Jack Perry returned at AEW All Out after a ten-month absence from programming and didn’t expect to be gone for so long.
In an interview with VICE before this week’s appearance on Dynamite, the 28-year-old AEW shared his thoughts on being away for so long.
I thought I was gonna be off a month or two and then be back. But then things just change a lot and that’s how it goes. I will say, Luchasaurus and I were always going to be back together doing something. We knew that from the day that we broke up as a tag team the first time. I also felt I had such a good run the year before. I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to top that right now.’ We concluded this is probably the best time for us to do this.
In the interview, VICE states that Perry revealed he was set for a program with Kenny Omega this year, but those plans were set aside.
Perry told the outlet about the origin of the Jungle Boy character, which began as a joke, and resisted the suggestion that he play off the celebrity of his late father, Luke Perry.
People were always trying to push me to be my dad and do 90210. They’re like, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be funny if you’re from Beverly Hills and this and that?’ No, guys. I really don’t want to do that. I’m trying to do my own thing here. So when I got the Jungle Boy thing, they’d say, ‘Can you send a promo and say this?’
Perry discussed his problems with the “Four Pillars” branding he received alongside MJF, Sammy Guevara, and Darby Allin as the foundation for their Double or Nothing four-way match in May 2023.
The pillars thing up to that point was the most miserable I had ever been. I didn’t wanna do that at that time. I literally said, I begged, I was like, ‘Can we do this later? I feel like this is only really benefiting one person and we all could grow so much more.’ I was kinda floating around killing time until he got back so I could beat him. After I beat him, the next thing I got put in was that. I was like, ‘Could you guys let me get going a little bit? Sammy could be built up even more, Darby, and this could be a huge thing where any one of us could win the world title at the end of this.’
Perry has not wrestled in an AEW ring since Full Gear last November, and his lone match this year occurred at Wrestle Dynasty at the Tokyo Dome in January.
He returned at All Out in Toronto on September 20 to reunite with former partner Luchasaurus, with both set to appear on the sixth anniversary of Dynamite this Wednesday.
The full interview conducted by Haley Miller can be read on VICE.
