CJ Perry Comments On When She'll Make Her Return To Wrestling

CJ Perry says she’ll return to wrestling when the right story is there for her to tell.

During a recent interview with WrestleZone, CJ Perry (fka Lana) was asked about her time away from the wrestling business and if she’s any closer to a return. Perry was originally scheduled for the Wrestling Entertainment Series event in England, but the event was rescheduled and ultimately cancelled. She says she was excited for the event since it would’ve been a title match and it’s something she never achieved yet.

“I was really excited about that match in the UK, I was gonna fight Nia for the championship. I never won a championship. I’ve helped other people win, but it’s kind of like that goal and that dream that I never was able to achieve, and that was really disappointing. I think that really hit me hard, to be honest. Because I felt like it was all in vain. I felt like no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t achieve that. I’m like, this is professional wrestling? Who cares? Let me have bodyguards, let me cheat. Let me be Russian and pay everyone off to win. But then I just had to take a step away, and I was watching some basketball movies and documentaries and realized there’s a lot of iconic basketball players, iconic athletes in every sport that are gonna be Hall of Famers, yet they haven’t won a championship ring. That’s just reality. Not everyone’s gonna get that good. Not every incredible Olympic athlete is gonna become a gold medalist.

“When I put in that in that perspective, because beforehand I was like, no, it’s professional wrestling, we should all be able to get that opportunity, but it’s pre-determined. The reality is, if we take it from a sports perspective, not everyone gets that opportunity. Not everyone gets that win. Just like not all actors become Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep. It was a little bit easier to accept that because I felt like I was a failure almost, and realizing no, maybe that’s just not in my cards.”

CJ Perry explained that she’s open to wrestling and managing but if she was going to wrestle, it needs to be story-driven. Perry said that her strengths are on the mic and she doesn’t need to come back if it’s not beneficial to those involved.

“If it is something like with Nia, we’re going after the championship, like that made sense because I’ve never been a champion so I’m willing to put my body on the line for it. But at the same time, I really think my strength is talking and helping drive other people’s stories, being the mouthpiece, and I wanna come back and I wanna solidify being an icon and a legend. I don’t wanna just come back and do mediocre stuff. No, I don’t need to, and I don’t want to. I want to come back only if I can do great stuff, and I don’t put it in a box. If it’s like having a wrestling match or managing, no, I love it all, and I’m willing to do it all. But the story has to be there because people connect with stories.

“I love professional wrestling because of the stories, the stories that are resolved in the ring. It’s awesome having dream matches, it’s great. But me personally, I connect to things that are story-driven, even if it’s a soap opera where it resolves in the ring. That’s why I fell in love with professional wrestling. I’m a professional dancer, I’m an actor, I’m a storyteller, and I believe that if you tell the right story, there’s nothing like professional wrestling because it’s the only place that we then [get to] beat each other up to resolve our conflict. I think that’s freaking rad.”