Jack Perry Reflects On Scapegoat Character In AEW & NJPW

When Jack Perry was suspended indefinitely from AEW in August 2023 following his backstage fight with CM Punk, not a lot of people knew what was next for him. Punk would be fired and eventually returned to WWE all before anyone heard anything from the man formerly known as Jungle Boy. In January 2024, Perry resurfaced in New Japan Pro Wrestling with a different look, and eventually returned to action in NJPW as "Scapegoat" Jack Perry, and during a recent appearance on the "Battleground" podcast, Perry explained how that character came to be.

"The plan for to come back from that whole thing was much different, and actually involved Luchasaurus and a sort of different iteration of everything. That all got scrapped, and then I was sort of–I just felt like I had nothing. I wasn't tethered to anybody or anything and it was all this stuff had happened and I'm just out in the middle of nowhere by myself, not at work or whatever. I was texting Chris Jericho actually, and he was sort of checking in on me during that time and he was saying 'How's it going man?' and I said 'It's actually really not good...' and he said, 'Yeah, it sucks man, they're making you the scapegoat for the whole thing,' and as soon as I saw that I was just like 'That's cool, I like that.'"

After a quick Google search to find out what a scapegoat actually was, Perry envisioned himself with a goat mask and found the mask he would wear to the ring from a Halloween mask maker in California, and wanted to be willing to sacrifice himself for AEW or The Elite. Perry admitted that he was figuring the character out as he went along, but eventually landed on a character that he was happy with and very proud of by the time he was written off of TV after Full Gear 2024.

The "Scapegoat" character was the first time since the "Brawl In" incident where fans around the world were allowed to see Jack Perry for who he really was, and who he really wanted to be as he also revealed that there was some disconnect between himself and the Jungle Boy character. "I think what the scapegoat thing did for me was really let me be myself more than I ever had before, and there were elements of me in Jungle Boy, but obviously I'm not an actual Jungle Boy you know?" 

Perry explained that after a while, the Jungle Boy character was something that he couldn't fully relate to as he wouldn't make monkey noises and a real Jungle Boy wouldn't sound like Perry. By contrast, his transformation into the "Scapegoat" character allowed him to do things his way, and NJPW was the right place to begin that character's journey. "I felt like New Japan really was the perfect place. The way they had those little post-match promos set up, you literally walk through the door sweaty and out of breath and whatever, and someone just has a camera there. There's no one saying 'Hey, I want you to do this' or whatever, there's no time to even think. So it just like–some of them turn out s***y and some of them turn out cool, but it allows you to be you in a different way."

Perry is now back in AEW teaming with Luchasaurus once again as the Jurassic Express, something that Perry pushed for since Luchasaurus made a full recovery from a case of double pneumonia. The former AEW TNT Champion realized that life is short and if you want to do something, you have to do it now, hence why he is teaming with one of his best friends again rather than bringing the "Scapegoat" back to AEW.

Please credit "Battleground" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.