Posts Tagged ‘TJP’

TJP On How He Got Chosen To Play Suicide In Impact Wrestling

The Suicide character in Impact Wrestling has been portrayed by more than half a dozen wrestlers over the years. One of them is the former WWE star TJP. The former cruiserweight champion recently had an interview with Cageside Seats. Among other things, he explained how he got chosen to play the character.

TJP first recalled the time the character made its debut in December 2007 portrayed by Frankie Kazarian. The high flying star remembered how Kazarian was reluctant about it and Christopher Daniels had joked that he should play the character instead:

“He [Frankie Kazarian] didn’t want to do it, he wasn’t having it. We all sat around the locker room and Christopher Daniels joked, ‘TJ should just be Suicide, he’s already in a mask,’ because I was Puma at the time.”

How TJP Got To Be Suicide

Perkins finally got the chance to play the character in May 2013. Explaining how he got the role, TJP revealed the officials originally wanted to bring it back for one night only. Since his Puma character was not being used at the time, the former 205 live star volunteered for the role:

“They were bringing it back for one night only as maybe nostalgia. I don’t think they knew who they wanted to portray it. I said, ‘If you don’t have any idea for this, I’d be happy to do it.’ At the time, I was tired of sitting at home. They said, ‘Good idea.’ One night turned into two, turned into three.”

The former Impact star continued to portray the character for a while before Suicide was revealed to be Perkins during an episode of Impact in June 30, 2013. His ring name was changed to Manik. TJP continued portraying the Manik character till he took his mask off in September 2015. Suicide has since made a few appearances on Impact and he even teamed with Manik in March 2020.

TJP Pulled From Slammiversary, Final Card For Tonight

Impact Wrestling has announced a change to tonight’s Slammiversary PPV. It’s a change that opens up another potential mystery spot on the show. Impact has announced that TJP is off tonight’s show but the match he was involved in will still go ahead as scheduled, just without him in it.

“TJP is unable to participate in tomorrow’s IMPACT Wrestling Pay-Per-View event, Slammiversary,” Impact’s update reads. ” The match-up will still go ahead as a four-way attraction.”

TJP was scheduled to team with Fallah Bah in the 4-way match for the Impact tag titles. The other teams were the champions Violent By Design, The Good Brothers Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows, and the team of Rich Swann & Willie Mack. Impact has not revealed if Fallah Bah will be getting a new partner. It’s possible a mystery person could be slotted into the position.

Updated Card For Slammiversary

  1. Impact World Championship
    No Disqualification
    Kenny Omega (c) vs Sami Callihan
  2. Knockouts Championship
    Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs A Mystery Opponent
  3. Impact Tag Team Championships
    Violent By Design (c) vs The Good Brothers vs Willie Mack & Rich Swann vs TJP & Fallah Bah
  4. Matt Cardona & ??? vs Brian Myers & Tenille Dashwood
  5. X-Division Championship
    Ultimate-X
    Josh Alexander (c) vs Rohit Raju vs Chris Bey vs Trey Miguel vs Ace Austin vs Petey Williams
  6. Moose vs Chris Sabin
  7. Eddie Edwards vs W. Morrissey
  8. Knockouts Tag Team Championships
    Fire N Flava (c) vs Rosemary & Havok (Kickoff show)

TJP Confirms Undergoing Surgery For Recent Injury

Former WWE and current Impact Wrestling star TJP revealed on Instagram that he suffered a nose injury recently and underwent surgery to repair the damage.

The high-flying star noted in a post that he had been performing with a fractured nose for a few weeks. According to him, he broke his nose about a month ago and had been wrestling with it being ‘broken and kinda loose’

TJP had held off the surgery because of his packed schedule in the past month and finally went under the knife after completing the latest set of Impact tapings:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPblbNnlWxz/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading

The upcoming episode of Impact wrestling will see the former WWE cruiserweight champion competing in a historic 60-minute ironman match for the X Division title.

TJP will challenge the current Impact X Division champion Josh Alexander in the bout that will start on Before The Impact and culminate on the broadcast of the show on Thursday.

