The shifting tectonic plates of pro wrestling never stop. Forty years ago Vince McMahon Jr. acquired his father’s promotion and took it in a whole new direction. Roughly thirty years ago Eric Bischoff helped WCW go to new heights, and just four years ago Tony Khan changed the landscape once again when he, along with The Elite, launched AEW. Now, Freddie Prinze Jr. is making some big pro wrestling moves of his own, becoming co-owner of the newly launched Premier Streaming Network, while at the same time teasing a new promotion.
Earlier today on Haus of Wrestling, available on Premier Streaming Network Tuesdays and Thursdays at Noon EST, I spoke with PSN co-founder Josh Shernoff about how Prinze Jr. got involved. According to Shernoff, conversations initially began between his brother, Fred, and Prinze Jr. sometime last year after the success of the indie pro wrestling show Fred and Josh produced, The Wrestling Showcase.
Fred had begun to consider the idea of launching his own streaming platform, to coincide with his desire to promote, and reached out to Prinze Jr. about possibly working together on the pro wrestling promotion he has been teasing. The two were put in touch by mutual friend Matt Cardona, who would now like a cut of profits for the introduction. Following the formal launch of PSN, talks went from merely being about platforming the Hollywood star’s yet-to-launch promotion to working together on something bigger.
“He is legit all in,” Shernoff stated. “He is a legitimate co-owner of the company and not just a co-owner in name. He is on calls with us. Obviously, his schedule is a little bit different than us in the real world, I guess, because sometimes he is off in another country filming something but he is so unbelievably passionate about pro wrestling. We could not be like ‘Hey, sit back, Freddie, we’ll handle it.’ He’s like, ‘No, what is going on guys? What are we doing now? What are we doing this week?’ It’s amazing.”
A lot of fans and pundits have speculated about the kind of stake Prinze Jr. has taken in the company, whether financial or otherwise. I pressed Shernoff about what exactly the She’s All That star’s deal looks like with the budding streaming platform.
“I can’t actually say anything because part of our agreement is to not talk about any of the financials or ownership, things like that,” Shernoff said. “What I can say is he is all in, he is a legitimate co-owner and whatever anyone is thinking, he is legitimately a part of this. He is invested in it.”
I closed our conversation by discussing Prinze Jr.’s announcement that there will be a Premier Streaming Network Wrestling Showcase on September 9. Shernoff described the purpose of the upcoming event as a showcase, no pun intended, of the various promotions featured on the PSN platform. Each promotion, like Wrestle Pro, will get one match on the card and their goal is to steal the show.
While discussing all these promotions coming together, I asked Shernoff for an update on the one Prinze Jr. has been teasing, and whether PSN will serve as the platform to distribute it.
“We have been talking about a number of different ideas. The promotion is, of course, one of them,” he confirmed. “Before we get there, you are going to see Freddie involved in more original content that we are working on as well. I think it is all kind of building up to it. Look, that was the original conversation that Fred and Freddie had. ‘How do we work together?’ I think we’re in a really good position for when Freddie is ready to do that.”
New Haus of Wrestling episodes debut Tuesdays and Thursdays at Noon EST on PremierStreamingNetwork.com. The full audio is released on the Haus of Wrestling podcast feed, available on all podcast platforms, at 1 pm EST.
If you use any quotes from this article please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling for the transcription and link back