Pro-wrestling star CJ Perry (fka Lana) was the latest guest on Talk Is Jericho to discuss her recent release from WWE in detail, which includes the Ravishing Russian admitting she was relieved to finally get the call. Hear her full thoughts in the highlights below.
Details the phone call she received regarding her release:
“I actually got the call…let me tell a little backstory. This shows my commitment to what we do and also pro wrestling. At the beginning of the year, I really wanted to take my family on a family vacation. I wanted to get us a house and kept trying to get to the Caribbean. It wasn’t working out, so let me rent a house on the beach in St. Pete and I will be where work is. I don’t have to travel as much because I’ve been traveling the entire year throughout the global pandemic when a lot of people were just living in Florida. I was actually traveling and living in a hotel room 250 days last year by myself. I didn’t have to, but I wanted to give it my all. I didn’t want to get fired. I wanted to make sure I was an essential worker. I know, from day one, that those future endeavors can come, so I was preparing for it. So, I rented this house and decided to take my family on a family vacation here, and I could train a lot more. Two weeks in, I got a call from Johnny Ace. Crazy thing is I thought he was calling me about something completely different because I was offered to do another television show. They went through the whole process with WWE, they approved it, and so I thought he was calling me about those details.”
Says she felt relieved after John Laurinaitis gave her the news:
“He says, ‘I’m calling you about your 90 days.’ I’m like ‘Wait, what?’ I couldn’t even understand. He’s like, ‘I’m calling you about your 90 days because you’re getting released.’ I was literally standing next to the pool like…my heart dropped. At the same time, I felt really relieved, which was really weird because I didn’t expect to feel relieved. It was like a weight lifted off my shoulder. If someone would have told me that would happen, I would have been like ‘no way’ because I love my job and I love the people I worked with. Things are shitty at times, but that’s why it’s a job. He goes, ‘Stay in touch. You’ve worked your ass off.’ I go, ‘Is there anything I did wrong?’ He’s like, ‘No, you’ve worked your ass off. You’ve improved tremendously in the ring. Thank you for working hard. Stay close.’ I chuckled to myself because I’m glad it wasn’t Mark Carrano that called me because I just see Johnny as this role. Mark kinda comes across like homies a bit more but Ace is like so corporate. He was like ‘budget cuts’ so I was like ‘OK, thank you for everything.’”
Says she talked to Mandy Rose and Natalya immediately after:
“So, I walk out and I was in the middle of texting Mandy [Rose] – we were texting about other things – and I’m like, ‘I just got released.’ She was the first person I told. I called Nattie immediately. I couldn’t even talk to Miro yet. Nattie had the same reaction. It just sucked, but at the same time, I felt really relieved in the sense I felt like I’d been waiting for this call. Whatever wrestling contract I have next, if I stay in wrestling which I hope I do, I want a no-cut clause because that was the worst – living in that state of fear because you don’t know when your future endeavors is going to come.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)