The former champion also has a scheduled match at the upcoming NJPW Strong show on Friday night where he will be facing Kevin Knight in a singles match.

The exact time for his recovery is not known. However, considering that TJP waited for his schedule to free up, it doesn’t seem likely that he will be off Impact programming for a significant amount of time, if at all.

TJP On What He Told Vince McMahon Before Leaving WWE

TJP has been wrestling since he was 13 and his career of over two decades the high flying star has wrestled for many big promotions including Impact Wrestling, NJPW, ROH and more.

Though the run that got him the most recognization is his time with WWE which started with winning the Cruiserweight Classic tournament in 2016 and lasted until February 2019.

During his recent interview with ALL Real Wrestling Podcast, the former cruiserweight champion talked about his time in WWE and revealed what he told Vince McMahon before leaving the promotion:

“I was wanting to leave WWE. I had told them a year before that that it was my primary note. Well my primary note was that I felt like I was unhappy, but like, I wasn’t contributing anymore.

I didn’t want to waste resources to Vince and to the company, and I told him, I said, ‘Look, I’m wasting your money. I don’t want to waste your time, and I’m not happy.’ I’m not the type of person that is complacent that way,”

During the interview, the cruiserweight star also revealed that he originally didn’t plan to stay with WWE after the CWC tournament and he wanted to tour the world instead.

Since leaving the promotion, TJP has made his return to Impact Wrestling and started wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling again as well.

NJPW Announces Super J-Cup 2020 Lineup

New Japan Pro-Wrestling recently announced that they would be holding their Super J-Cup, a sporadically held junior heavyweight tournament, in the United States. This tournament will include both NJPW wrestlers who are unable to travel to Japan due to COVID-19 restrictions, and non-NJPW-affiliated wrestlers.

This eight-man tournament will take place over a single day on December 12, 2020, and will be streamed live, with English commentary, on NJPW World. The first round matches are as follows. See the bracket structure in the featured image.

  • Clark Connors vs. Chris Bey [IMPACT Wrestling]
  • ACH vs. TJP
  • Rey Horus vs. Blake Christian [Game Changer Wrestling]
  • El Phantasmo vs. Lio Rush

TJP Reflects On Competing In NJPW’s Super J-Cup Tournament

TJP has opened up about how important New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Super J-Cup tournament is to him, calling it his own “WrestleMania moment.” He also reflected on his time in NJPW’s training dojo, and praised their resident “Ace”, Hiroshi Tanahashi, who he believes is the Babe Ruth of the promotion.

“The Junior division is why I started wrestling in the first place. The J-Cup, that was my WrestleMania moment,” he confessed during an interview with WrestleZone. “I joke with people, but I’m being serious, I never had a Mania moment. Like when I went to WWE, I never cared when I would see ‘Oh, I’m not on the card this year.’ That was fine, I never cared about a Mania moment but I always thought, ‘Man! I’ll never get the J-Cup. There’s only been like five of them in history,’ so when that came up this year and they were like, ‘We’d like you to be part of it,’ it’s like, ‘Man, this does not come up every year.’”

TJP explained how being in contention for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship has always been a goal of his. He juxtaposed it to WWE’s Intercontinental Championship, explaining how it’s the “[…] most important title for like ‘wrestlers’ wrestlers.’”

TJP On Hiroshi Tanahashi

TJP then spoke about Tanahashi, a man he clearly has a lot of respect for. He noted how, when he was training with the promotion as a young boy, Tanahashi was just ahead of him as a Young Lion. To him, Tanahashi is akin to John Cena and Babe Ruth.

“He was the class right ahead of me when I was a young boy so he was a Young Lion graduating when I came in the dojo. It’s really cool now at this stage to be back a part of the organization,” TJP said, “and he’s been like their John Cena for so long. He’s been the Babe Ruth over there and arguably the greatest babyface of all time.”

TJP competed during last year’s Super J-Cup. He advanced through to the second round. He was eliminated by El Phantasmo.

H/T to WrestleZone for the transcription.

