Tom Prichard Discusses His Difficulties Working With WWE, His Harsh Parting of Ways in 2012

– During a recent interview with Fightful, former WWE developmental trainer and coach Tom Prichard explained why he hasn’t been contacted by WWE to work in developmental again. Prichard was head trainer of WWE’s developmental territory from 2007 to 2012. Below are some highlights.

Tom Prichard on his harsh parting with WWE: “The last time in Tampa, I spoke to the new guy who was over Talent Relations in not such a flattering way. It was because there were just things that were happening that I didn’t agree with or I willing to fall in life with, I guess. Looking back on it, I could have. Maybe I should have. At the same time, I don’t know how it would have turned out in the end anyway. Because they were trying, I liken it this way, you were trying to run the war in Vietnam from Washington. You saw how that worked back in the 60s, if you were around. You weren’t, but I was. So, we’re down here in Tampa not getting a whole lot of support and not getting a whole lot of communication, and it would be days. We’d ask a question, even call the office, and not always get the right away answer. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, we’re presented with this new idea. ‘Do you have a curriculum?’ ‘Well, yeah, we have a curriculum.’ ‘Where is it?’ Okay, to do professional wrestling, it is not an A-B-C-D-E—this is what you do the first week, second, third, fourth. I can make that and I did make that. In fact, the day I had my one year curriculum that they’d been asking for, that was the day I got fired. There’s your way, there’s my way, but there is no right way and the only way does not exist. So, when we had a curriculum, we knew where we had to get the guys. But, what do you need to do this day? What’s the vibe this day? How are they feeling? Where’s their energy level? What do we gotta do? How do we get these guys where we need to them to be? What do we do?”

Tom Prichard on his training method: “Well, my way is this—if you’re not feeling this today, we’re gonna do something else. We’re gonna get to here and then we’re gonna come back to this when the energy is a little bit higher and it’s gonna be more productive. That was my way of thinking. But, if today you say, ‘Okay, we’re gonna do this,’ and they’re just not clicking and they’re just not having it,’ well, let’s move on to something, get your juices flowing, and let’s get something going that way. They wanted something like first week, second week, third week, A-B-C-D. What are you going to do? You follow that rulebook? No. I don’t think they follow it strict as that today, I could be wrong. But, I know they have a regimen. I know they have a way of doing things. Is that always the right way to do it? I never thought you wanted cookie cutter. You don’t want cookie cutter because it becomes the same and everybody’s doing it the same way. Allow these guys to be creative. Allow these guys to try something. Allow these guys to step out and it may work. It may not. But, that’s kind of the way I approached it. Instead of, ‘Today, we’re going to learn how to circle. We’re gonna learn how to keep the guy in the corner.’ If you’re not feeling that, well, let’s move on to something else today that we might do Thursday. We’ll do this on Tuesday. That’s kind of how I thought.”

Prichard on how he currently likes to run his training sessions: “We do the same things. We do the same elements. We have the same basics, fundamentals. But, I don’t do them exactly in line if nobody’s feeling it. Because I have a different number in class each time. This class we had twenty-one people. I’ve had two people in class. I’ve had one person in class. So, I have to adjust and I’ve learned to see if they’re receptive or not. If they’re hitting this today, great. If they’re not, great. I’m gonna move on, because I want you to stay stimulated. I want you to stay engaged with me. If you’re not engaged in this right now, maybe it’s not something we really need to hit on,” Prichard said.

Tom Prichard on a colorful character like the Ultimate Warrior still needing to understand the basics: “You may be a great talker and not be able to work a lick. You may look great. The Ultimate Warrior. I don’t think anybody ever walked out of the arena and said, ‘Boy, what a headlock that Ultimate Warrior had tonight’ or ‘Boy, what a hammerlock John Cena put on that guy tonight.’ No! Yes, you need to go through the basics and you need to have the fundamentals under your belt. But, the bottom line is you want to connect with your audience and communicate with your audience. Did the Warrior communicate? Hell, he stumbled and fumbled on promos. He grumbled and groaned, but he had that connection, man. Even when people today ask, ‘Who did you watch and why?’ It’s the Ultimate Warrior that comes up. I understand because the colorful, the entrance, the energy and just that charisma was oozing out. That’s really what this is about. The Ultimate Warrior worked on the basics and fundamentals in California. He did go through wrestling school. He did put in that work. Did he need them during his career? No, not really. But, he needed them to get that next step. He needed them to get his foot in the door. So, there’s ways to do it. Everybody has their way of doing things. They obviously didn’t like my way at that time.”