Less Jungle, More Jack
To get Jungle Boy to the next level, let us see who Jack Perry is.
(Credit: AEW)
It’s a rarity that I agree with Jim Ross these days but it’s a welcomed feeling, as he’s one of the first people I think about when I look back on the golden years of WWE. Since AEW’s inception, he has consistently referred to Jungle Boy as “Jack” or “Jungle Jack Perry” and while a lot of people seemed to see it as a defiance of kayfabe, I thought it was the right move. Jungle Boy was a fine character on the indies but on a televised wrestling show, he needed more than to simply be the wrestler that looks like Donnie from The Wild Thornberries.
(Side note: did you know Flea from RHCP played that character? When I heard that I was SHOCKED until I thought about it for about 10 seconds and realized it made complete sense.)
I’m on record having not loved Jungle Boy as one of the pillars of AEW. I think he does a great job in multi-man matches and he’s super talented, I just can’t connect with him for whatever reason. I’ve been secretly, since the origination of AEW, looking forward to the day Jungle Boy turned heel, expecting something like when The Hurricane became Gregory Helms and ditched his Super Hero gimmick. As fate would have it, things recently started looking like we wouldn’t even need a heel turn to see Jack Perry, as his blood feud with Christian led to his declaration that he is now “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry.
My excitement has quickly diminished, though, as it seems like AEW isn’t fully sure what they are doing with the character. Look, I get it. His name still has Jungle Boy in it but we needed to see an actual change in his presentation to reflect his change to Jack Perry. He still comes out in the same gear, his chyron still just says “Jungle Boy,” and Justin Roberts still calls him Jungle Boy. You can’t be half-in on this change. I get keeping aspects but it’s time we see less jungle, more jack. How’s that for smoothly putting the article title in the article itself?
Jack Perry has a ton of potential and his feud with Christian has been hampered by injuries to both athletes but I think AEW is doing him a disservice by not hard launching the Jack Perry rebrand. He’s got Hollywood in his bloodstream. It’s time we see what he can actually be in AEW. Some of the originals like Darby and MJF were able to come in and essentially be the same guys they were on the indies and flourish but I don’t see Jack Perry as a legitimate contender in AEW until we see him separate from his original character.
(Credit: AEW)
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