NJPW Super Junior Tag League 2019 Teams, Schedule Announced

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced the lineup for 2019’s Super Junior Tag League. The Super Junior Tag League is an annual tournament of junior heavyweight tag teams. This year’s tournament will feature eight teams competing in a single block, round-robin format, as it has since last year. All teams will compete against each other, earning 2 points for a victory and 1 point for a draw. The two most successful teams will face off once more in the tournament final at Power Struggle on November 3.

Super Junior Tag League 2019 Teams

  • Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) (Current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions)
  • Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles)
  • CMLL (Titán & Volador Jr.)
  • Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) (Super Junior Tag League 2018 winners)
  • Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
  • Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura
  • TJP & Clark Connors

Super Junior Tag League 2019 Schedule

October 16 (Live on NJPW World)

  • Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura vs. CMLL (Titán & Volador Jr.)
  • Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. TJP & Clark Connors
  • Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles) vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)
  • Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) vs. Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

October 17 (Live on NJPW World)

  • Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura vs. Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles) vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)
  • CMLL (Titán & Volador Jr.) vs. TJP & Clark Connors
  • Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)

October 18 (House show)

  • Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)

October 19 (House show)

  • Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles) vs. CMLL (Titán & Volador Jr.)

October 21 (House show)

  • Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) vs. TJP & Clark Connors

October 22 (House show)

  • Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

October 23 (House show)

  • Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)

October 25 (House show)

  • Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles) vs. TJP & Clark Connors

October 26 (House show)

  • CMLL (Titán & Volador Jr.) vs. Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

October 27 (Live on NJPW World)

  • Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura vs. Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles)
  • Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)
  • CMLL (Titán & Volador Jr.) vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)
  • TJP & Clark Connors vs. Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

October 28 (Live on NJPW World)

  • Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura vs. Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
  • Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles)
  • Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) vs. CMLL (Titán & Volador Jr.)
  • TJP & Clark Connors vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)

October 30 (Live on NJPW World)

  • Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)

October 31 (Live on NJPW World)

  • Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura vs. TJP & Clark Connors

November 1 (House show)

  • Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. CMLL (Titán & Volador Jr.)
  • Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles) vs. Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
  • Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)

Power Struggle 2019 (November 3) (Live on NJPW World)

  • Final Match: Top 2 teams vs. each other

NJPW Super J-Cup 2019 Full Field and Schedule Announced

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced the full lineup and schedule for their Super J-Cup 2019. The Super J-Cup 2019 will be a single-elimination tournament between 16 junior heavyweight wrestlers. It is an historic tournament having taken place on an inconsistent basis since 1994, but this will be the first time that it is held in the United States. The field is as follows:

  • Will Ospreay (CHAOS)
  • Robbie Eagles (CHAOS)
  • El Phantasmo (Bullet Club)
  • Rocky Romero (CHAOS)
  • Clark Connors (NJPW)
  • Jonathan Gresham (ROH)
  • Soberano Jr. (CMLL)
  • Amazing Red
  • YOH (CHAOS)
  • BUSHI (Los Ingobernables de Japon)
  • Ryusuke Taguchi (NJPW)
  • Taiji Ishimori (Bullet Club)
  • Caristico (CMLL)
  • TJP
  • SHO (CHAOS)
  • Dragon Lee (CMLL)

These are the first round matches for the tournament, to take place on August 22, 2019 at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington.

  • Rocky Romero vs. Soberano Jr.
  • Clark Connors vs. TJP
  • Caristico vs. BUSHI
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jonathan Gresham
  • Robbie Eagles vs. El Phantasmo
  • YOH vs. Dragon Lee
  • SHO vs. Taiji Ishimori
  • Will Ospreay vs. Amazing Red (main event)

Second round matches will take place on August 24 at the San Francisco University Student Life Events Center, in accordance with the bracket image above. The semifinals and final match will be at the Final event on August 25 at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California.

TJP Discusses How The Cruiserweight Division And X-Division Have Impacted Pro Wrestling

Former WWE 205 Live Superstar, and current Impact Wrestling star, TJP has experience competing for WWE’s Cruiserweight Division as well as Impact’s X-Division.

Speaking with the WINCLY podcast, TJP opened up about his time in these divisions, and what they each offered pro wrestling.

