Potential CWC winner TJ Perkins opens up about his inspiring Pinoy story

After his stunning win against crowd-favorite Rich Swann last Wednesday (U.S. time), TJ Perkins is now part of the mythical four that will compete live on the WWE Network on the two-hour final of the Cruiserweight Classic.

The Fil-Am Flash is determined to beat expectations and overcome the Golden Star Kota Ibushi, the favorite by many to win the inaugural tournament this week.

#DoWhatTheySayYouCant #BeatIbushi #WWE #CWC pic.twitter.com/Y9F7hxbI0e

— ?TJ Perkins? (@MaskaraManik) September 12, 2016

And because of his openness about his heritage, many Filipino fans following the WWE Network exclusive are betting on the 18-year veteran to make the upset.

In this interview with GMA News Online, TJP shares stories about his upbringing and why he continues to distinguish himself in the ring not only with his technical prowess and high-risk moves, but with his identity.

He also talks about how he and his family were able to keep together despite hardships brought on by the 2008 U.S. recession and how he was able to get back on his feet after being homeless.

In previous interviews, you’ve mentioned that your Filipino heritage is important to you. Could you explain why?

When I grew up, my parents traveled for a living. So I didn't have a tight immediate family unit. The most important times for me was being part of family stuff during holidays and things like that when I was part of the extended family.

And so to this day, some of the best times of my life is going to Christmas or Thanksgiving or New Year's with my Filipino family and when I was growing up too, my parents would be gone for weeks at a time working and I had a yaya growing up. It's my mom's aunt and also my lola.

Growing up, that's the only culture or family that I had, it just happened to be that. So it's always been important to me to embrace it and I just, I dunno, being by yourself all the time, you want to be able to identify with something and for me, I found my identity in my family.

The way that I act, the way that I talk, and my charisma, and things like that, it comes from my family and my heritage so it's important for me to express that and because we don't have a lot of representation in the world. It's important to me that I have the opportunity to represent that.

As a first-generation Fil-Am, you’ve been exposed to a lot of the culture. What do you think makes it unique? What do you love the most about it?

It might just be my personal view on it because I think everybody would favor something and it's not always the same as the same person, but for me, we have a great sense of style.

And I think that we're very jovial and very outgoing, very friendly, and I think it's just the positivity in it, you know? Other cultures just don't have the same type of support and energy, and for me, not only is that uplifting and positive, for myself, but I just think like if I wanted to exude something, I'm so happy that that's my heritage, that's my culture.

You’ve stated in the past that you’re closer to your Manileño mom. What’s it like growing up in a female-centric, Filipino household?

Uh, well I learned a lot of the curse words, really.

For a while, I mean, I've gone back and tried to relearn a lot of Tagalog since I didn't retain as much as I got older. I would be separated from the family, especially when I started traveling and I was living in other cultures and everything.

But the curse words always stuck with me 'cause you hear those more than others ones.

I've never looked at something as far as something gender-specific? The old men in my family are just as makulit as the old women in the family, so it's the same thing you know? It  just happens that it was my grandma and my aunt.

What stuck to you from your upbringing?

The food? I think that's probably the other part of why I'm so proud of my culture 'cause we're so tied down to our love of food. I just remember all the different dishes and stuff that my mom and my grandma and everybody would fix.

Now, it's mostly a holiday thing 'cause I'm older now so my family's not always together but just the lumpia and the pancit, and adobo, and mechado and all that stuff.

Did your parents ever give you a habilin?

No, actually, and it's sort of, maybe like a signature description of my upbringing 'cause my parents never had to look after me when I was younger. They're always gone, like I mentioned.

I learned how to be self-sufficient at a young age. I could do laundry when I was ten, I could fix basic foods when I was ten. And they never had to tell me not to put my finger in the light socket or like that. They never gave me a curfew when I was older.

I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I've never really gotten into trouble. They've never really had to ever kind of give me advise or like, be a mentor in that way? Like give me any specific direction, I kind of just- I've always been able to find my way. My mom is very thankful that I never caused any trouble.

Were your parents apprehensive about your career when they found out about it?

They didn't really know. They knew this is what I wanted to do but like I said, they never really kept track of me and when I started doing it, I didn't ask for their help, I just started doing  it. And they never really paid any mind to it.

I don't think it was until years later when I was like, "Look, I'm leaving, I'm gonna live in Japan for a few months and I'll be back later." Then it was more like, they realized I was actually doing something different with my life.

How did your family support you during the time that you were homeless? Was there a push to pursue a different career path?

It was tough. My parents were in the middle of splitting up at the time and they were filing for bankruptcy as well so they needed my help, and then I needed help. I felt like I was bringing the family down because they were leaning on me and I couldn't help them.

For everybody listening- I never know who's listening, what part of the world they're from — if you weren't familiar with that time period in the United States — I always have to explain this 'cause I'd do a podcast and Europeans don't know what I'm talking about or something like that- but for that time period in the United States, we had a really bad recession.

For me, it was especially bad 'cause I have no work experience. I barely had an education so there was nothing for me to offer so I couldn't get a job. It wasn't even a question of should I pursue a different career path- like, I couldn't pursue a different career path. There was nothing for me to do.

I tried to do everything. I tried to sell knives door to door, I tried to pump gas, I tried to clean toilets, I tried to do everything and nobody would give me a job. And my parents lost what they had. (They) literally lost everything so I couldn't call home either and they needed my help, they were hoping I would be able to come home and help them.

It was really tough on me for a while 'cause I felt like I was really letting them down.

When and how did you start to get up from that point?

You kinda get to a point where you kinda realize that everything is gone. And I think it's times like that when your faith is tested. I was raised Catholic and I pray every night and I just felt like, okay, there's a reason for all of this and you kinda just have to take it one step at a time, like literally one hour at a time.

Could I fix all of this? I dunno. But could I survive for the next couple hours? Yeah, I could probably do that. And then after that, can I figure out the rest of the night? Yeah, I could do that. Can I figure out tomorrow? Yes, I could do that.

And that's all it was, I just kept wrestling and I started all over again man, I was wrestling in bars for like, such little cash. But at least that would feed me for that day.

And little by little, you kind of start to get everything back, you start to do a little better and as I did, I got better at understanding what a career was. I got better at understanding that the only thing that's real is the money and the miles.

WWE Manila came to the Philippines and you've never been to the Philippines...

It's funny 'cause I was actually planning on taking a vacation to see my family towards the end of the year around the end of summer or the beginning of fall. I wanted to go during the summer but it's just so hot, I wanted to wait a little bit.

But yeah, it's funny 'cause that's actually about when I was thinking about trying to go but I dunno. That's not really my position of what I'm doing or where I'm at, but it would be really cool if I could, you know, see the Philippines at that time under the capacity of performing for the biggest team in the world.

There's actually a wrestling promotion here in the Philippines.

PWR?

Maybe a guest appearance?

Maybe. I follow their Instagram all the time. I always get excited when I catch the updates.

Do you know how to cook any Filipino food?

No. I've overseen lumpia being prepared and if I had to choose one thing to learn, or to actually be able to do well, it would be that. But maybe some noodles or something, I could do that. It's hard to get the flavoring right and everything. I dunno, I'm not good at it.

Have you fallen victim to Filipino karaoke at 3 a.m.?

Oh, of course! Are you kidding me? Of course! In fact, not only that, but the entire reason I dab and dance in the ring is because the adults throwing money for all the kids to dance when I was younger at Christmas and stuff like that.

My uncle, Chito Boy, every single family gathering, he takes it home in karaoke- several hours of karaoke.

—JST, GMA News