Jungle Boy Reflects On Doing In-Ring Extra Work, Initially Hating His Ring Name

In a recent episode of Wrestlers On The Road Ordering Room Service, All Elite Wrestling’s Jungle Boy opened up about being an extra in another wrestling promotion. His statement naturally suggested he was referring to WWE. He recalled the feedback the company gave him and also shared how he initially hated the ring name Jungle Boy. 

“I did some extra work somewhere else,” Jungle Boy said, hinting at WWE. “And they basically told me, they were like, ‘look,’ they were like, ‘if you put on 30 lbs. or whatever, we will give you a job, but the way it is, it’s not going to happen.’ And I was just so bummed.”

He continued, “I was like, ‘it bums me out that that’s the one thing that it gets hung up on because I know what I can do and I can do a bunch of stuff, but I think there are a bunch of guys who are way bigger than me who are not nearly as good and it’s silly to me to get so hung up on that.”

Jungle Boy confessed how, when he first heard “Jungle Boy,” he felt it was the dumbest name he had ever heard. He stated how a random announcer came up with the name after seeing him soaking wet and “kind of crouching like a monkey” before a show. Crediting the crouch to Conor McGregor, he adopted the same animalistic stance and was attributed the nickname. He reflected on how people liked it, so he went along with it, admitting that the name changed everything for him. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.