“I always thought that the X-Division affected the social culture of wrestling in the 2000s the same way the WCW Cruiserweight Division did when it was first starting,” TJP explained.

“I meet young fans who grew up on the X-Division, and during that time TNA was the hot, trendy thing. The generation is so far removed from it now that people forget that the type of trendiness AEW has now TNA once had.”

Reflecting on his time in WWE’s Cruiserweight Division, TJP highlighted how the division gave wrestlers his size opportunities that previously wouldn’t have existed.

“It opened the doors for a generation of guys who didn’t have a certain stature and didn’t have an opportunity for maybe 10 years. There was a time I was homeless,” he shared, “and went down to FCW in 2008 and 2009, and it was unheard of someone of my size trying to get in.”

TJP then spoke about how 2016’s Cruiserweight Classic helped open doors for smaller Superstars to establish themselves, naming Cedric Alexander and The Lucha House Party as prime examples.

TJP has a busy schedule ahead of him. In between his Impact wrestling and independent commitments, he was recently announced as being a participant in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Super J-Cup.

Thanks to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

https://youtu.be/fCb04M1yTR8

NJPW announces TJP, Dragon Lee & SHO for Super J-Cup 2019

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced the first three entrants for their 2019 Super J-Cup. This year’s Super J-Cup will be a sixteen-participant, three day junior heavyweight tournament. The three known participants are:

  • TJP
  • Dragon Lee
  • SHO

TJP has a history with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, having trained in the original American dojo in Santa Monica in 2001. In 2011, he competed in the Best of the Super Juniors, but failed to advance to the Final.

The remaining thirteen Super J-Cup entrants will be announced in the weeks to come. The tournament schedule is as follows:

  • First Round: August 22 at Temple Theater (Tacoma, Washington)
  • Second Round: August 24 at San Francisco State University Student Life Events Center (San Francisco, California)
  • Semifinals & Final: August 25 at Walter Pyramid (Long Beach, California)

TJP Reveals How It Was To Work With Vince McMahon

There are a lot of stories about Vince McMahon not being receptive to ideas from stars and yelling at people. However, the former Cruiserweight Champion TJP had a different experience while working with the boss.

The former WWE Star recently had an interview with WrestlingInc where he talked openly about his time in the promotion, superstars being frustrated with their position in the company and more.

Speaking of Vince McMahon, the former Champion claimed that it was always a lot of fun working with the Boss and he is really like a father figure to everybody:

“For me, it was always a lot of fun and was fulfilling, he really is like a father figure to everybody and he’s really more of a normal dude. I can’t stress it enough how normal of a guy he is. I think people are more just scared of his door than anything else.

Continuing on the topic, he said that Vince is really soft spoken. He listens really well and cares about your ideas. While he did often provided feedback, unlike the stories he has heard, the Boss never yelled at him for anything.

Later in the interview, TJP also talked about Lio Rush’s claims of being broke on his current WWE salary. He said that he can’t imagine being that tight, though he did admit that everybody is different and there might be things about Rush’s life we don’t know.

As noted before, TJP had discussed his WWE finances in much more detail in the interview. You can check out some of his comments where he reveals the difference between main roster and NXT contracts at this link.

TJP Reveals Details Of His WWE Contract

TJP competed in the Inaugural Cruiserweight Classic Tournament in 2016 and he was named the first ever Cruiserweight Champion when he won the competition.

He then went on to compete in Raw and then in 205 Live for almost 3 years and after his release from the company in February earlier this year, the former Champion is now free to discuss his WWE finances.

During a recent interview with WrestlingInc, the former Raw Star discussed his early days in the company. While WWE had announced a Cruiserweight Division for Raw, he revealed that initially, all the CWC stars were signed to an NXT Deal:

“We all had NXT deals. Mine was pretty big. They offered me two raises before I actually had a deal because they thought I might go somewhere else. I remember getting more than what was normal, but it was still an NXT deal,”

Continuing on the topic, he revealed that their deals were upgraded to main roster contracts after WrestleMania 33. The Cruiserweight Star, however, maintained that working on main roster with an NXT Deal is the best case scenario.

