CJ Perry details a conversation she had with NBA icon Dennis Rodman about the pro-wrestling industry.
Perry spoke about this topic during a recent chat with Fightful, where she revealed that The Worm, who is a known wrestling fanatic and famously competed for WCW, told her to pursue being a manager rather than an in-ring competitor because he knew she could be great.
Actually, it’s really crazy ‘cause Dennis Rodman—this is coming right off of my release from the WWE—and so him and I instantly connected because we love wrestling and also the athlete connection in a competitive, professional sport. He immediately, within the first couple of days, he pulled me aside and he said this on camera. I got really hot because I was focused, I wanted to become champion. I wanted to be champion, and by the way, I’ve only been Fireball champion. I didn’t even win the 24/7 Championship. However, Fireball did send me a title thing that said I was their champion. That really resonated with me. He pulled me aside and he was like, ‘You know what, you shouldn’t wrestle. You need to manage.’ He goes, ‘That’s your calling. You’re gonna be the best at it. You’re gonna be the best wrestling manager.’ But he’s like, ‘You’re never gonna be the best wrestler, ‘cause you have Charlotte Flair.’ Are you kidding me? But deep down inside, I knew what he was saying was true and I wanted to do that in WWE.
Perry later adds that Paul Heyman was one of her favorites and that she strived to be similar to him. She also mentions the character Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) from the HBO series Entourage as a source of inspiration.
Paul Heyman was my favorite and I wanted to be the first female version of Jerry Maguire come to life in professional wrestling [or] Ari Gold from the Entourage. My version of Paul Heyman.
Elsewhere in the interview Perry spoke about her arrival into AEW back at All Out and how it was all part of a plan by her husband, Miro. You can read about that here.