TJ PERKINS FKA MANIK ON HIS TNA DEPARTURE, MORE
- 01/23/2016 (12:27:56 am)
- Bob Mulrenin
…
Today The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling is packed
with a #DOUBLESHOT of epic proportions as we are joined by the founder of Global
Force Wrestling and TNA Wrestling, "The King of The Mountain" Jeff Jarrett as
well as a superstar who recently departed from TNA Wrestling, TJ Perkins AKA
Manik/Suicide. TJP is brutally honest and is able to spin all the craziness of
IMPACT Wrestling into an engaging and head scratching but insightful look into
his time working for the beleaguered company. But we also get a look into the
story of a 17 year ring veteran who is still in his early thirties and has a ton
to still offer the wrestling business. Jeff Jarrett joins the program to discuss
at length the first ever Northeastern leg of the Global Force Wrestling takeover
and how teaming with Pro Wrestling Syndicate helps GFW reach a new
audience.
Full Episode Download
Link:
TJ Perkins AKA Manik On His Twitter Feud w/ Josh Mathews & TNA's
Reaction
How his departure from TNA came about:
Basically my contract had come up and there was I believe a company
option and basically I was coming up as a restricted free agent (using sports
terms) and they had options to retain me for another year. I don't know if its
because and I am sure they are probably restructuring their contracts because of
the POP TV stuff so I don't know if that maybe part of it. It came up for
renewal and they just said that they won't be renewing it and that was
it.
Was he surprised that TNA just let him walk:
Not necessarily. It's not like I was expecting it or anything or that I
was that shocked but I have a tendency to not really hold expectations I just
kind of see it as changes are changes and sometimes stuff like this comes
up.
Has the TNA roster been anticipating the company to flounder or turn the
corner:
There was never anything like that as far as people being pessimistic
for lack of a better term. It's kind of a side note but I feel like people and I
think it's a generational thing have a tendency to look at things very black and
white and once you've chosen that path it can't be changed and you will live and
die by the sword and that's the side that you chose. I feel like people want
those things to have been issues and I think that maybe for a few people it
could have been an issue but generally speaking it's the same thing I've said
the last two or three years, money was always good for me and the people around
me and people always seemed generally happy and had fun going to work. At times
maybe management could be a little more prideful in the way they make decsisons
because it might effect efficiency or some of the rational decision
making.
The constant thought that TNA will go out of business:
I feel like this generation now, everything is becoming a comparison.
People kind of draw ball lines a lot more than they used to. We kind of live in
a revisionist world and no matter what it's always going to be like an undying
other side to it. As far as my experiences there was never anything like that.
We were never obviously comfortable with the network changes and I don't think
anybody would be. I don't really feel like anybody thought things were dire and
just went to work and were optimistic about it and it seemed like everybody had
fun and a lot of the thing is people from the outside looking in don't
understand that we really don't take it that seriously. Even if things were in a
worse case scenario that we leave Spike TV and don't find a home and we never
work for TNA again. Most of us wouldn't care that much. We would just go on and
take our career elsewhere and new opportunities would open up. People debate
with each other on the outside and it becomes like a war but us on the actual
battlefield playing this game it's never really been that way with
us.
TNA always playing around with taking away his mask as Suicide and
Manik:
I never cared if I was in a mask or not or playing a character or not. I
volunteered to play the role in the first place. They didn't call me and ask me
to be Suicide. I came in at a time when they didn't have a lot of focus on the
X-Division and I was just getting out of my Ring of Honor contract. When I came
in I did some live events and dark matches and there wasn't really anything for
me to do. I volunteered to be Suicide. When I saw the first commercials for it,
they just didn't have an idea for it. They were probably going to only have it
for one day as far as what Dixie had told me. I volunteered and created a life
for that character. Even recently it was never a thing where I needed to be me
or I needed to be out of it (the mask), my only motivation was that there was a
time when I took over a character that was largely felt as a joke to fans and
nobody cared about Suicide. Then they changed the name and took the mask off and
it started to lose meaning. So we put the mask back on and you can only have
those false starts so many times before fans start to lose faith in the
performer. Generally speaking the performer is left holding the bag, so I felt
like the second time around with James (Storm) and the group that there is this
really cool moment we created where I took the mask off again and people know
who I am at this point and where it was; we are going to have what we have been
asking for and then it was they wanted me to put the mask back on again. It was
like before you guys destroy my ability to be interesting and valuable I think
we should find one path and stick to it.
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