Expanding on the comments, he revealed that the NXT deals cover a lot of costs such as rental and so you can keep a significant portion of the extra money you are making by working main roster shows.

Apart from this, TJP also discussed the difference between the NXT and main roster creatives, how WWE could have helped the Cruiserweight Division and more. You can check out his full interview at this link.

WWE Announcer Drops F-Bomb During WWE Stream, TJP Gets First Post-WWE Bookings

WWE Announcer Drops F-Bomb

WWE premiered their watch-along feature during this past weekend’s Fastlane pay-per-view (PPV). Stars like WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, D-Von Dudley, The New Day, The IIconics, Christian, and many more made appearances. Fans got to see WWE stars’ live reactions as the show progressed. The stream was broadcasted on WWE’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube platforms.

However, the footage has since been deleted. After some speculation, many believe it was due to WWE 205 Live announcer Nigel McGuinness dropping an f-bomb during the stream. When answering a question from Pat McAfee, McGuinness said, “Yeah, you stopped me f*cking stumbling my words.” Footage from the slip-up can be seen at this link. If you’d like to watch the full watch-along stream, check it out below:

TJP Gets First Post-WWE Bookings

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJP (formerly known as TJ Perkins) has received his first bookings since being released from WWE. TJP was released from the company late last month, but will be getting back into the squared circle next week. He has been announced for The Wrestling REVOLVER‘s three-year anniversary show. The action will take place from the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines, Iowa on May 10:

Also, TJP will compete for Expo Lucha at the San Diego City College Harry West Gymnasium on August 17 and 18. With the purchase of a ticket, fans will also receive autograph and photo opportunities:

Reason For Recent WWE Releases Revealed

As we reported earlier this week TJP, WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson, Tye Dillinger, and Hideo Itami were all released from their WWE contracts. Itami had publicly announced that we would be leaving. Dillinger also made some comments this week on social media confirming his release.

There appears to be some reasoning for the recent releases. According to the Wrestling Observer Arn Anderson was constantly in conflict with Vince McMahon. The actual details are few and far between but apparently a recent house show involved an incident which the WWE CEO was not happy about. Anderson took full responsibility for the incident and was subsequently terminated from the company.

TJP’s release is reportedly for disciplinary reasons. WWE are quite reluctant to ‘fire’ anyone currently due to the new landscape of professional wrestling (see: AEW). Again details are scarce but WWE felt firing TJP needed to be done.

Itami and Dillinger asked for their releases from WWE. With the aforementioned change of landscape both clearly feel that there are opportunities for them elsewhere.

Bruce Prichard, Steve Corino, “Hurricane” Shane Helms, Sonjay Dutt, Shawn Daivari, “Abyss” Chris Parks and WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett have all recently joined the company in backstage roles.

TJP Sets The Record Straight On His WWE Release

TJ Perkins was among several WWE wrestlers released from the company on Friday. The former Cruiserweight Champion was vocal about his frustrations in recent weeks, but was gracious to WWE after his departure.

Perkins has been tweeting about the situation and provides more details on what led to him leaving WWE. He wrote, “Hey so there’s a lot of messages/tweets/texts/emails/calls for me right now and it’s a bit overwhelming. If I miss your message here I apologize. Many are expressing sadness, and thank you, but its ok. And those who hate me w/a passion, thank you too. Sincerely. Thx for watching.”

A fan asked him if he got in trouble for recently getting new tattoos. He replied, “I mean, the boss thought they were pretty cool last Tuesday when we met …and also when he gave me permission to get them 6 months ago.”

He also set the record straight on reports that he was disgruntled behind the scenes. “There was nothing negative,” he said on Twitter. “I have been swinging for the fences quietly behind the curtain for a year and this was a “spread your wings” thing. Boss said he respected my effort and diligence and it just didn’t fit what they wanted. It’s not my call, and I’m cool with it.”

When asked if he quit WWE or if it was their decision. Perks says he doesn’t believe in quitting and both sides worked together to find a meaningful role for him on television.

“Thought about it several times but no I never believe in quitting. For months the mutual goal was to find a way for me to accomplish my goals on a bigger platform. Tuesday was the same. But inevitably that doesn’t fit into what they want to do. I’m only a cog in a big machine.”

