TW for mentions of abuse and sexual assault
Not that their criticism isn’t valid if fans complained (and I refuse to listen to Corny Cornette himself for a number of awful reasons, including allegations of sexual abuse, bodyshaming and thinking Kenny Omega is a fetishizing p*doph*le bc he wrestled, sold for and put over a 9 year old he helped train, and for Omega’s putting over of Japanese women, one of the most attacked groups in professional wrestling), but let’s recap this right quick. (I am aware I’ll be accused of bias here. I do not care.)
“Jungle Boy” Jack Perry is facing criticism and is in controversy for being rude and aloof in two separate places, a convention and a Q&A. One of these incidents led to fans losing money and there were no refunds. In a video (which I watched 🤮 it was painful and cringey but you’re welcome!) of his, Cornette presented emails of fans who had bad interactions with Perry. Breaking down these incidents, they are as follows:
A fan paid Perry for a selfie and voice note. Perry did not do the latter.
A fan asked if Perry was coming back to their region for any more indie bookings. Perry, in what was recounted as a “rude” tone of voice, said “I ain’t traveling back there anytime soon”. This could’ve been handled better. He could’ve gotten away with this if he said so with humor and saying he doesn’t know, but he didn’t. Plus, what’s wrong with the fan’s region? (Rude, Jack.)
A young fan asked Perry what wrestling match he would watch if he were about to die. Perry said if he knew he were about to die, he wouldn’t be watching wrestling, and the thought of doing so was depressing. On one hand, that fan is a child, and children are have rudimentary grasps of death. Of course they’ll be thinking about doing fun things if life is gonna end. On the other, Perry is 25 going on 26. He is a young man and he responded in a pretty young person fashion. (Ive asked my older brother similar questions and he’s responded similarly to Perry.) Plus he also lost his father at a young age, and he was probably remembering what his dad was doing as he was dying. Here, it’s unpopular, but I don’t think either party was in the wrong.
In the now infamous Q&A, Perry was asked by another young fan about who he seeks advice from in the locker room. Perry said he only seeks advice from people who have a similar style to him, like his ex partner of some years Luchasaurus/Austin Matelson, and he doesn’t listen to “guys like Billy Gunn”. On one hand, yes, his dismissal of Billy Gunn is rude. Billy Gunn has been in the industry for longer than Perry has been alive, and the fact that Gunn will be 60 this year and still looks amazing and puts on cool matches, that is noteworthy and worth listening to. On the other hand, lucha libre has a lot of equally long-lived wrestlers (like Rey Mysterio, who’s been wrestling since he was 15!) and since Jack Perry is from California, a state with a significant Mexican population, there is some noticeable lucha libre influence in his wrestling style. Perry probably gets a lot of advice from lucha libre wrestlers. There are multiple ways of having a long career. So here, I think Perry was rude towards Billy Gunn, but ultimately neither he nor the fan were wrong.
Another young fan (what’s it with you and kids, Jack?) asked Perry for advice on becoming a wrestler. Perry said “just don’t do it”. Rude? Yes, especially to a child. However, this was a little concerning to me, especially with the way it was delivered. Perry seems to be growing disillusioned with the business he’s been training in since he was a 9-10 year old child, especially with his stagnating character. (I love the Jungle Boy gimmick but it’s time for a change.) This sounds like a tired young man. (I heard my older brother in him here too, I gotta check on my older brother again.) Rude, yes, but he seems unhappy. He needs to talk to his bosses and see how there can be changes.
Perry responded on Twitter with how much he loves meeting fans, told people to “take a walk, get laid, or hit a Canadian Destroyer”. He did not apologize. He is under a lot of criticism for these actions that have transpired, and people are either cancelling him or they are calling for a heel turn. Either way, he is the least popular Pillar atm.
Let’s now take a look at the other 3 Pillars.
MJF legitimately no-showed a fan fest last year, ostensibly over a pay dispute. This I don’t fault him for. He also could have had mental health issues or health problems or a family emergency in addition to the pay dispute, but until the autobiography comes out in 2046 we’ll never know. (This is terrible, but even with MJF’s skill in the ring, I do wonder if he was made AEW World Champion partially to keep him in the company.) A kindly user named @syreina reminded me of an incident where he dumped alcohol on a child. (What the fuck Max?) IMO that’s more problematic than rudeness.
