CJ Perry was a surprise name in the latest round of WWE releases. Along with Ruby Riott, Santana Garrett, Aleister Black and Braun Strowman, Lana was let go by the company last month.
Speaking on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast, Perry spoke about her release, how she found out and how she felt.
Here’s what the artist formerly known as Lana had to say;
“I actually got the call…let me tell a little backstory; this shows my commitment to what we do and pro wrestling.
At the beginning of the year, I really wanted to take my family on a family vacation. I wanted to get us a house and take us to the Caribbean. I wasn’t working out, so let me rent a house on the beach in St. Pete so I will be where work is.
I don’t have to travel as much because I’ve been travelling the entire year throughout the global pandemic when a lot of people were just living in Florida, and I was travelling and living in a hotel room 250 days last year by myself. I didn’t have to but I wanted to give it my all. I didn’t want to get fired – I wanted to make sure I was an essential worker.
“I know, from day one, that those future endeavours can come, so I was preparing for it. So I rented this house and decided to take my family on a family vacation here, and I could train a lot more.“
WWE highlighted Lana’s commitment to wrestling in her own WWE Chronicle. The network special focused on Lana’s desire and drive to become a better in-ring performer.
Perry continued that despite her overwhelming commitment WWE saw fit to release her;
“I rented it for a month and two weeks in, I got a call from Johnny Ace. Crazy thing is I thought he was calling me about something completely different because I was offered to do another television show. They went through the entire process with WWE, they approved it, and so I thought he was calling me about those details.”
“So I walk out and I was in the middle of texting Mandy [Rose] – we were texting about other things – and I’m like ‘I just got released’. She was the first person I told. I called Nattie immediately. I couldn’t even talk to Miro yet. Nattie had the same reaction. It just sucked, but at the same time, I felt really relieved, because I felt like I’d been waiting for this call.”
Since leaving WWE Perry announced that she is ready to stand up and speak out about her time in the company on her new YouTube channel.
H/T to Cultaholic Wrestling for the transcription.
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