The Watch List takes a look at what matches you should be watching while you’re at home and they come recommended by your favorite professional wrestling stars.
WrestleZone recently spoke with CJ Perry, who said she is proud of working with Miro (Rusev in WWE) and said they were part of some great live event matches that some fans never saw.
“There’s so many that I like. I mean all of Miro’s matches, I think he’s so iconic, I think he’s incredible. I really miss that, to be honest. I really miss being ringside with him. He’s so good. He’s so good. I was able to watch so many incredible matches at live events just [having a front row seat]. If it’s him fighting Dolph, him fighting Cesaro, fighting John Cena, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens — I mean there’s so many incredible matches that he hasn’t seen that people had on live events that were just truly iconic that the fans were behind. So I definitely miss that. There’s nothing two big men fighting who are really athletic. I just get really excited. Roman Reigns and [Rusev] had so many great matches because there’s these two authentic guys, huge and athletic, and the ring moves, it’s just incredible.”
In speaking about her own in-ring career as Lana, CJ Perry called back to her feud with Nia Jax and how she went through tables for several weeks, but it was all about earning respect in her mind.
“I think that for me, when I was fighting Nia, I feel there was a part of me that proved myself to the wrestling world. I was always considered like the model girl or the actress, and yeah, I am an actress, so thank you,” Perry explained, “but I was kind of always put in that category of like, ‘oh, she’s fragile, or she’s dainty.’ I kind of would almost get offended because it’s like look, I remember one time people were like we just don’t know if you’re durable or tenacious. This was many years ago when I first started. I’m like, okay you clearly don’t know me, but alright.
“So I feel like I was able to prove that because it’s like Nia Jax is one of the toughest women out there. I always call her the Samoan Dragon, and the fact that I was taking [consecutive] powerbombs, and where she like lifted up even higher and all these other big bumps, I’m going through tables, nine tables in a row, commentary tables. I mean TJ [Wilson] was telling me he’s never even gone through a commentary table, and most people don’t go through nine tables in a row. To be able to [say], like ‘no, I’m still here and I’ll do it again. I’ll fight you, I’ll go out there.’ I feel like I proved myself to the wrestling world and also earned a lot of people’s respect,” Perry stated. “Earned the womens’ respect, earned the guys’ respect, earned the fans’ respect, and I would do it all over again, for real. That was 1000% worth it.”
CJ Perry once again stated that it was all about earning respect, explaining that she loves wrestling and just wanted to give back to the business that she was part of.
“That’s all I really wanted, was the respect from my peers and respect from the fans,” Perry said. “I never took for granted that I was working for WWE and living a lot of other people’s dreams. The least I could do was to work my ass off and give respect back to this business that so many people want to be a part of. I think because I was hired and I got brought up quickly, I was from Hollywood — people didn’t really realize my tenacity and my work ethic, so it took me a while to earn the respect from people in that way. It really, really meant a lot when I did earn their respect, and like I said, I would do it all over again.”
Check out some free-to-watch full-length matches from Lana’s WWE career, including the Fatal Five Way Elimination #1 Contender’s Match from Battleground 2017 and the 2020 Women’s Royal Rumble match. Highlights from her tables match against Nia Jax are also featured:
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya vs. Tamina vs. Lana
WWE Battleground — July 23, 20172020 Women’s Royal Rumble Match
WWE Royal Rumble — January 26, 2020Lana vs. Nia Jax (Tables Match)
WWE RAW — February 8, 2021
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