9 Things We Learned Watching Southpaw Regional Wrestling
6. TJ Perkins' Fake Wrestling Character Has More Charisma Than His Real One
I'm not even sure how to properly frame this. Is it an indictment of TJ Perkins' shortcomings as a performer or an appraisal of his talents? SRW is such a mindtrip that I don't know if he sucks or he's amazing.
In the role of Southpaw Regional champion John Johnson, Perkins plays a generic wrestler the picture of an '80s territory jobber, complete with a Members Only-style jacket as his ring gear. He's basically a CAW from a first generation WWE video game if you used all the default settings for every single category, then added an epic pornstache.
Johnson is unveiled during an interview with backstage correspondent Clint Bobski, played with the trademark brilliance of Chris Jericho. He inquires if the soft-spoken grappler is enjoying his time as champion, and Johnson delivers the legendary response of "I am. I... I am."
You can feel charisma oozing from his pores, but Bobski wants to delve deeper into the psyche of the man who has thus far felled all challengers, and demands the champ tell the people what he's going to give them when they come see him wrestle at Lethal Leap Year. In a tribute to 'Jumpin' Jeff Farmer - the consensus worst promo in wrestling history - Bobski tells John Johnson he thinks he should be jumping as well.
The Southpaw kingpin replies with "It's just John. And I'm ready for a fight."
Everything about this is fun, Perkins is spot-on as the stereotypical average everyman from the '80s wrestling scene and Jericho is great portraying a coked-up madman interviewer in a Hawaiian blazer.
The real takeaway from all this is that TJ Perkins can give us more than what he's delivered during his brief time as a member of the WWE roster.
I think he should be jumping as well.