (obviously not a stretch, but certainly tried and true). She was going to come in and run through three divas fairly quickly before her first big challenge - her old TNA rival and fellow WWE signee, Gail Kim. It would lead into her next match, against Natalya, and then defeating Divas champion Michelle McCool at the Royal Rumble, before defending against The Glamazon at WrestleMania.
Kharma Would Want Beth Phoenix To Join Her In Destroying The Divas
Because of his own love of acting (his day job), Prinze started a promo class where he’d teach Superstars how to act. Kharma came in and, without fail, captivated the entire class. Freddie gave her the germ of the idea - that the angle would be an Emperor and Anakin Skywalker type of storyline.
Related: Freddie Prinze Jr. As A WWE Writer & 9 Other Celebs With Odd Wrestling ConnectionsIt would be seductive but not sexual, where Kharma would feign wanting Beth to join her in decimating “all of these Barbies.” She’d be circling The Glamazon the entire time, pointing out other Divas that Beth was triple the size of and could snap in half. Beth would obviously turn down the faux-offer to set up their WrestleMania match.
The Undertaker Steps In When Michelle McCool Is Left Out
As this storyline was being written, Michelle McCool was the reigning and defending Divas champion, and doing her best to hold the fort down. She wanted to work matches, just like all the other women, but during this time, the ladies were regulated to less than ten minutes most nights, including entrances. While she would have had a strong showing against Kharma at the Royal Rumble, she was still feeling left out of the big match after Prinze told her the big plan.
Prinze only assumed that the titles were props, and didn’t think anything of McCool’s feelings on the matter when he told her the plan; which he apologized for on the podcast and immediately tried to correct when he started trying to come up with ways to make the big match a three-way. But by then it was too late. Considering she was dating her eventual husband at the time, she evidently spoke to The Undertaker about what had happened. Just like that, the entire storyline, which had been approved by nearly everyone, had been squashed.
Had the movie star mega fan WWE writer taken a different approach, there is a very good possibility that that Women’s Revolution could have started sooner. But the moment he inadvertently crossed The Deadman and Mrs. Taker, that was the end of the angle.
Related: Michelle McCool's Wrestling Career, Told In Photos
For what it’s worth, Kharma had gotten pregnant during all of this planning and had to leave the company anyway, but at least if Michelle McCool had gotten on board, the storyline could have been rewritten instead of completely squashed. It was certainly a learning experience for Prinze, who is in the midst of planning his own federation. He certainly won’t make that mistake again.