Perkins also said his goal in WWE was to represent Filipinos and he’s proud to keep that goal alive with whatever is next. So what is next for TJP? Follow him on Twitter at @MegaTJP to find out.

WWE Releases Hideo Itami, TJP, Tye Dillinger, Arn Anderson

WWE announced a wave of talent releases on Friday afternoon.

In separate 1-line statements at WWE.com, the company stated it has “come to terms on the release” of Hideo Itami, TJP and Tye Dillinger.

Itami reportedly asked for his release late last month after nearly five years with WWE.

Cruiserweight Classic winner TJ Perkins and Tye Dillinger have both vented publicly about their frustrations. Dillinger issued a statement earlier this week telling fans on social media that he requested to be released. He expressed gratitude for his time with WWE and wrote,

“To the male and female locker rooms, coaches and producers, to the production/ring crew, all the way up to the very top of WWE and most of al the fans…I wish you all the very best and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything.”

TJP wrote the following in response to WWE’s announcement:

As noted early Friday morning, WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson has also been released. Anderson had been working with talent backstage as a producer. AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes commented on AA’s situation:

We will provide an update if there are any more releases today.

Two More WWE Stars Released From Company

Two more WWE stars have been granted their releases from the company today (Fri. February 22, 2019). WWE announced that they have come to terms on the release of former Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins and 205 Live star Hideo Itami. WWE did not wish either man good luck in their future endeavors.

Perkins signed with WWE back in 2016 after winning the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic tournament. With the tournament win, he also captured the Cruiserweight Championship. He’d go on to lose the strap to Brian Kendrick at that year’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view (PPV). As for Itami, he has been rumored to be leaving the company for quite some time now.

It was reported last month that the Japanese star asked for his release from the company. This came after his loss to Akira Tozawa on the January 29th episode of 205 Live. Itami was reportedly unhappy with the way he was being used. As of this writing, four releases were granted today by WWE. Those being Arn Anderson, Tye Dillinger, Itami, and TJP.

This makes things particularly interesting now that All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is on the rise. Perhaps some of these names could be seen at Double Or Nothing in May.

What do you think about WWE’s decision to release TJP and Itami?

TJP Vents Frustrations Over NXT Superstar’s RAW Debut

Not everyone was happy to see NXT Superstar, Ricochet, make their main roster debut last night on Monday Night RAW.

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion, TJP, took to his Twitter account in order to vent his frustrations after witnessing Ricochet execute a move TJP claims to have written.

Responding to a clip uploaded by WWE’s Twitter account, TJP said, “Oh cool I think I wrote this”

He would follow up with a series of tweets over the situation before responding to fans who were reaching out with support. It’s worth noting that TJP stressed that he was still “happy” for Ricochet as he “deserves a shot.”

“I wish I was kidding…but literally I wrote that. Be proactive I guess…”

“I thought someone else turning my homework in with their name on it ended after high school…”

“Despite all that, I’m really happy for @KingRicochet because he’s really awesome and deserves a shot.”

“That Was My Best Shot”

Obviously frustrated, TJP claimed that Ricochet’s spot was the “best shot’ he could have hoped for. He claimed that “they [WWE] just gave the bat I carved myself to someone else for their at-bat.”

Despite his clear dissapointment, when another fan asked if TJP would be appearing in All Elite Wrestling anytime soon, the 205 Live Superstar said:

“If it were up to me, literally never. I’m doing everything I possibly can to succeed here on the team I always wanted to play for, both on and off camera.”

TJP Talks WWE Moving 205 Live To Different Night, Winning Cruiserweight Classic

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJP recently spoke about various topics while doing an interview with Fox Sports Asia including winning the Cruiserweight Classic, 205 Live‘s moves to Wednesday, and more.

When it comes to 205 Live moving from Tuesday to Wednesday, TJP noted that it has changed from airing from after SmackDown to before the blue branded show went live. It all came down to scheduling and logistics. He recalled taping TV in Philadelphia where they were doing a Tribute to the Troops special. This was when they taped before Raw and brought up how it was an amazing city. They went to Washington the next night to SmackDown and got the same reaction.

