Tom Prichard Says Training Vince McMahon Was a Weird Time in His Life

– Tom Prichard discussed training Vince McMahon to wrestle, his wrestling academy and more in an interview with Wrestling Inc. Highlights are below:

On training Vince McMahon to compete: “For me at that time in my life it was kinda weird. He and [Tom’s brother] Bruce have a different relationship than he and I do. But it was kinda cool because in those training sessions I got to see a different side of Vince [McMahon] that I knew existed because [Vince] Russo told me how he is. I was always one of the boys. I was never an office guy and when Vince came to train, he was one of the boys. That was very cool, but at the same time, I knew what I was there for… It was weird at times, but then it became kind of cool because if I could do this with Vince, then I could do it with pretty much anybody.”

On his wrestling academy with Kane: “We were having dinner during the [mayoral] campaign and we were talking about the various wrestling schools that were out there. Glen said, ‘I wonder what we could do here in Knoxville, Tennessee with a wrestling school.'”

On WWE’s dominance of American wrestling: “WWE will be the king for years to come just because of the magnitude of what they have. I mean there are layers and layers of talent at the Performance Center in Orlando. By the sheer magnitude of what they are able to do, I don’t see anyone overtaking or even coming close to WWE’s success anytime soon.”

On why he thinks All-Elite Wrestling won’t succeed: “Don’t get me wrong, the climate has certainly changed and there is a possibility [of AEW being successful]. But in my humble opinion, as soon as somebody gets hot, the WWE is hot enough to say, ‘Here’s twice as much as you’re making there. We’re gonna steal you and bring you over here.’ Look what happened to Ricochet and a lot of talented guys. I understand there is a level of success that these guys have already found… but it takes talent to make a company. You have to have loyal talent, and I’m sure they do, but it remains to be seen.”