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At 26 years of age, Jack Perry has barely scratched the floor of his potential, and but he’s already racked up spectacular victories over among the largest stars in All Elite Wrestling. So, M&F sat down with the present FTW Champion to learn how he trains for these big-time matches, and what it’s really prefer to step between the ropes and wrestle among the largest monsters ever to enter the squared circle.
“I’m never gonna be the biggest guy, and I kind of like that,” says Jack Perry. Of course, athletic efficiency isn’t measured by muscle dimension, and in 2019, professional wrestling followers realized that this man’s coronary heart was as massive as a lion’s. Having made his debut in 2015, on the Los Angeles impartial scene, Perry joined AEW as one of many firm’s first signings in 2019. In November of that very same 12 months, the younger upstart (who was then going below the title “Jungle Boy”) was challenged by AEW Champion Chris Jericho to try to final 10-minutes with the titleholder with out dropping. Fortunately, he did simply that, and earned a ton of respect amongst critics and followers for doing so.
“That was huge for me, because the show (Dynamite) was brand new at that time, but also at that time, I felt like a very small fish in a brand new, huge, pond,” remembers Perry. “You know, I’m walking around backstage and there’s a bunch of these guys who I’ve looked up to … and then pretty early on I get thrown in there with Chris Jericho, who pretty much is the biggest fish of them all. So, that was a really nerve wracking experience, but I’m also kinda glad that I got to do something like that so up front, and felt that I could hang at that point.”
While “Jungle” Jack Perry was displaying flashes of brilliance as a single competitor, his alignment with the “Jurassic Express” faction noticed him working a variety of tag-matches, frequently teaming up with the 6’ 5”, 275 pound man mountain often called Luchasaurus. In January 0f 2022, Perry and Luchasuarus turned AEW World Tag Team Champions they usually held on to these titles for 161 days, however following a loss to The Young Bucks in a ladder match, the staff quickly disbanded, finally resulting in matches towards his former mentor, Christian Cage, and former accomplice, Luchasuarus — in a metal cage. Having wrestled with the likes of Chris
Jericho, Christian Cage, and Luchasaurus, Perry is aware of what it means to step contained in the ropes and carry out on the highest degree.
This professional wrestler’s high-flying wrestling arsenal is exhilarating to look at, however don’t be fooled into pondering that Perry isn’t significantly robust. He additionally got here up with a brutal wanting operating elbow to the again of the pinnacle that may change the dynamic of any match inside seconds.
“That (move) was something I deliberately thought of because, I feel like being a smaller guy, a lot of times I get thrashed around in these matches and I’ve had my head smashed a couple times and I was thinking that a lot of my moves are fancy and cool looking, but they don’t necessarily do a lot of damage, some of them. I was thinking, I’d like to have a move, that I can put right in at the end of the match after these guys have been punting me around the entire time, and make them pay with it.”
Taking his elbow and smashing it into the again of his opponents definitely does the trick. But what about getting right into a metal cage? How does Perry really feel about that?
Jack Perry explains what it’s prefer to wrestle inside AEW’s metal cage
“The steel cage (match against Luchasaurus) was actually one of my top five favorite matches,” shares Perry, who says that this was his first ever cage match. “And, there was a lot going into that one for me because that was someone who had been my partner for a very long time and one of my closest friends. I started wrestling when I was around 10, and Luchasaurus was in the same beginners wrestling class that I was in. He was just a bit older … You know you see (these matches) on TV and feel kind of familiar with them, and then the time comes where you are walking through the door and it’s kind of like ‘Oh, s**t, I’m actually in this thing.’”
Perry was thrown round his inaugural cage bout like a rag doll. “I think people might have misconceptions about how (the cage) might feel,” he says. “That thing is just straight up metal. It’s rough on your skin and I got cut pretty early on in that one. Towards the end of that match, I climbed up to the top of it, to jump off, and it’s higher than it looks (on TV), it’s loud in there, there’s a bunch going on, so I think it’s definitely a daunting kind of experience but actually I really, really, enjoyed it and the match that came out of it.”
During that grueling metal cage match, Perry hoisted Luchasaurus up for a piledriver, and delayed the execution, holding up the 275-pound monster for what appeared like an eternity earlier than lastly driving him down headfirst towards the canvas. Such strikes require unimaginable core power. “That was cool. One of my favorite moments and actually the first piledriver that I’d ever given to anybody,” says Perry. “And at that point, I’d already been bleeding for around 10 minutes or so. When it came time to do it, I was like ‘Oh boy, let’s see what we got left in here.’ But, I think it was a really cool visual, that one. The slower nature of it.”
