How far TJ has come

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

TJs comments from way back when he left TNA this year

Going into Bound for Glory, I asked for 30 seconds of John Gaburick’s time. We had 5 days straight of tapings. I took my mask off and I wanted to see where we were going forward. Right after BFG, they wanted me to put my mask back on without explanation. I said we should just let the fans do what they’re doing and ask for me and we could turn it into something. They didn’t want to do that. The alternative was that they wanted me to portray a character with a personality disorder or personality crisis. I told them I wasn’t comfortable portraying that as I have a family member with a disorder. I was offended later because they said sure that’s fine but that night on commentary they said that that is what I had. On social media I made a point to say that I don’t have this and I’m not comfortable with this nor want this portrayed. They had Josh [Matthews] relay the message through the creative team and he felt I was undercutting him and he got frustrated. I think he kind of knew that he screwed up the way that he expressed himself because it was not going to look good, and I tried my best to respond in a way that would encourage people to continue their support without making him look bad to the company. That was one of those situations where someone was getting too prideful and taking something too personally.

EAD Josh

[Rudy Gobert Fadeaway]

The fact that TNA were this insistent on having a guy as charismatic as TJP wrestle under a mask shows just how remarkably incompetent they are.

[HMARK Center]

Really one of TNA's big failures; Perkins is a remarkable talent, always has been, and he was loyal to them and seemingly very grateful for having an opportunity with a national brand...and they just about never figured what to do with him and basically drove him away.

Like, of all the guys they let slip away, he's one that felt like he should've been much easier to keep, just give him something interesting to do angle-wise and let him wow the crowd. Such short-sightedness and pettiness.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Man back in my day if guys didn't want to do a storyline the Booker wouldnt force them, they would just give the gimmick for someone else. But apparently tna in its shady business practices does this.

Perkins became a joke when he became TNA's biggest flunkie, then he asks not to mention the mental condition out of respect for a family member and they can't even respect that.

I blame Gaburick, this happened during his watch, I can't wait for the moment he dissapears from the wrestling business.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Sept 14, 2016 22:25:47 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Really one of TNA's big failures; Perkins is a remarkable talent, always has been, and he was loyal to them and seemingly very grateful for having an opportunity with a national brand...and they just about never figured what to do with him and basically drove him away.

Like, of all the guys they let slip away, he's one that felt like he should've been much easier to keep, just give him something interesting to do angle-wise and let him wow the crowd. Such short-sightedness and pettiness.

What's funny is that he was ridiculed and made the butt of jokes because of how much he defended TNA when they were at their down turn.

They let Josh fresh in the door try to embarrass him when he defended them and had their back 100%. It's a shame they were so petty because they let a good one get away. Seeing Perkins succeed makes me want to see DJ Z in next years contest because I feel he can be just as successful.

[lionheart21]

Sept 14, 2016 22:30:04 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Sept 14, 2016 22:25:47 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Really one of TNA's big failures; Perkins is a remarkable talent, always has been, and he was loyal to them and seemingly very grateful for having an opportunity with a national brand...and they just about never figured what to do with him and basically drove him away.

Like, of all the guys they let slip away, he's one that felt like he should've been much easier to keep, just give him something interesting to do angle-wise and let him wow the crowd. Such short-sightedness and pettiness.

What's funny is that he was ridiculed and made the butt of jokes because of how much he defended TNA when they were at their down turn.

They let Josh fresh in the door try to embarrass him when he defended them and had their back 100%. It's a shame they were so petty because they let a good one get away. Seeing Perkins succeed makes me want to see DJ Z in next years contest because I feel he can be just as successful.

A good one that they were barely even doing anything of value with.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

I don't get this company, it has majorly f***ed every single person who was employed by them. The amount of bad karma they have has got to be gigantic like infinite.

[jimmyjames]

Josh Matthews being an a-hole, shocked, shocked I tell you.

[ayumidah]

Yeah when I first saw TJ, it was in ROH and I liked him then. He moved to TNA not long afterwards and I soured on him because of how loyal he was to TNA... it's good to see he's turned it around, and that things are going great for him.

[jimmyjames]

Seriously, chickens**** stuff like this is why people hope TNA goes out of business and why people don't feel sorry for them. You have TJ Perkins, loyal as a pet dog, going to bat for you against anything negative, and you treat him like this. First off, the idea was stupid as hell. You have TJ Perkins and you're still trying a mask gimmick is dumb, but when he explains why he's against it for personal reasons and you do something shady like this on air. Freakin ridiculous.

