Jack Perry Addresses Future Of 'Jungle Boy' Name
"Jungle Boy" has become a household name in All Elite Wrestling, establishing himself as one of the brightest young talents without acknowledging his famous family. As the son of the late Hollywood actor Luke Perry, Jack appears to have fully embraced the name change as he embarks on his first-ever singles run in AEW.
During his cage match victory at AEW Full Gear against his former "Jurassic Express" partner Luchasaurus, the 25-year-old came to the ring under the name "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry for the first time, embracing his family name. During the AEW Full Gear Post Show Media Scrum, Wrestling Inc. Senior Editor Nick Hausman asked about the name change, questioning whether or not he's outgrown the "Jungle Boy" persona.
"I don't think I'm going back to just 'Jungle Boy,' that originally, when I was on the indies came about as a way to not use my real name, stay away from my personal life, and then Christian went and just blew that out of the water," Perry said. "At this point, there's no hiding it really. I think I'm happy at the moment, it may not be 'Jungle Boy' forever but we'll see, I don't know. I think people dig it a little, kids."
Perry defeated his former partner in iconic fashion, landing an elbow drop off the top of the steel cage onto Luchasaurus through a table for the victory.
'In the beginning I really wasn't ready for that'
Although Perry himself hasn't used his real name on-screen until tonight, AEW Commentary has mentioned his name several times. When asked about the change, Perry said in the beginning he "wasn't ready" for the commentary team to refer to his lineage.
"Jim Ross was the first one who put that out there and there's nothing I can say about it, I'm not going to tell this guy not to," Perry said. "I was really thankful to Tony that I was able to go out on TV and just be called 'Jungle Boy' and that was it. That was pretty cool that I could do that and it made sense as the character progressed a bit. I'm happy with the progression of it, it's a little bit more like a nickname now. It's not as literal but I'm happy with that, happy with the way it's going and who knows what it'll look like in the future."
The AEW superstar stated that the first time he heard Ross say his name on commentary, he was rewatching the show and "didn't know he was doing it" and had to live with it. Perry stated that he believes Ross had "the best interest in mind," stating that he never "had a problem with it" although it wasn't something he mentioned himself. The 25-year-old did however mention how "neat" it was to have Ross yell his name "over and over again" before deciding to fully go by his real name.
As far as what's next for "Jungle Boy," the former AEW Tag Team Champion did leave the door open for an eventual match with Christian Cage, someone he's been feuding with for months now but is currently physically unable to compete.