Sammy Guevara, a beacon of trouble. In 2020 it came to light that during a podcast, Guevara said he wanted to “r*pe Sasha Banks”. (First of all what the fuck Sammy?) This is completely not okay. AEW suspended him for the grand total of one month and donated his pay to a Florida women’s shelter. Then he was back on tv. (That’s why my mom and I laughed when he said he didn’t have any pushes or privilege. Yeah right Sammy.) In 2022, he caused a fight with Eddie Kingston (where Kingston legitimately struck him, not cool Eddie) over calling Kingston fat. He later attributed this incident to “being in character” which can be a bad thing. It’s a version of “I was just joking”. Hella rude, Sammy. This isn’t 1986, wrestlers come in and all shapes and sizes now. You don’t insult people’s body types. Then later that year he was involved in a legit fight with Andrade over the latter being too stiff, to which Andrade responded (summarized) that Guevara should be stiffer (that’s what she said 😂) Guevara then said Andrade should be grateful because all he is/was in AEW is a “jobber” and said the only reason he gets bookings is because of his father-in-law (Ric Flair). Andrade simply said he would see Guevara Wednesday, which indicated a storyline, but instead what happened was Andrade legitimately ambushed Guevara. Did Guevara deserve this? No, of course not, but he has a history of problematic interactions with other wrestlers and not getting punished for them. (One has to wonder how much Chris Jericho is protecting him.)
Now we come to the least problematic of the Four Pillars, Darby Allin. Right? WRONG! Of the four, Darby has received some truly heinous accusations. An ex and fellow wrestler named Hawlee Cromwell, has said he emotionally, physically and sexually abused her. In addition, he has gone on podcasts (like Chris Jericho’s) and gleefully told stories of abusing homeless people and addicts for money or fixes. (One horrific incident that apparently took place was he made a homeless person dr*nk vomit for $5. I don’t remember where it is, but this story is burned into my head. He also made a drug addict put his head in a filthy toilet for $100 and paid off a cop in two more incidents. Eww.) Yet Darby gets countless pushes and title reigns. People have been fired for far less than he’s been accused of. He’s sick and I hate him, and I hate talking about him. (My mom and I half-joke he’s related to Tony Khan if he’s being protected from consequences so much.)
What is the point of all this, you’re asking. (If you’re still here, if so, hi and thank you!)
The point is, I don’t excuse Jack Perry’s rude behavior. With that said, this seems to be a relatively new thing. I have heard a lot of fan interactions with Perry, and I’m not exaggerating when I say almost all of them were positive. (Except for the recent ones, which are still a small percentage.) It has also been alleged that Perry has severe anxiety and stomach problems. (I believe the anxiety bc as a GAD sufferer, I can recognize the traits - lack of eye contact or looking around a lot, fidgeting, speech patterns, discomfort in large crowds/being the center of attention, etc.) That still doesn’t excuse the rudeness, and he should take these incidents as opportunities to grow and develop into someone better. If he has these severe problems with his health then he needs to speak to his doctor and his bosses about solutions to help him be better. That said, I also do find it suspicious that notorious AEW detractor Jim Cornette is the one to bring these incidents to light, especially since he’s never really had a complimentary thing to say about Perry to begin with. (Cornette’s comments about Marko Stunt, one of Perry’s close friends and an inspiration to Perry, are horrible and I’d say he should be ashamed of himself but that man has no shame especially since he masterminded Smoky Mountain Wrestling.)
Also, of all the things to be cancelled for, I don’t think rudeness is one of those things as much as you shouldn’t be rude, especially when you’re coworkers with actual terrible person Darby Allin, professional shit-talker Sammy Guevara and guy-who-pours-alcohol-on-kids Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
TLDR: “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry is under fire for recent rude behavior and some vocal members of the wrestling community are calling for his cancellation. Rude behavior especially towards kids isn’t okay but this seems to be a recent thing and was started by Jim Cornette (professional shit-stirrer). Perry should take this opportunity to apologize and get better, especially since he’s one of the pillars with Darby Allin who’s done far worse and is beloved, and Sammy Guevara, who can’t shut the fuck up.
