Ahead of Gargano match, Fil-Am wrestler TJ Perkins reflects on 18-year career

A hot pick for the WWE's Cruiserweight Classic, Filipino-American wrestler TJ Perkins is set to face the record-breaking Johnny Gargano in the second round of the inaugural tournament.

But their match on Wednesday (Thursday morning PHL time) is not the first time Gargano and Perkins have squared-off. Both, in fact, have also wrestled half the competitors on CWC in various promotions.

What distinguishes them is the length of Perkins' career, which reached more than half a decade by the time Gargano debuted in 2005.

The self-proclaimed wrestling Yoda said his 18 years in the industry allowed him the strange privilege of watching batches of wrestlers work their way to the top while actively wrestling alongside them.

"I might be one of the few people who gets to see it 'cause I was so young when I started that I got to be part of so many different generations — I'm still part of a new generation. It's weird," Perkins said.

"I got to see my generation grow up, the Spanky's, the Bryan Danielson's, the Samoa Joe's, the Low-Ki's, and then I was still young enough to be part of the next generation after that, so I got to see like the Alex Shelley's and the Chris Sabin's, the Petey Williams, all those guys, grow up," he added.

"And then the generation after that. I got to be a part of it and I got to see them grow up. You know, Johnny Gargano, Ricochet, and guys like that. And you know, I even see guys now that are even younger than me kinda growing up; ACH, and guys like that."

Observing the way wrestlers moved up, Perkins can see what hsa changed — and what has remained the same.

"You see the same cycle. You see guys come in, you see how they progress, you see how they grow, you see how they succeed, and how they move on, and then you see the next one come," he said.

"It's weird, but it happens the same way almost every time. I think that's something that'll never change."

Advice for young wrestlers

What has truly changed since Perkins began wrestling in 1998 is the way wrestlers are getting around and putting one's name out to the public.

"I have young people — I hope that doesn't make me old — but I have young people ask me all the time when they're just starting what advice I would have and what they should do and how they should approach their career. I always tell them it's hard to answer because it's just so different," he said.

"It was a really different time. It was hard to compare it because the way that I had to start and get around, it's not the way it works anymore."

Before the internet and social media came in vogue, everyone had to rely on paper maps to get to shows and tournaments, where one could hopefully catch the eye of bigger promotions.

"When I started, you would have to do tournaments, like the Super 8 Tournament was a big independent wrestling tournament. The Ted Petty, the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup. And now they kinda have stuff like Battle Ballet for PWG," Perkins said.

"It used to be that those tournaments were how bigger independent companies could see you. And they would give you a chance cause they would see how you perform on these tournaments."

Now, wrestling from the backyard to the big leagues is accessible through social media while travel time has been cut down by smartphone map apps.

"Now, people can see anybody any time by just typing your name on Youtube. But then that also makes it that everybody's equal. It's a totally different way of trying to progress now than it was when I started. And I mean, it's very, very different," Perkins said.

Though he can't dole out advice on certain things, the 31-year-old can certainly repeat an advice given to him when he was homeless by veterans that helped him get back on his feet.

"'The only thing that's real is the money and the miles.' It's actually an old saying and it's kind of a joke too, but it has a pretty good basic lesson," Perkins said.

"It's a good way to kind of stay focused and be present and not get ahead of yourself and to put things into perspective because at the end of the day, what we're doing- we're performing, and we love what we do, and it's a show and everything but it's just a game and it's easy to lose focus and to not understand what's real in your life."

Philippine hope

Should Perkins win his match against Gargano, the Philippines' sole representative in the CWC will face the victor of the fight between the Puerto Rican high-flyer Lince Dorado or the charismatic American athlete Rich Swann.

But even without the prestigious win, the young wrestler was featured as one of the possible talents for RAW's Cruiserweight Division in the trailer it released this Monday.

Perkins has yet to confirm if he was indeed signed by the WWE. —JST, GMA News