CJ Perry says she misses performing in front of wrestling fans.
Perry signed with WWE in 2013, and she moved to the main roster in 2014 alongside Rusev. As Lana, she was featured on WWE TV over the next several years. Near the end of her WWE run, she frequently competed on the Raw brand until she was released in a wave of cuts in June 2021. Since then, Miro, her real-life husband, has referenced her multiple times on AEW programming, though he usually doesn't use her name.
In an interview with Sean Ross Sapp, Perry commented on Miro mentioning her on AEW television.
"It’s definitely a surprise to me as it happens," Perry said when asked whether Miro runs the references by her. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. He doesn’t run too much by me."
When asked whether hearing fans chant for her gives her an itch to return, she emphasized that there's no drug like the crowd's cheers. Perry described how she also enjoys working as a genuine heel, rather than being a cool bad guy.
"There’s no drug in the world like it. It’s the biggest adrenaline high you’ll ever get, at least for me. There’s nothing more than I love. Of course, if they’re chanting your name, it’s insane. Whole arenas chanting for you is just mind blowing. I’m always so honored that people would do that. But I also love being booed. There’s no better feeling than being able to control a crowd that you can get them to do exactly what you want them to. It’s definitely easier, for at least me, and that might be because I lot to stir the pot and it’s funny to me to get people get all riled up. So I feel like wrestling is perfect because then I can lean into it and commit to it. ‘Okay, yeah, hate me. Bring it on.’ I feel like, in wrestling, sometimes people want to be the cool heels and they don’t want to commit to being like, ‘No. Hate me. I’m gonna make you money because someone’s gonna want to whoop my ass," Perry said.
The former Lana went on to describe how Miro has taught her a lot about storytelling and psychology. She stated that she misses performing, and she misses the fans, as she repeated that connecting with the crowd is a special feeling.
"I learned a lot of that from Miro, too. He was such a great teacher for me and the psychology of storytelling and the psychology of being a villain. I always say there’s no greater villain than Miro and so, yeah, I’m thankful for that. I do miss that. I miss it a lot. I miss performing, I miss the fans. There’s no better feeling than being able to get that screen time where you are connecting with the fans, you’re connecting with the fans and you’re provoking an emotional reaction. It’s great. I miss it," Perry said.
When asked whether they live in Nashville, Perry stated that they move around between multiple places.
"We live in Nashville. We live in L.A. Miro’s building and designing a house in Bulgaria. So, yes," she said.
In the same interview, Perry discussed her experience on The Surreal Life. Check out her comments here.
Catch up with all things CJ Perry at her website CJPerry.com. You can see her on The Surreal Life every Monday on VH1.
