10 Things Wrestling Fans Should Know About CJ Perry

CJ Perry is most known to wrestling fans as Lana due to her WWE career as a wrestler and manager. The real-life marriage between Perry and Miro aka Rusev became a huge part of their careers. CJ hoped to become a huge star in wrestling and experienced that during her highest highs in WWE.

However, the run ended a few years ago with WWE’s budget cuts showing no mercy to even relevant names. Life after wrestling has seen Perry mostly focusing on modeling, but a return to the ring is always a talking point about her. The following things about CJ will give an in-depth look at her life and career to wrestling fans.

10 Worked In Music And Acting Before WWE

CJ Perry did not have a formal background in wrestling until it became a viable option. However, the entertainment industry was always part of CJ’s life with various passions. Dancing became part of Lana’s character due to Perry being a successful dancer in real life getting casted to many music videos.

Acting was another passion for CJ when getting opportunities to showcase her skills. WWE tryouts and the Performance Center launching to train new prospects led to Perry trying out that way. CJ learned everything wrestling related from WWE by coming up in that system.

9 Rare Manager Success Story From NXT

WWE was hot and cold on pushing managers for years since Vince McMahon wanted to see wrestlers sink or swim on their own. Paul Heyman reminding everyone how pivotal that role can be in WWE, and NXT creating more opportunities with Triple H’s vision gave CJ Perry a chance to shine in that role.

Lana became a top manager in the NXT brand as the secret ingredient to Rusev’s act. WWE realized the act worked out perfectly and called them up together. Lana and Rusev instantly got over as top heels with an NXT manager/wrestler pairing thriving on the bigger stage.

8 Got In Hot Water Over Controversial Promo

The Rusev and Lana act instantly became a top heel act due to the anti-American tropes that had been used many times before. Lana having a Russian background and speaking the language fluently saw her referencing that country being above the United States.

A comment implying the United States deserved blame for the 2014 Malaysia Airlines crash and constant references to Vladimir Putin received negative media coverage. WWE had to release a statement apologizing and claiming there was no intentional insult to the plane crash.

7 WWE Ended Act With Rusev To Push Her

Rusev had an undefeated streak on the main roster lasting almost a full year before losing to John Cena. Fans thought that Rusev with Lana as his manager could become a future world champion and constant main event talent at the top of the card.

However, WWE had other plans when removing Lana from Rusev to turn her face. Vince McMahon felt that Lana had more potential as a singles babyface and sacrificed Rusev to kickstart it. The entire breakup angle missed the mark and ended up hurting both Rusev and Lana.

6 Received Blame For TMZ Leaking Engagement With Rusev

WWE moved into a Rusev and Summer Rae vs Dolph Ziggler and Lana feud that already had enough flaws until reaching the point of return. The real-life engagement of CJ Perry and Miro became front page news on TMZ with pictures of their big moment shared.

Many people in WWE were unhappy at it basically ruining their angle and just reunited Rusev and Lana to end it. Lana and Rusev received a lot of backstage heat to slow down their careers after WWE assumed they did it. Future interviews saw CJ claiming they weren't responsible for the news leaking.

5 Had Her First Ever Match At WrestleMania

Lana remained a heavily protected name that had her first-ever match saved for a major moment. WWE waited until WrestleMania 32, so Lana could have those bragging rights of saying her first-ever match took place in front of a record-breaking crowd.

The heel actions of Lana saw her forming a team when targeting Brie Bella and her babyface allies. Brie’s team won the match for a feel-good moment before she left, but Lana’s debut was the biggest story in this pre-show tag match highlighting the women’s division.

4 Was Naomi's Main Rival During SmackDown Women's Championship Reign

WWE remained selective with how they used Lana due to Vince McMahon seeing mega-star potential if she ever improved in the ring. Lana had a repackaging for her first true run as a singles star coming on the Smackdown brand in 2017.

Naomi’s Smackdown Women’s Championship reign surprisingly saw Lana as her main rival with a couple of successful title defenses. Lana tried to improve against the champ, but her limitations were obvious. Naomi unfortunately dropped the belt to Natalya in her next program to waste her reign with mostly Lana matches rather than beating some other established stars.

3 Paul Heyman Wanted To Push Her During Wild Love Triangle Storyline

The Raw stint of Paul Heyman as a lead creative mind led to some bold new storylines and talents he believed in getting spotlighted. Lana returned from an absence to reveal she had left Rusev for a new relationship with Bobby Lashley to start the love triangle.

Heyman made Lana the centerpiece of this angle to get her more over as a personality while establishing the character roles of the others. Liv Morgan even returned as another former lover of Lana. These segments were critically panned, but WWE often received strong YouTube views for the soap opera style moments.

2 Was Sole Survivor Of Survivor Series Without Doing Anything

Lana had one of the funniest victories in Survivor Series history back at the 2020 event. WWE had an angle going of Lana getting more crowd support via getting beat up all the time. Lana was a sympathetic babyface getting bullied and put through a table by Nia Jax every week.

The finish of the traditional Survivor Series elimination match saw Lana winning without ever getting in the ring. Jax and Lana were the remaining Raw wrestlers against Bianca Belair representing Smackdown. Both Bianca and Nia getting counted out led to a perfectly booked moment of Lana winning by being forced to stand on the apron all match.

1 Clearly Wants WWE Return With Miro

Life after WWE has seen Miro and CJ Perry go in different career paths after the shocking releases. Perry started her own Brand Army fan page to huge success, along with other modeling projects. Miro is a member of the AEW roster with many ups and downs along the way.

CJ talked about them both returning to WWE after throwing shade at AEW for not signing her to be part of Miro’s act. Various interviews have made it clear that Perry hopes that she and Miro can return to WWE for a bigger push, especially with many of the budget cut releases returning in recent years.