WWE Cruiserweight Champion T.J. Perkins, who defends his title at tonight’s RAW brand Hell In A Cell pay-per-view in Boston, Mass. against Brian Kendrick, recently appeared as a guest on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast for a full length interview.
Among other topics, Perkins spoke about the peers of current NXT World Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and former WWE Superstar Yoshi Tatsu in Japan back in the early-2000s.
“I actually had a really interesting class because Yoshi Tatsu was in my class and so was Shinsuke Nakamura. And Nakamura, literally, from Day One, was Nakamura, like, he wasn’t even a young boy with us. He was in our class, but we never saw him. He was going to be a superstar from Day One. He was just too good to be with us, for sure.”
Perkins also opened up about his true feelings when he watched as the man who would go on to become today’s Finn Balor in NXT and WWE, Prince Devitt, took an opportunity he feels he left on the table and got the most out of it.
“I was doing less and less around the time Prince Devitt was coming in, so it was almost like he took over the opportunity I was kind of leaving on the table, which in retrospect, I wish I never left.” Perkins continued, “I think it was more like he did what I didn’t do because he came in and was amazing, like, did an amazing job. And I never, like, I don’t think I flourished in a way. I think they were hoping that I would stick around and do that sort of thing.”
As far as his WWE entrance is concerned, the man who defends his title in one of many championship bouts scheduled for Hell In A Cell tonight as the only underdog champion according to odds released online this weekend revealed that it was done in a way of addressing the criticism that he is “too smooth in the ring.”
“It’s just stuff I’m into for the most part. Artistically, it’s just things I’m into. I always wanted to be Scott Pilgrim, like actual Scott Pilgrim. And it’s something that really hasn’t been done a lot. A buddy of mine, Kenny Omega in Japan, had similar style and stuff to him and I think it’s indicative of this generation, so I felt it was something that could be communicated and it’s part of what I like. But stylistically, Cesaro jokes with me a lot because he gets a lot of the same ‘wrestling looks too easy’. I just got sick of hearing that. I’m not a gritty guy, like, I’m not a tough guy. I can dirty it up, but at a certain point, I am who I am and this is my best way of encapsulating that. It’s just a way of capturing what that is and being able to provide it as a form of entertainment as opposed to only getting it as criticism.”
“Iit started with the music. They asked what I was into. And he music guys are big gamers, so they were like, ‘we’ve been waiting our whole lives to make this song!’ They did and then, after that, I was like, ‘this is the right type of atmosphere for this.'”
Check out the complete interview with WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast by visiting the official show page at PodcastOne.com.