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I starred in ‘worst ever’ First Dates moment and played Darts with Luke Littler but now want to fight John Cena

OpenI starred in ‘worst ever’ First Dates moment and played Darts with Luke Littler but now want to fight John Cena

Elton Prince is establishing himself as a household name on Netflix as Lewis Howley becomes a moniker only still seen on Channel 4.

The Brit has hit the heights in the US as one half of WWE tag team Pretty Deadly but found fame back home for a different reason.

Pretty Deadly are dreaming of a match against the future Hall of Fame star
WWE

The 27-year-old was once an unruly victim on an infamous episode of hit reality TV show First Dates during the early years of his career.

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Prince, who is currently on Smackdown alongside tag-team partner Kit Wilson, went by his real name of Lewis on a blind date in 2017.

The former NXT tag team champion had the misfortune of being paired with a girl named Jade in what has since been labelled as one of the ‘worst dates’ in the show’s history.

In the clip of their date, which now has more than 6 million views on Channel 4’s YouTube channel, Prince is unfairly treated rudely by the fashion assistant throughout their meal before she then snuck out the back door to flee.

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Seven years later the joke is well and truly on Jade, with Prince rising to become the poster boy of British talent finding success in WWE.

During an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.com, the latter’s partner Kit said: “Do you know what? I got the director’s cut!

“I’m screaming at the TV every time I am screaming. It’s frustrating to see someone you love get hurt. It’s hard.”

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At the time of his First Dates stint, Prince was working on the underground wrestling scene in Britain as ‘The Playboy’.

The Essex-born star wore a bowtie and tearaway trousers, with the early shades of his now flamboyant WWE gimmick clearly visible.

Elton told talkSPORT: “I think unfortunately 99 per cent of him is still in there. I just got to push him down a little bit.

A young-looking Prince went on the most infamous date in First Date’s history
Channel 4
Prince was left sitting on his own after his rude date bailed

“Yeah, I had a lot of fun doing that. So I definitely think there’s elements, obviously, maybe still there. Some will come out every now and then maybe. The hips do move. I enjoyed that at the time. It was very fun. The First Dates experience really was an interesting one…”

Ironically, Elton found his perfect match in Londoner Kit, with the pair becoming rising WWE tag-team sensation, Pretty Deadly.

The English grapplers were naturally the perfect fit to show Darts sensation Luke Littler around WWE’s headquarters ahead of the US Darts Masters last summer.

Pretty Deadly ultimately lost a game of 501 to the teenager and fellow darts star Peter Wright.

The quartet were then divided up for a second match, which saw Elton miss the chance to win for himself and Wright by going bust – opening the door for Littler to check out on his next go.

The teenager is on cloud nine following his dominant victory over Michael van Gerwen at the World Championships earlier this month.

Pretty Deadly battled Littler and Wright on the darts board
WWE

Kit told talkSPORT: “Yeah, he’s done great, hasn’t he? He’s impressing the world”, to which Elton added: “And it was a pleasure to play darts with him, wasn’t it?”

The former continued: “It was. But I guess it’s lovely to see because, you know, him coming in and being this kind of young phenomenon has almost given a little renaissance boom in the darts world.

“It’s cool to see, but it’s also cool to be part of our own ones. I think this new era that we’re in now, this new Netflix era is doing a very similar thing. So it’s great to see Luke doing his thing.

“It’s great to see a couple of English boys like ourselves flying our flag. So if he wants to come back over, I think we’re willing to receive.”

Elton admitted: “I would love a little bit of notice, though, [for a rematch] because I was appalled by my performance when we played that game.”

Kit interjected: “We were jet lagged. Yeah, we weren’t ready. We didn’t have our own darts.”

Elton jokingly continued: “Yeah – rather than the professional darts that they let us use. Now, if we had our own, then we would have been much better.”

Pretty Deadly were also knocked back in their attempts to give ‘The Nuke’ a makeover – which would have been well timed ahead of his Ally Pally triumph.

Elton revealed: “Yeah, that one hurt also – I think we could spruce him up – I think we could.

“Look at how much people love Luke Littler now. Imagine if we gave him a little bit of zhuzh and he came out with a little bit more little something, you know. We throw some more colour on him. Let’s do the hair a little bit more. Let’s move a little. Let’s jive a little.”

In the meantime, Pretty Deadly have their eyes on facing off with someone with more than enough zhuzh and colour; John Cena.

The 16-time world champion has embarked on a farewell tour in 2025 before permanently making the switch to Hollywood.

Elton Prince and Kit Wilson will be breakout mainstream stars of the Netflix era
WWE
Cena kicked off his farewell tour with an appearance on Raw
Getty

Elton said: “Obviously, it would be an absolute dream to be able to get to share the ring, especially not like other people’s retirement.

“No heat, no shade, but not like other people’s retirements.

“We all fully understand that once this year is over, it’s done, which is quite, you know, quite sad, isn’t it? It’s an end of an era.

“So, yeah, we would love to get in the ring with him. Maybe there’s a possibility we’d have to see how it plays out.

“Who would you see that tag partner with? What’s that headline? Pretty Deadly versus John Cena and Randy Orton.”

WWE arrived on Netflix earlier this month, with all programming available on the streaming service in the UK, including RAW, SmackDown, NXT, Premium Live Events and WWE Archives.

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