[dreidemy]

Another day another Total Nonstop L

[Brood Lone Wolf Funker]

Started from the bottom now he's here

[Final Countdown Jones]

I've said before that whatever hope TNA may have in its future needs to be put into making bigger stars out of young, talented guys instead of still relying on guys made elsewhere--at the moment, 6/10 of the people in announced BFG matches are ex-WWE guys--and because dudes who are young and have no name can work cheaper. Perkins was absolutely that guy, and loyal to a company that had on their hands a guy who was young and all upside. They wasted him, ran him off, and now he's showing them up in WWE, who acknowlede the kind of talent he is. TNA keeps making these mistakes, keeping betting on the worst horses and playing this stupid carny bullshit with guys for no reason, and it's why they have the shit lot they do, where the vast majority of their big guys are just gone. They're left with dudes like The Wolves who can't work anywhere because of how much Davey has pissed everyone else off, dudes like Rex and Bennett who Dixie's TV mark ass will make bigger stars out of just because they were booked in someone else's midcard, and guys like Lashley who probably could go try WWE again, but he wants to keep doing MMA.

I'm glad TJP had a f***ing spine and not only stood to his standards, but when TNA decided to pull a fast one on him, took to the internet and refused to let them. Good on him, and it's good that he's now finding success somewhere else.

[Rave]

Between lowballing AJ and freezing out TJP with a one line email after this shit, Gaburick should be fired.

Out of a cannon. Into the sun.

[benstudd]

Dude was flat out talented in TNA and everybody could see it. He came in as a relaunched of the Suicide character and it seems like a hopeless cause given that the two guys before him Kaz and Daniels were so freaking talented. Yet he surpassed them, he was better as the character than them. I remember going to the various boards around the net and every week people would rave about what he could do.

I think I put these unfortunate situations as wrestling politics. Perkins was sort of viewed as a Hogan guy. And when Gaburick came in he "cleaned up the place" and put his own guys in. Manic was casted aside and Tigre Uno became the resident agile guy that the company would push.

About the multiple disorder thing, I guess they wanted him to have a different personalities like Abyss where it would explain why sometime he would wear a mask and sometime he wouldn't want. I know why he wouldn't do that but to me it's like switching from heel to face, most wrestlers have a serious case of mental weirdness anyway cause they keep switching from one to another. If you're in a movie and they are asking you to do that, I don't think any actors would object to it cause it's not real, it's acting.

Bottom line though, you keep a guy like that and make him happy. All they had to do was let him go to the ring and wrestle. I would take him over Trevor Lee or EE.

[Welfare Willis]

Sept 15, 2016 14:02:54 GMT -5 Rave said:

Between lowballing AJ and freezing out TJP with a one line email after this shit, Gaburick should be fired.

Out of a cannon. Into the sun.

Gaburick just another in a long line of people Dixie brought in thinking they'd be the savior and end up doing more damage.

["Gentleman" AJ Powell]

Sept 15, 2016 21:38:58 GMT -5 Welfare Willis said:

Sept 15, 2016 14:02:54 GMT -5 Rave said:

Between lowballing AJ and freezing out TJP with a one line email after this shit, Gaburick should be fired.

Out of a cannon. Into the sun.

Gaburick just another in a long line of people Dixie brought in thinking they'd be the savior and end up doing more damage.

Yeah, but guys.

He's just signed Bram to another year long contract. (RIP)

[Super Duper Dragunov]

There should be a law: we don't put hot dudes under masks. We especially don't do it after we unmask them and show their handsome face to the world.

Silly TNA.

[Alice Syndrome]

Sept 15, 2016 21:34:33 GMT -5 benstudd said:

Dude was flat out talented in TNA and everybody could see it. He came in as a relaunched of the Suicide character and it seems like a hopeless cause given that the two guys before him Kaz and Daniels were so freaking talented. Yet he surpassed them, he was better as the character than them. I remember going to the various boards around the net and every week people would rave about what he could do.

I think I put these unfortunate situations as wrestling politics. Perkins was sort of viewed as a Hogan guy. And when Gaburick came in he "cleaned up the place" and put his own guys in. Manic was casted aside and Tigre Uno became the resident agile guy that the company would push.

About the multiple disorder thing, I guess they wanted him to have a different personalities like Abyss where it would explain why sometime he would wear a mask and sometime he wouldn't want. I know why he wouldn't do that but to me it's like switching from heel to face, most wrestlers have a serious case of mental weirdness anyway cause they keep switching from one to another. If you're in a movie and they are asking you to do that, I don't think any actors would object to it cause it's not real, it's acting.

Bottom line though, you keep a guy like that and make him happy. All they had to do was let him go to the ring and wrestle. I would take him over Trevor Lee or EE.

They should have phased him out of the Suicide gimmick right after the Aries switcheroo. let him be Manik for a while, talking about how the mask gives him confidence, then unmask for good after winning the X title and talk about how he doesn't need to hide anymore. 

Besides, I think the last outfit he was wearing with the hood built in and no sleeves looked like some awesome Green Arrow kinda stuff.

[Ted Sheckler]

Sept 17, 2016 0:55:56 GMT -5 Super Duper Dragunov said:

There should be a law: we don't put hot dudes under masks. We especially don't do it after we unmask them and show their handsome face to the world.

Silly TNA.

Even as a straight dude I recognise that Perkins is an attractive dude. I understand putting a bad looking guy under a mask but this guy could potentially have got some girls checking out the program or even some guys, who knows?

Dumb move by TNA.