CJ Perry has great aspirations for her managerial career in the world of professional wrestling.
All Elite Wrestling‘s CJ Perry recently sat down with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp. When asked about the advice Dennis Rodman gave her on MTV’s The Surreal Life, Perry admitted how upset it made her because she still wanted to be a champion.
“Actually, it’s really crazy ‘cause Dennis Rodman—this is coming right off of my release from the WWE—and so him and I instantly connected because we love wrestling and also the athlete connection in a competitive, professional sport. He immediately, within the first couple of days, he pulled me aside, and he said this on camera,” CJ Perry said. “I got really hot because I was focused; I wanted to become champion.
“I wanted to be champion, and by the way, I’ve only been Fireball champion; I didn’t even win the 24/7 Championship. However, Fireball did send me a title thing that said I was their champion. That really resonated with me. He pulled me aside, and he was like, ‘You know what, you shouldn’t wrestle. You need to manage.’ He goes, ‘That’s your calling. You’re gonna be the best at it. You’re gonna be the best wrestling manager.’
“He’s like, ‘You’re never gonna be the best wrestler, ‘cause you have Charlotte Flair.’ Are you kidding me? But deep down, I knew what he was saying was true, and I wanted to do that in WWE. Paul Heyman was my favorite, and I wanted to be the first female version of Jerry Maguire come to life in professional wrestling [or] Ari Gold from Entourage. My version of Paul Heyman.”
CJ Perry’s experience on The Surreal Life
CJ Perry spoke in-depth about this subject with WrestleZone and talked about her mixed emotions while filming The Surreal Life and dealing with Dennis Rodman’s comments.
“He kept telling me, ‘You gotta retire, you gotta retire and evolve,’ and I was getting so annoyed,” CJ Perry admitted. “I’m like, ‘Dennis, you are 60 years old, and you’re still [working]. You still haven’t ‘retired’ like what? You retired from basketball; you became even bigger afterwards’.
“I just think I was being stubborn because what happened was the first event because we had nine ‘activations’ [segments on the show], and on each episode, you basically have an activation that we do. The first activation was a wrestling ring in Mexico City, and everyone had to dress up and pick a character, do promos, and have a promo battle.
“Half of these people don’t know anything about wrestling, and you’re trying to teach them like don’t make it personal, just talk shit. And so I ended up managing Dennis Rodman and [Malcolm In The Middle star] Frankie Muniz, and I did the whole Russian spiel and his respect for me changed immediately.”
You can read more about Perry’s experience on the show by clicking here.
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What do you make of CJ Perry’s comments? Did you watch her and Dennis Rodman on The Surreal Life? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
