TJP ultimately became the man under the Suicide mask in TNA, but he recently shared how the mantle was passed on over the years.
TJP recently spoke with Shakiel Mahjouri of Cageside Seats and explained how IMPACT Wrestling originally pitched the Suicide character to Frankie Kazarian, and what his initial reaction was.
“A funny story, the first inception of it back in, I think, 2008. A lot of us were in the locker room for Victory Road or Destination X. It was in Houston in 2008. They had told Frankie Kazarian, ‘We would like you to portray this character,’ and he was bummed. He was super upset because he’s a little bit older than me, he comes from the same generation, but he’s a little bit older than me and was finally getting the chance to be himself. He had matured himself as a performer and was at his peak, I think. They were kind of undoing that. He didn’t want to do it, he wasn’t having it. We all sat around the locker room and Christopher Daniels joked, ‘TJ should just be Suicide, he’s already in a mask,’ because I was Puma at the time.”
TJP then explained how he did get the role, noting that he’d volunteered for it when the character came back a few years later, and it ultimately became a recurring character instead of a one-night cameo.
“Fast forward to, I don’t know, 2012. The character had gone through its ups and downs and had gone through a lot of different portrayals. They were bringing it back for one night only as maybe nostalgia. I don’t think they knew who they wanted to portray it. I said, ‘If you don’t have any idea for this, I’d be happy to do it.’ At the time, they didn’t know what to do with Puma, the character, and I was tired of sitting at home. They said, ‘Good idea.’ One night turned into two, turned into three. At this point, I might be the longest-running Suicide character portrayal. It was just an accident. After night one, they thought, ‘This is the way we always envisioned it being and we love it. Let’s see where it goes.’”
TJP continued to play the character until he started using the name Manik, and later dropped the mask from his act. TJP will face fellow IMPACT Wrestling veteran Alex Shelley in the opening round of MLW’s Opera Cup on Saturday, October 2 at MLW: Fightland.
Ahead of Fightland, TJP spoke with WrestleZone to preview his upcoming cup match against the aforementioned Shelley. That interview can be seen by clicking HERE.
