411’s WWE Backstage Report: Usos Talk DUI Arrest and Time Off, More

-Welcome to the latest edition of WWE Backstage.  This week all I know is that Freddy Prinze Jr has been hyped as appearing.  I know he had a run as a WWE writer which means he should be fine in this environment.  Really with all these celebrities all I need is from them to be a fan and have fun being in the show.  A quick personal shout-out to my boys Brian, Kent, Eugene, Ben and all my friends/co-workers who reached out, kept my mind busy and offered prayers this week as my step-dad had open heart surgery while fighting off an infection that has kept him in the hospital since New Year’s Day.  I am beyond thrilled to say he is doing well.  Let’s get to it!

-Renee Young with our weekly episode tease as she hypes Freddy Prinze Jr showing up for Promo School and The Usos are here.  Man, I just need Daniel Bryan for Sweet Beets reunion.

-Show opening!

-Renee welcomes us and she is joined by her co-host Booker T.  On the panel this week we have Xavier Woods (who plugs everything he has), Ember Moon, and Freddy Prinze Jr.  Renee drops a “He’s all that” line and I smile because I loved that movie.  Woods hypes that he has a big announcement about his injury and it’s that he has a long time to go.  Renee covers that Freddy was once on the WWE writing team.  He was at Mania XXIV and people talked to him about his fandom and they told him to meet with Vince.  He went to Titan Tower and had to meet Steph first and thankfully she was a teenager during “She’s All That,” and was a fan.  From there Vince hired him and Freddy says that schedule was more man than him and he tapped out to go be a dad.

-Week in Recap: Morrison backs up Miz against The New Day, a rabbit gets killed for snitching on The Fiend, and Roode returns to take out the Samoan Dynasty.  On RAW Lynch gets blinded by Asuka, but finds her fire, R Truth steals the show by breaking Brock into fits of laughter, and Buddy Murphy joins Team Rollins.

-Ember is a fan of Murphy joining Seth as she was tired of seeing him lose to Aleister Black.  Screw that, as I could watch them wrestle every week and Black should be winning that feud.  Woods marked out over Owens going all Sonic The Hedgehog by running up the Tron, and Moon loved Joe doing a blind senton through a table.

-They focus on Asuka/Lynch and show Becky’s promo where she showed crazy fire.  Booker likes the build, but thinks the mist was water based as Becky cleaned up too quick.  He says Asuka put herself on the map in NXT with her Goldberg streak and Freddy has been a fan of Asuka since day one.  He loves the old school approach she has taken and we get shout-outs to Kabuki and Muta.  Nice!  Freddy wants someone to translate her Japanese and they all want Funaki.  Woods loves that they are showing again how dangerous Asuka can be.  Ember calls Asuka her greatest rival and that she is a hard hitter and a monster.  If she was booking this, Asuka would win the title and it would steal the show at The Rumble.  She thinks it would give more depth to Becky and Freddy agrees that it would be great to see Becky chase again.

-Someone tweets in that Woods looks like Pinky from Friday and Moon loses it laughing.

-We head to our first commercial break!

-The Usos are here and they are beyond hyped as they dance with Woods and Moon.  Woods says he proud of them for beating cases.  The Usos say they have been gone for some time, but have had no problem picking right back up where they left off.  They talk about The New Day/Usos rivalry and the first thing they think of is their Hell in a Cell Match.  That match was amazing and Woods brings up how they strung him up with handcuffs and beat him with a kendo stick.  The Usos point out they got paid a lot though.  Renee brings up their rap battle and Woods just kind of groans as we know the highlight was them referencing Woods’ appearance in Paige’s sex tape.  The Usos laugh at Woods and everyone has a chuckle.  We get highlights from Hell in a Cell match and again, it was amazing.  Woods loved the chemistry all of them had and loved that they were able to bring story telling back to the tag division.  Booker talks about the chemistry you have with a team and gives a shout-out to The Nasty Boys.  Why aren’t they in the Hall of Fame?

-Renee mentions that The Usos and Ember all came through his school in Texas.  He had The Usos for 8 months and told them they had to get out of there as they were ready.  He says Ember was just a baby and she says she is still that little girl.  Booker wanted The Usos to be different than what we saw from Samoans in the past.  The Usos tell a story of doing a show called Christmas Chaos and they all teamed together and they actually have footage that horrifies Ember.  That’s fantastic.  They didn’t even have a name yet and didn’t know it until they heard the announcer (Booker himself) call them “Ying, Yang, and Trouble.”  Booker thought of them as the Ying Yang Twins and the Usos do a great impression of Booker doing the intro and then we get footage of that as well.  This is great!

