TJ Perkins Calls His Time In WWE ‘An Accidental Pit Stop’

TJ Perkins spent time in WWE, but it wasn’t intentional. He recently revealed the true motives behind his stint in WWE while speaking to Vickie Guerrero’s Excuse Me podcast.

TJP called his run in WWE “an accidental pit stop.” He actually wanted to go to NJPW, Mexico, and later to Lucha Underground. He agreed to compete in 2016’s Cruiserweight Classic because he thought it would be like the J-Cup which was a historic event.

Then William Regal got in his ear and convinced him to lay down roots. This is what led to an extended stay in Vince McMahon’s company.

“For me, WWE was almost an accidental pit stop.  When I went there, I wasn’t aiming to go there. New Japan was obviously a goal. I was actually aiming to go back to Japan and Mexico when I left Impact the first time. This was 2015 or 2016. William Regal asked about me going to WWE for the Cruiserweight Tournament which I thought was maybe going to be like a modern day J-Cup they were going to do.  I knew it would have some significance culturally.  I didn’t know if I would stay or be their cup of tea.  I’ve been there before and they said, look, we don’t need guys like you and I said fair enough. They had their one Evan Bourne. They had their one Tyson Kidd and they said ‘we don’t any more of you dudes.’  I’m like ok, fine but I’ll do this tournament.”

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“Halfway through, they said ‘this is what we want to do going forward’ so I said ok. Regal talked me into staying. I wasn’t going to stay. I wanted to go to Lucha Underground. I wanted to go back to Mexico. I wanted to go to AAA and do some stuff there. I wanted to go back to New Japan. He said, ‘you should lay down some roots now that you are getting older.’ It was like three years through it and I felt like I wasn’t contributing in a way that I should be. The money was great and that’s fine. I can never say they didn’t take great care of me or anybody else but sometimes I felt like I was stealing money.”

TJP was eventually released from WWE, and he found his way back to Impact Wrestling. We’ll have to see what’s next for his career, but he apparently didn’t intend on staying in WWE for as long as he did.

Thanks to Wrestling News for the quote