“So a lot of times it didn’t really change anything. Even now I feel like it doesn’t really matter. I think at the end of the day the real filter is you have to be who you are and you have to be good at what you do. and you have to make a connection so that people want to follow you.”

TJP won the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016 that led to the WWE bringing back these stars and giving them their own TV show. When asked about winning the tournament, he admitted that he doesn’t think about it often. He was able to represent Filipinos and South East Asians which is something that he takes pride in.

“I have never been able to just be myself so really the thing about CC was such a big deal for me is that there have been times I have been asked to be things I am not – a Mexican wrestler, a Japanese wrestler or things like that and been portrayed as something I am not. For once I came in and again this is why it feels like home here because I just simply asked if I could be myself and they said: “Yes, that’s exactly who we want you to be”. You know winning and everything and all that was nice but it made it special for me because it was the first time I got to be myself.”

Who Has The Most MITB Appearances?, WWE Star Teases Brand Switch

Who Has The Most MITB Appearances?

Later this month (June 17, 2018) WWE will holds its Money In The Bank (MITB) Ladder match in Rosemont, Illinois. Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, The Miz, Rusev, Bobby Roode, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and a member of The New Day.

WWE recently posted an Instagram photo showing which of these competitors has been in a MITB Ladder match the most. The Miz leads the way with three, Kevin Owens has two, and if Kofi Kingston is the New Day member selected to participate he’ll lead the way with six:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjsAHLzFMRr/?utm_source=ig_embed

WWE Star Teases Brand Switch

TJP has been teasing a brand switch lately after recently working an enhancement talent on 205 Live before cutting a promo on General Manager Drake Maverick. TJP has teased a possible move to SmackDown Live or Monday Night RAW as he feels Maverick doesn’t appreciate him. Check it out here:

Unseen Footage Of Finn Balor From Raw, Reason Why Cruiserweight Star Has Been Kept Off TV

– Before facing Kane in a match during the main event of this week’s episode of Raw, Finn Balor cut a promo on the Big Red Monster which didn’t air due to a commercial break. Below is the unseen footage of Balor calling out Kane for a match from the show:

– Former Cruiserweight Champion TJP has been kept off TV for a while now which has left people wondering about his status. Many speculate that he may have suffered an injury since he had appeared on crutches during the August 15th episode of 205 Live.

However, Dave Meltzer revealed on Wrestling Observer Radio that the former Champion is not injured and he has been away from WWE Programming because writers have nothing for him to do.

Two Superstars Debut On UpUpDownDown Madden Tournament

Austin Creed’s YouTube channel, UpUpDownDown, is in the middle of it’s 2017 Madden 18 Tournament.  Previous years have been dominated by The Champ: Seth Rollins.  He is still undefeated and continues his pursuit, looking to add a third championship to his cabinet.

Previous match ups have included Baron Corbin VS Kofi Kingston, as well as Titus O’Neill VS The Miz; both showdowns saw the former football athletes struggle.  While Corbin and Kingston were able to stay relatively lighthearted, with smiles and laughs on both sides, The Miz was unable to stop talking for the entire 26 minute video as he took on the head of Titus Brand Worldwide.  It’s difficult to not feel sorry for Titus as he sat silently throughout the unwarranted barrage of advice and taunts; however, it’s also extremely amusing and enjoyable.

The Hollywood A-Lister advanced through to the next round of the tournament in a 24-09 win and will come up against a member of The Miztourage: Curtis Axel, who beat Brian Kendrick 37-0.

The latest Madden 18 game to feature on Austin Creed’s YouTube channel was between two WWE superstars making their debut in the tournament: TJ Perkins and Luke Gallows.  This match-up potentially represents the most experienced video game player, overall, against the least experienced.  TJP based his in-ring persona on retro gaming, using 8-bit logos and music to support his character, which seems to be most inspired by Megaman games.

The only knowledge Luke Gallows was able to pick up before the start of the match, came from his old friend “Uncle AJ”; unfortunately it still wasn’t very helpful and Gallows had to sit as he was beaten by a nerd.