-We get serious now as Renee brings up their time away and how it became public knowledge what happened.  They talk about getting tunnel vision and didn’t take a chance to slow down.  They needed a moment to breath and Booker says you need to understand what you have and learn that it can be gone in a minute.  They talk about being at their lowest and they needed to get back to their family to get away from where they were going.  Renee continues on the topic and asks how they went about talking to their kids about what happened.  In this day and age you can’t hide things and they can find it on the internet.  It was the kids finding out these things that set them straight.  It was a way to teach them that people do make mistakes, but you have to learn and get better.  Booker brings up the legal trouble he had and that he learned those moments don’t define you.  For him it was about how much work you put in to rebuilding that trust.

-Commercials!

-We get a video touching on the 4 Women that appeared in a Men’s Rumble: Chyna, Beth Phoenix, Kharma, and Nia Jax.

-Wrestling with Your Feelings with Rachel Bonnetta: Mandy Rose and Sonya.  Rachel says a lot of people have called them bullies and Sonya wants the list.  She says they aren’t bullies and are vigilantes.  She broke Ember’s video games to save her mind from wasting away.  She bullies Rachael and starts destroying things in the office.  This was a mess more than usual as Mandy had a hard time even getting through it without laughing.  Not a fan of this one, but whatever.

-Ember says that Sonya did break her Nintendo Switch and then they discuss the Otis/Mandy romance.  Woods makes a dad joke about the dentist that Renee falls for.

-Freddy is next for promo school as she says he created promo school.

-Commercials!

-Promo School: The Usos, Ember, Booker and Renee will be the judges for Freddy.  We do find out that Freddy created promo school.  The first day not a lot of people showed up and three of them were The Miz and The Usos.  The Miz didn’t like Freddy and wanted to know what he could teach him about acting.  He told the Miz he knows he isn’t Robert Downey Jr, but Downey doesn’t care about The Miz and he does.  So he told all of them to let him show them what he knows and see if it helps.  Kofi and Big E show up via video to bring out Xavier Woods as only they can as he is Freddy’s opponent tonight.  Kofi gets in a shot as he says Freddy’s acting career is dead.

-Freddy says he has been working against this company for a long time and he knew they would send someone to shut him down.  He tells Woods he is in a lose-lose situation because if he wins, he beat up a 40 plus year old former teen heart throb from the 90s and if he loses it’s to the guy from Scooby Doo.  He doesn’t want to fight Woods and instead wants Woods to join him as they can take over Backstage.  He is more Renee Young than Renee Young (The Usos lost it over that line) and says nobody can stop them.  Not Samoa Joe as he was only on the show because he was bored and injured and certainly not CM Punk who works less than Brock Lesnar.  DAMN!  This will be the quickest promo Woods ever cut as all he has to say is one word.  Freddy has been buying all the stock the WWE has been selling and can offer Woods the world.  He wants Woods as his friend.

-Booker calls it a Jedi Mind Trick and gives him a C-.  Renee gives him a B+ just because of the personal attack.  The Usos liked the promo as one gives a lower case  “a” and the other a B.  Ember loved it as well, though she thinks it went a little long, but gives him A-.  Booker is disappointed by their grades.

-Woods answers with Hell No as Freddy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.  Woods was told he was too small and he worked for 2 degrees and is close to a PHD.  He is a 7 time tag champion and when he tore his achilles, he become more active in the past 6 months than Freddy has in 6 years.  Next time FOX calls, Freddy needs to pass and make sure he isn’t up against Woods or he won’t be as nice next time.

-Commercials!

-CM Punk will be back next week and I am curious if he says anything about Freddy’s shot.

-The Satin Sheet: Contract news as Elias has signed a multi-year contract extension.  In other news the Performance Center had new trainees show up.  Included in the group: Jake Atlas and Mercedes Martinez.  Mercedes will be competing tomorrow night in the NXT Battle Royal to crown a #1 contender for the NXT Women’s Title.

-Commercials!

-Back with Ember having her makeup done by Woods to pay up on a video game bet she lost.

-Headbangers: This is a team game as The Usos will take on Woods/Ember.  The idea is one person impersonates a WWE Superstar and the other has to guess.  It’s basically Headbandz!  The Usos get 7 points as the buzzer sounds though they do a few more after the buzzer.  Woods and Ember don’t do as well as Ember struggles trying to come up with a Brother Love impression.

-That wraps up the show as we are out for another week.

-I continue to enjoy this show as this one was a lot of fun with a ton of energy from Woods and The Usos.  Freddy was great as he is obviously comfortable in this environment and you can tell he is a massive wrestling fan.  His promo was one of the best from the guests they’ve had on here and even the game to end the show as fun.  Thanks for reading!