TJP Compares Impact And WWE's Creative Structure, Talks Some Of His Frustrations In WWE

After three years in the Cruiserweight Division, TJP was released by WWE earlier this year. He considers himself a freelance wrestler, but he has also returned to Impact which is where he first appeared in 2004.

With experience in both promotions, TJP was asked about the creative structure with each company when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.

"[Impact] is a lot smaller in terms of delegation because everyone is sitting at the table more equally," revealed TJP. "In that regard the team structure works better. When there is a team, but multiple layers of checks and balances, then it gets too muddled because the creative process needs to be more fluid."

He added that he wants guys to be free but that can mess up their art with too much freedom. However, he said that what makes Impact's storytelling so effective right now is because there are less creative layers.

Everyone is still talking about Jon Moxley's explosive tell-all interview with Chris Jericho and TJP was asked if Mox's interview resonated with him.

"A lot of it was pretty similar. Some things are gonna be different because Mox was in a position different than me?but a lot of it was the same," said TJP. "How people see their own frustrations is different too, and this isn't necessarily a Moxley thing, but a lot of guys in that same position get frustrated from getting told no. I don't get frustrated when being told no. So for me, when stuff like that comes up, I don't feel bad about it because it's not my investment and that's up to them.

"The parts that were different are that I was never asked to do something I was uncomfortable with. Some stuff I disagreed with as I didn't really like the gamer lingo that was shoehorned into the script. But that's a different level of frustration than what Moxley was frustrated with.

"I did recognize a lot of it and it was a lot of similar experiences."

In addition to Impact, TJP has also wrestled for PWR which is the premier wrestling promotion in the Philippines. A proud Filipino, TJP talked about why he wanted to help out PWR.

"I've been watching PWR for a while now and I follow a lot of the guys on social. The scene in Manila is not very big and I wanted to help boost the wrestling scene there," stated TJP. "I was also interested on a personal level in being able to work with that group. I like the stuff they're doing and I don't think they get the exposure they deserve for their talent and creativity levels?

"A goal of mine is to see if I can help out in any way that I can."

Former WWE Superstar Rhyno recently showed up at Impact's Slammiversary despite still being within his 90-day no-compete clause. TJP weighed in on that and also revealed some information about his no-compete clause.

"Technically I started wrestling after a 71 day no-compete cause; it's sort of a gray area," said TJP who was released by WWE in February. "I think a lot of guys rather say they're sorry than ask for permission. That's sort of a quiet golden rule that all wrestlers have.

"Everyone's situation is different. I went to work early, but it was amicable and [WWE] was fine with it. But I don't know how it is with everyone else."

TJP will also be heading to Manila on October 13th for PWR's Homecoming. Tickets for PWR's Homecoming will be released shortly, follow PWR on Twitter at @pwrofficial to know when they are! His full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it TJP discusses getting to perform in his mother's home country of Manila, what Manila's pro wrestling scene is like, why he returned to Impact Wrestling, his desire to resurrect the Suicide character, the differences between Impact's X-Division and WWE's Cruiserweight Division, Impact and WWEs' creative structures, the Jon Moxley – Chris Jericho interview and more.

You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.