In his first Impact Wrestling tenure, TJP is a former TNA X Division Champion, where he used the ring name Manik, a spin-off of the Suicide. He is also known for his time with WWE.
In WWE, he is the inaugural WWE Cruiserweight Champion, as well as the winner of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic tournament. He also worked on the independent circuit as T.J. Perkins, TJP, or under a mask as Puma (also stylized as PUMA).
In a long interview with Fightful, TJP spoke about his experiences in WWE: “I always had wonderful experiences with upper administration. Working directly with Vince and Hunter, that was always pleasant for me but the lower management, like the micromanagement from the producers and creative and the writers and things like that, that was really the ultimate source of a lot of guys’ unhappiness, at least for me. It’s frustrating, and guys in that position, they play favorites so then a lot of guys get held back.
Not that the brass ring doesn’t exist and it’s not that it doesn’t exist in a fair way to Vince and Hunter, but people that micromanage beneath them, they arrange us in different starting lines so for some guys, it’s impossible to get ahead because you’re constantly handcuffed, and one part I love about the freedom I have now is that, I don’t have somebody telling me that I can’t say this and kind of wresting my match for me through a headset. Sometimes wrestling there feels like it has no soul.”