Perry says that he likes to rise to power challenges corresponding to that epic second, because it surprises those that solely count on him to do the extra highflying varieties of strikes. “in my preparation, and workout, I try to be all-round pretty strong,” he says.
Jack Perry says he’s studying from the positives, and steering away from the negatives to develop as a expertise
Having defeated ECW legend Taz’s son, “Hook,” for the unsanctioned FTW (F*** The World) title again in July, Perry understands the significance of continuous his legacy with the assist of those who paved the way in which earlier than him.
“I feel like one of the great things about AEW is that there are so many people, who are so good at what they do, whether they be in-ring people of behind the scenes. That match with Chris Jericho changed my outlook on a lot of stuff. So early in, I saw the way that things are done at this level, especially with someone like him, and it was different than what I’d been used to at the time. Even just being in there with the guys, seeing what they do and seeing how it works, I kinda take little bits and pieces and think ‘It’s pretty cool how he did that’ or why this guy did what he did. So, I think, all the time I just try and keep an open mind and see what’s going on around me, see what I like, and also what I don’t like because there’s a lot of that going on too. Stuff that I see, that I’m not a huge than of and I just think ‘Well, I’ll steer clear of that.’”
When it involves holding the FTW title, Jack Perry understands the significance of its lineage and says that he feels proud to put on the belt. A couple of weeks in the past, on AEW’s weekly present; Wednesday evening “Dynamite,” Perry defeated an ECW authentic and bona fide celebrity when he took on the 52-year-old wrestling icon, Rob Van Dam. It was a match that surpassed many individuals expectations, with RVD displaying that he has loads of gasoline left within the tank, however for Perry, there was by no means any doubt that his former hero turned opponent would give him all the things that he had. “
That was a match that I actually wished to have,” he says. “Just from a fan perspective, I was a huge fan of Rob back in the day. I still am. I was really excited just to be a part of it and to be in there with a guy who I had been such a fan of as a kid. And, also, I was kind of excited to see [him] up close and personal. If you look at it, the things he does are amazing. A lot of it is stuff that, even today, nobody is able to emulate. And, I guess his slogan, or whatever, is ‘One of a Kind’ but I really think with him, more than a lot of people, that’s actually the case.”
So, along with his profession on the up, Perry has all the things to maintain working for, however at simply 26 years of age, he is not only navigating pressures contained in the circle, however outdoors of it as nicely. This professional wrestler’s new, darker, on-screen character is permitting him to show elements of his character that weren’t attainable with the shackles of the extra cartoonish “Jungle Boy” however coping with followers and backstage critics is probably his most present studying curve. “I certainly felt that it was time for a change, and I’ve kind of been waiting on that change for a while,” says Perry of his latest ‘heel ‘ flip. “And, honestly, a lot of it kind of grew through real frustrations that I guess I was having in the workplace, but also with certain wrestling fans. I feel it’s kind of split down the middle. So, a lot of wrestling fans are the best fans you’ll ever find, and a lot of them are just very ungrateful and cynical, and kind of just looking for a reason to talk s**t about people, and I felt like over time I’d been getting fed up.” As a “bad guy,” Perry now not wants the cheers of the gang, and says he feels all of the freer due to it.
Fortunately, whilst a self-professed onerous gainer in the case of constructing muscle, Perry is ready to clear his head of the perils of being a professional wrestler by exercising, typically opting to go outdoors and have enjoyable within the parts. But, in the case of the health club, his go-to is the bench press. “The bench is definitely my strongest lift,” he says. Perry additionally likes to squat and deadlift when his physique isn’t too tight and beat up from his busy wrestling schedule.
Jack Perry is pleased with his progress up to now in AEW
Longtime followers of the grapple scene will recall that Perry was first on professional wrestling tv screens merely as a fan when he attended WWE SummerSlam in 2009 along with his father; the late, nice actor, Luke Perry. While dad is now not within the crowd, he’s all the time there in spirit. “I think he’d be digging it,” says Jack. “We talked a lot about wrestling, obviously as I was coming up, doing it, and I got his input on a lot of stuff. He was still with us when I signed my first AEW contract, and we were both, kinda, just over the moon about it. I think he, as I am, would be really happy with the progress and the journey of the whole thing.”
Of course, in the case of making his followers and household proud, there could possibly be no higher time to try this, than when AEW rocks London, England, on August 27, the place, on the ALL IN pay-per-view from the large Wembley Stadium, greater than 80,000 followers are anticipated for one of many largest occasions in professional wrestling historical past. “People want to see AEW, and what that entails,” says Jack Perry. “And I just think, to be a part of a company like that, to have been here since the very beginning, to see it culminate in this huge event with people all around the world paying their money to come and see us, it’s a real special thing that’s going on.”