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T.J. Perkins

T.J. Perkins
TJ Perkins at Alpha-1.jpg
Perkins in 2015
Birth name Teddy James Perkins
Born (1984-09-03) September 3, 1984 (age 32)
Los Angeles, California,
United States
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Cobra II
El Bombero
Havana Pitbull III
J.T. Quinn
Manik
Pinoy Boy
Puma
Suicide
Sydistiko
T.J. Perkins
TJP
TJ Perkins
Billed height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Billed weight 175 lb (79 kg)
Billed from Los Angeles, California
The Philippines
Parts Unknown
Trained by Kevin Quinn
Christopher Daniels
New Japan Pro Wrestling
Antonio Inoki
Brian Kendrick
Debut August 1998

Teddy James "T.J." Perkins (born September 3, 1984) is a Filipino-American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, performing on the Raw brand where he was the inaugural WWE Cruiserweight Champion. He is also known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former TNA X Division Champion. In TNA, he used the ring name Manik, which is based on the Suicide gimmick. He also worked on the independent circuit, sometimes under his initials TJP or under a mask as Puma (also stylized as PUMA).

Perkins first began his training at the age of 13, at a local lucha libre school in his hometown of Los Angeles, California. Perkins debuted in August 1998, under a mask as promoters felt he looked too young to be wrestling. Initially, he wrestled under the ring name T.J. Perkins, utilizing "Pinoy Boy" as a nickname. In order to attend shows, he had to not attend school most Fridays. He wrestled on independent cards in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico during his first two years.

In 2001, Perkins began training at New Japan Pro Wrestling's Inoki Dojo in Los Angeles along with friends Ricky Reyes, Rocky Romero, and Bryan Danielson. They all made their debut in NJPW on the same Korakuen Hall card in October 2002, with Perkins debuting as the maskless "Pinoy Boy" T.J. Perkins. In NJPW, he holds the record of the youngest non-Japanese wrestler to compete for the promotion, at 18 years and 3 weeks old. At the age of 18 in 2003, following his third tour with NJPW, he was given the gimmick (character) of Puma, a masked character with similarities to Tiger Mask, and he began teaming with Tiger Mask IV. Perkins stated the character was created due to perceived similarities between himself and the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, and the idea was that he would be the American version of Tiger Mask.


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Wikipedia

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