T. J. Perkins
Perkins in 2015
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| Birth name | Teddy James Perkins |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 3, 1984 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 |
| 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 Former 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. He would also go on to become a young boy in the New Japan system in Tokyo in the same dojo class as Shinsuke Nakamura, Hirooki Goto, and Yoshi Tatsu. He has stated that his first dorm room in the Tokyo Dojo was the same room Chris Benoit also lived in previously. 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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