CJ Perry Says She Wanted To Stay On the Mic Instead Of Wrestle In WWE

CJ Perry says that she would rather have stayed as a manager in WWE, but Vince McMahon had other ideas. Perry came onto WWE’s main roster as Lana, playing a managerial role to Rusev. She continued to largely stay on the mic until 2017, when she started competing in matches on the main roster.

Perry spoke with Ring the Belle for a new interview and was asked if she wanted to do more wrestling at that point. She pointed out that the athleticism level is just so high in WWE, and that she has the disadvantage of starting training for an in-ring career older than most of her contemporaries. Perry noted that she would have rather stayed as a manager and become great at that, but that Vince McMahon decided she was going to take to the ring. You can see highlights below:

On If She Wanted To Do More Wrestling At That Point:

“That’s a good question. I’m very aware that I feel like the best thing that I can bring to the company and to wrestling and to WWE and AEW is my mic skills. The level of athleticism is so high with the women and the men. And funny little side story, my husband and I both took genetic testing for the, ‘see where we are’ in the world for athleticism. I got my test back, I’m the top 25% of the world and my husband’s top 5% of the world. So I think that’s what it shows. Like yes, I’m athletic. Yes, I can learn how to wrestle. But to be champion, I bet you Charlotte Flair is top 3%, you know? It’s just like truly the best in the world.

“And so, I really, really did just want to go after kind of like Paul Heyman’s road and Stephanie McMahon’s road. I love being on the mic. I think I do it really well, and I want to be iconically great. I wanted to be the Sasha Banks as a manager. And I just felt like it would take at least 10 years to become great. And then, I’m starting older, you know? So it’s like, all these realistic things that I have. Maybe if I started at 14. I’m competing against the Sashas, the Baileys, the Emmas, the Sarayas, they started when they were — I mean, Saraya and Emma started when they were like 13 years old. And so that’s like — I just calculate that.”

On McMahon Wanting Her To Wrestle:

“So I really was more into like, I want to be [an] iconic manager. And Vince said, ‘No, I want to bring you into this.’ And so, yeah. And we’re cast members in his play. So I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m going to move to Florida, I’m going to train.’ And I lived away from Miro for about 200 days and my dogs, living and training with Nattie. And all the years before, I was training too. But that’s how I always looked at my job is like, whatever the director wants, and I still feel the same way. If I ever went back it’s like ‘Okay, whatever Triple H wants,’ TKO, you know.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Ring The Belle with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.