TJ Perkins has revealed why he left WWE and claimed a key booking decision lost 205 Live viewers in an explosive new interview.
The former Cruiserweight Champion, real name Theodore Perkins, was released by the American sports entertainment giant in February.
That sparked reports the 34-year-old had angered bosses by getting new tattoos without permission and that he was difficult to work with.
But in an interview with the Eat Sleep Suplex Retweet podcast, TJP said he received permission for his new sleeve ink around Survivor Series time last year, and that WWE chairman Vince McMahon openly acknowledged them on a TV taping, just days before he left the company.
And while setting the record straight, the high flyer from Kansas City, Missouri, revealed he could join up with All Elite Wrestling in the near future.
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'The Fil-Am Flash' explained that in fact, the decision behind his departure was largely mutual, due to vast differences in his creative direction.
He said: "I had considered leaving a little bit sooner. I was going back and forth a little bit on it. I don't really believe in quitting. I never like to just quit unless there was thing I specifically wanted to do and this was one of those situations.
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"It started a year ago. We were in London for TV and I met with Vince in his office and I told him I felt like I'm not really a commodity to him in the form that I am right now. I wanted to get back to what I was in the CWC, where I was presented more as a global character, reaching out to the Filipino community, and he understood.
"From there, the goal was to get me back to that on a platform that has a larger reach, breaking out to the Asian markets with the TV out there and being on a Network show isn't as beneficial for that. So the last year was writing some ideas - pitching some stuff - and they'd write some stuff and we'd see what we’d come up with and try to get me on a Raw.
"I'd meet up with the team every week and pitch some stories - and I had stories for everybody on every show. They just didn't see anything as a good fit for the type of story they wanted to tell. Eventually it just ran its course and they told me they didn't know what to do with me. We wanted to find a way to make it work, where I wasn't just a waste of space."
TJP's release was one of three in a relatively short space of time - Hideo Itami and Tye Dillenger being the other two - with his arguably being the most surprising of the bunch.
It led to a flurry of speculation as to where he would be heading next, with one company in particular on the lips of many fans.
When pressed about AEW and whether he had received a call from Cody Rhodes, Perkins kept his cards close to his chest in terms of his future wrestling commitments.
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"The day that me parting with WWE was announced, I literally received a phone call from everybody. So I'm not going to say I've talked not to one individual place as I've at least had a conversion with every single one. And I'd love to work at any of these places, especially AEW.
"In terms of AEW, they have a lot more on their plate than worrying about little old me. But there's been a little contact and maybe something will come, and I’m only going to say that much."
His departure marked the end of a three-year journey that started in the most spectacular fashion when he bested 31 other wrestlers to be crowned the winner of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, and with that, was declared the first winner of the new edition of the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, after defeating Gran Metalik in the final.
And in a shocking revelation, Perkins revealed at which point he found out he was going to become the first holder of the title since 2007.
He said: "They didn’t have the belt in the locker room (before the final). They said nothing to us. I was literally in the ring thinking the bell was going to ring and instead Triple H's music hit. I remember looking at Metalik and thinking that his was all a crazy, cruel joke and he just going to come out and Pedigree everyone and that's it.
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"But he came out, made this whole announcement and that's how I found out the winner was going to become the next Cruiserweight champion. I found out the same way as everyone else did as far as that one goes. Everything else about the tournament I knew. I knew after round one I was going to win and I knew who I was going to wrestle.
"But I didn't know about the title until that moment and I didn't sign a contract until a few days later."
WWE's handling of the Cruiserweights has divided fan opinion, with many disappointed to see them treated as a separate entity with the creation of 205 Live creating a glass ceiling for many of its stars.
As someone at the forefront of the product since its inception, Perkins was the perfect individual to discuss what might have caused some fans to tune out from the division.
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He added: "It was never meant to be built around one guy in the first place because that really hurts a dozen people that need to be introduced. I think we kind of saw that when we got to the period where we had Neville come in for example. We all loved having him to work with, because he's an incredible performer.
"But from a creative standpoint, to do the Goldberg thing where we were lining up to lose to him, that's when interest started going down because now all these people, their first introduction to these fans is basically we're all losers.
"I think the first six months to the year of the division is how it should have been even up to this point. It will take up to a year for casual fans to realise you're even there and to understand who you are.
"There are a dozen guys that no one has ever heard of before, we all had to come in at once and we were segregated so we didn't get the chance to work with someone who's well known, as we were just working with each other.
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"So it's going to take a long time to build that familiarity. If you then start building the division round one person, it slows down and people stop becoming familiar with these people, because all they see is you don't have the ability to win. So I think it would have been better if we had more 50-50 booking."
You can listen to Eat Sleep Suplex Retweet's full interview with TJ Perkins here .
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