The beauty of this episode is found in the continuous jokes that each superstar bounces off.  They both have a great rapport with each other and work together, especially as TJP appears to look up towards Gallows, constantly wanting a Too Sweet.  While he destroys his inexperienced opponent, it seems as though TJP just wants to be liked by his older relative, and at the same time – his older relative just wants to fit in.  It’s an amusing insight into an unusual combination that wouldn’t be seen in-ring together.

Opinion:

Recent rumours have run around the internet about Gallows and Anderson potentially leaving the company, fueled by the removal of WWE from their Twitter descriptions.  Whether these rumours are true or not, it’s clear to see that Luke Gallows is a respected and admired superstar in the locker room.

Former Champion Possibly Injured

In the past several weeks, Bayley and Scott Dawson have been unfortunate enough to suffer an injury and now it appears another former Champion has joined this list.

Former Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins, who is now simply built as TJP has apparently suffered some sort of leg injury. While the exact date when he got injured is not known, it apparently happened within the past week as he wrestled in a match on last week’s episode of 205 Live.

The talks of his injury began after he was pulled from his match against fellow 205 Live Star Rich Swann yesterday night and was replaced by the former Cruiserweight Classic Competitor Ariya Daivari.

However, he didn’t stay out of the match completely and appeared on the stage when the bout between Daivari and Swann was still in progress. During his appearance, he was on Crutches and wearing a knee brace, which further fuelled the rumours of his injury:

This resulted in Rich getting distracted and it allowed Ariya to pick up the victory. The segment ended afterwards but left fans questioning about TJP’s status.

Though so far WWE has been quiet on Perkins’s injury and they have yet to release any official statement on it. Due to this many believe it can be a work and a way to take the ongoing rivalry between him and Rich Swann to the next level

The only mention of his injury is seen on WWE.com in the article about the match between Daivari and Swann and that too, doesn’t provide any details on his condition.

WWE Possibly Creating Theme Park Attractions (Photos), TJP On Getting Title Shot Tonight (Video)

WWE May Be Creating Theme Park Attractions In Orlando

International entertainment design company Forrec has apparently been working with WWE to create theme park attractions. The prospective projects include rides with WWE moves like the Moonsault, the Rock Bottom and a Suplex City themed ride. There was also a Triple H sledgehammer ride and a dark ride called Road to Wrestlemania. If WWE is considering creating a physical Hall of Fame, WWE could create an entire theme park around it in Orlando. You can check out some photos of the concept below:

https://twitter.com/DisneyCapeCod/status/871833960568979456

TJP Comments On Getting A Title Shot Tonight On 205 Live

TJP defeated Mustafa Ali last night on RAW. Before the match, TJP asked Neville to hold up his end of the bargain and give him a shot at the Cruiserweight Championship. Neville told TJP that if he defeated Ali, he will talk to RAW GM Kurt Angle about giving him a title shot. TJP defeated Ali and was then attacked by Neville on the entrance ramp. Neville informed TJP that he will get his Cruiserweight Championship match tonight on 205 Live. After RAW went off the air, TJP was asked about Neville’s attack and the Cruiserweight Championship match. TJP responded with “You know what they say? Ask and you shall recieve” and then walked away.

205 Live Main Event Announced For Tonight

WWE has announced the main event for tonight’s episode of 205 Live. The show comes from Manchester, NH tonight after Smackdown Live.

Austin Aries vs. TJP

At the moment, the storyline is that TJP (formerly TJ Perkins) is helping Neville retain his championship against the top good guys on the brand, Neville & Jack Gallagher. We’ve heard Neville tell TJP that he will earn a cruiserweight championship match if he continues to help him. Time will tell if TJP gets fed-up with waiting for Neville to grant him a championship opportunity however.

32-year old TJP is on a bit of a role, having won 3 of 4 on TV in May, including a singles win over Gallagher. His only loss this month was on Raw to Aries on May 1st in Sacramento.

As for the 39-year old Aries, he’s 1-1 on TV since defeating Neville via DQ at Payback. He defeated TJP on the May 1st Raw, but lost in the tag match last night.