Jack Perry defeated Shota Umino to advance on night 1 of the New Japan Cup. But that wasn’t the most newsworthy part of his evening on New Japan’s 52nd anniversary show.
Late in the match, with momentum in favor of Umino, Perry received assistance from both Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Ren Narita. After pinning Umino, he accepted one more thing: a House of Torture t-shirt from EVIL.
Perry is best known to U.S. wrestling fans for his work in AEW, which came to an abrupt halt last August after his backstage altercation with CM Punk at All In London. That incident ultimately cost Punk his job, but while he returned to WWE last fall, Perry earned an indefinite suspension.
That suspension was said to be over by December, but Perry remained away from a wrestling ring until mid-January, when he appeared at a NJPW Strong show, attacking Umino and (storyline) tearing up his AEW contract.
Originally a fan favorite as part of Jurassic Express, Perry had already been a heel for several months prior to his AEW suspension. Joining NJPW’s most dastardly villainous stable, then, seems like a logical outgrowth of his character.
For his part, Perry said during his backstage interview after his match that it was simply a matter of linking up with like-minded individuals (h/t Wrestling Observer for transcription).
There’s a very select, handful of people in the world who still have my back. But tonight, well I think I found a few more.
Perry’s next New Japan Cup match will take place March 11 against Toru Yano, who advanced past Yujiro Takahashi on Wednesday. Should Perry win that bout, there’s a very intriguing potential matchup waiting in the round of eight: against former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Sanada, who had a first-round bye but now faces Yoshi-Hashi in the round of 16.
Sanada is no stranger to House of Torture’s hijinks, but he’ll have to keep his head on a swivel even more now that Perry is in the fold.