10 Things You Didn’t Know About TJ Perkins
7. Came Through The Ranks With Daniel Bryan
Before Perkins was doling out advice to incoming Gaijin like Davey Richards, he had to start off from somewhere, and that’s exactly what he did when he worked his way up from the bottom of the New Japan Dojo.
Although, this wasn’t quite the same New Japan Dojo that the likes of Finn Balor once plied his trade in. According to the infallible Wikipedia, Perkins’ training apparently took place in New Japan’s L.A. Dojo, based in - you guessed it - Los Angeles, California.
There, he learned the ropes with the likes of Ricky Reyes, otherwise known as Cortez Castro in Lucha Underground, and Rocky Romero, currently one half of Roppongi Vice alongside Trent Barretta. There was also a certain Bryan Danielson amongst their band of merry men, meaning that the Crusierweight Classic was also something of a reunion opportunity for TJ Perkins and the presently-named Daniel Bryan.
I guess you could say that’s yet another reason why it might have made sense to have the Cruiserweight division, and in particular TJ Perkins, on the SmackDown brand instead of Raw.