T. J. Perkins

I was an all-sport athlete growing up. My dad, I think, hoped I would go to college on a scholarship.

I've done stuff in the past and followed in the footsteps of my heroes, and each time, it felt a little bit surreal.

I didn't want wrestling anymore; I wanted to not want it. But I couldn't get a job anywhere, which was part of the reason I was homeless. I couldn't get a job pumping gas. I couldn't get a job working at a warehouse, I couldn't get a job at Baskin Robbins, I couldn't get a job anywhere.

When I was maybe 22, 23 years old or so, I was sort of floating in between New Japan, Ring of Honor, TNA - not really committed to one place.

It's really exciting to be able to represent the cruiserweights and go to Monday Night Raw. I grew up watching Monday Night Raw, and it's really a big dream of mine to perform on that stage.

I'd really like to go back to New Japan because it feels like home, and I love that place so much.

Things will come and go, and your life will go on, but you don't want to get too ahead of yourself.

I've been hit in the head a lot, but I don't think I have any problems, but I can't, for the life of me, remember a lot of my road stories and good times. When times are bad enough, that's all you can ever think about.

Lucha libre culture was part of my wrestling upbringing. I'm Filipino, so it wasn't a part of my normal upbringing, but it's what gave me my start. I get a lot of my technical and high-flying wrestling from that.

At the Cruiserweight Classic finale, I said... I don't know if people had looked it up, or if they had heard it before, but it was an old Zen proverb. 'Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, you chop wood, carry water.' It can be interpreted a lot of ways, but for the most part it's about staying in the moment.

Gran Metalik was a student in CMLL when I was there as a teenager, and I was in main events and big time matches, so I used to see him in the gym all the time.

I got to do a lot of good things at a young age. I really kind of knocked out my bucket list when I was really young.