T.J. Perkins

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T.J. Perkins
Statistics
Ring name(s) T.J. Perkins
Cobra II
Puma / PUMA
Billed height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Billed weight 172 lb (78 kg/12.3 st)
Born Kansas City, Missouri
Resides Riverside, California
Billed from Parts Unknown (as PUMA)
Riverside, California (as T.J. Perkins)
Trained by Bill Anderson
Jessie Hernandez
Kevin Quinn
Negro Casas
Antonio Inoki
Debut January 2000

T.J. Perkins is an American professional wrestler of Irish and Filipino descent from Southern California. Perkins wrestles as the mask-wearing Puma (also spelt as PUMA) and on some occasions as "The Pinoy Boy" T.J. Perkins.

Contents

[edit] Career

T.J. Perkins debuted in January 2000 for the local Riverside promotion IWC run by Bill Anderson. He has been quoted as saying his first year he wrestled, his paychecks were free hotdogs and nachos. At 15 years old, he was perceived to look too young for pro wrestling cards anywhere and was forced to don a mask for the first several months, wrestling under the name "The Pinoy Boy" T.J. Perkins. In order to make most of his matches he had to have older wrestlers pick him up from school early on Fridays, ditching most of those days' classes. He would travel and stay with them during the weekend to make out of town shows from Friday to Sunday. Because of this he barely graduated and in fact had to retake most of his classes all the way back from freshman year when he began wrestling professionally. After wrestling independent cards in California, Nevada, Arizona and Mexico during his first two years he was picked up by New Japan Dojo in Los Angeles along with friends Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero, who would later become the tag team known as the Havana Pitbulls. Several months later, "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson followed the trio and the first group of L.A. dojo wrestlers was formed. They all made their debut in New Japan on the same Korakuen Hall card in October 2002. T.J.'s debut was as the maskless "Pinoy Boy" T.J. Perkins.

[edit] Debut of PUMA

Prior to his debut in New Japan, during a try out with fellow dojo training partners the Havana Pitbulls and Brian Danielson, Director Uwai of the New Japan office noticed similarities in the wrestling styles between T.J. and the Original Tiger Mask. It was after a second tour of New Japan for the young Lions cup in March 2003 that T.J. was given the character PUMA from New Japan, with the gimmick being an American answer to Tiger Mask and the one-word moniker being inspired by T.J.'s New Japan mentor Minoru Tanaka, who was then known as "HEAT".

[edit] East Coast Wrestling Association (2005)

Puma wrestled in the 2005 Super 8 tournament and made it all the way to finals before ultimately losing to Petey Williams.

[edit] Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling (2005)

On day two of the 2005 Pacific Cup tournament on April 23, 2005, Aaron Idol beat Puma and Bryan Danielson in a triple threat match in the finals of the Pacific Cup tournament that lasted 30 minutes. After the match Danielson broke the Pacific Cup trophy and said that ECCW was inferior to New Japan Pro Wrestling. Puma and Danielson then beat down Idol. Promoter Dave Republic then issued a challenge to New Japan and gave Antonio Inoki 30 days to respond. Inoki did not reply and the challenge was then dropped as a result. Perkins continues to compete for ECCW.

[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004, 2006)

Perkins has also made appearances as Puma with TNA, debuting in 2004, when he worked as a jobber in several TNA Xplosion tapings. He was also the first man eliminated in the 2004 Super X-Cup. His first significant performance in TNA was representing Japan in an "International X Showcase" match at TNA Destination X 2006, facing Petey Williams, Chris Sabin and Sonjay Dutt, but ultimately losing to Sabin. He also competed in an Xscape match at the following month's Lockdown.

Puma would later be a member of Team Mexico in the 2006 World X-Cup, alongside Incognito, Magno and Shocker. In that tournament, he lost a second round match to Team USA captain Chris Sabin, and was the last man eliminated in the third round gauntlet match, by Team Canada captain Petey Williams. Team Mexico finished third of four in the event with four points.

[edit] Wrestling Society X and Pro Wrestling Guerilla (2006)

On February 9, 2006, PUMA wrestled as part of MTV's inaugural TV taping for their new Wrestling Society X promotion in Los Angeles, California. In addition to WSX, he was a regular member of the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla roster, where he wrestled as T.J. Perkins and Puma.

[edit] Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and Return to NJPW (2006)

He also competes as a semi-regular in Japan, working for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he owns the record of the youngest non-Japanese wrestler to compete for the promotion (only 18 years and 3 weeks of age). A common misconception is that he was a student of Bryan Danielson at this point, however they were actually training partners along with the Havana Pitbulls. He also competed and received training in the Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre.

[edit] Ring of Honor (2007)

After returning to the United States, Perkins competed at Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor II show, losing to Nigel McGuinness.

[edit] Return to TNA (2007)

TNA Mobile sent out a text message saying Perkins (returning as Puma) and Elix Skipper would be returning at TNA Victory Road 2007 in the 10-Man Ultimate X Gauntlet. Puma ended up being eliminated 1st in the Gauntlet section of the match.

[edit] Return to PWG (2007-Current)

After brief stints in ROH and TNA, Perkins has since returned to Pro Wrestling Guerilla and has been a regular since 2007.

[edit] In wrestling

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • T.J.'s favorite wrestlers are Eddie Guerrero, Satoru Sayama, Shawn Michaels and Nick Bockwinkel.
  • His favorite match as a fan is the 1959 NWA World title match between Pat O'Connor and "The Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers.
  • T.J. loves ice hockey and plays on his spare time in Riverside.
  • Despite conflicting references to the nationality of PUMA in TNA, Perkins is actually of Filipino and Irish descent. Noted in his nickname "The Pinoy Boy." "Pinoy" is the Tagalog term for a Filipino male.
  • In May 2007, Puma was booked by the Queens of Chaos promotion in France. He wrestled in front of 72,000 people, which is the 2007 record for a wrestling show. A documentary will be released in 2008 from the event.
  • Has a younger sister named Tiffany Perkins.