CJ Perry, formerly known as Lana in WWE, reflects on her controversial storyline with Bobby Lashley.
In 2019, Perry began an on-screen romance with Bobby Lashley on WWE RAW, and they feuded with her real-life husband, Rusev (Miro). Liv Morgan was added to the storyline, as she crashed the Lana/Lashley wedding and called Lana the love of her life. The storyline drew plenty of criticism among fans.
Speaking with Fightful‘s Sean Ross Sapp, Perry was asked about the Bobby Lashley storyline and how they were convinced to do it.
“If it’s Tony Khan or if it’s Vince, at the end of the day, they’re the directors and the producers and the CEOs for this story,” CJ Perry said. “It’s at least $100,000 per minute that they’re on television, maybe more now at this point, but I remember [in] 2020, I believe from TJ and [Natalya], Vince said it was $100,000 a minute to be on USA. So again, this is where business comes into it. It’s like, are you worth that $100,000 a minute? This is a business at the end of the day.
“So Vince thought that was good business, and it would be naive of any of us to think that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Yes, we’re younger, and we have a youthful opinion to bring to the table. But he has years of experience. So look, it got my biggest contract I ever got in my life, and I’m very thankful for that. I think that, again, what the Bobby Lashley story taught me is scandal sells. So it doesn’t matter. It still sells. People might hate it. We still made WWE a lot of money. Our YouTube videos made them a lot of money. This is a business at the end of the day. If it doesn’t translate into sales, if it doesn’t translate into subscriptions, ticket sales, all of that, viewership, then who cares? I’m just hired talent. We’re storytellers, and we all know that there’s been a ton of affairs and live triangles.”
CJ Perry: Relationship Stories Sell, Everyone Can Relate
Sapp noted that that the videos of their segments got a lot of views on YouTube. CJ Perry responded by stating that relationship stories sell, as everyone can relate.
“It’s crazy. Relationship stories really sell. I know that’s not necessarily AEW’s story style over there, and I think it’s great, how that differs. But everyone can relate to that. Most people have all been in love at some point, heartache, maybe they’ve been broken up with, back-stabbed.
“So I think that’s all very relatable, and I think it’s also really relatable, more gender fluidity right now in this time. Especially with millennials and Gen Z specifically. So I think I really resonated with that story. When they pitched it to me, I was like, ‘Oh, that totally makes sense.’ I resonated with it. So I kind of found it a little offensive that everyone found it so offensive. I’m like, why?”
CJ Perry made her AEW debut at AEW All Out, and she is currently involved in a storyline with Miro.
The full interview is available here:
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