Jack Perry On Ripping Up His AEW Contract During NJPW Debut: 'I Don't Need Them'

Jack Perry has offered the reasoning behind tearing up his AEW contract while debuting at NJPW Battle in the Valley 2024 in January. Perry emerged in NJPW, returning from an indefinite suspension by AEW after an infamous backstage altercation with CM Punk in August last year, and has since had a run in the New Japan Cup tournament, as well as joining maligned faction House of Torture. He recently addressed why he chose to call out AEW while debuting during an interview with NJPW.

"Ripping that contract was a declaration, 'I'm not playing by your rules anymore'. If [AEW] are too afraid to have me anymore, if the spectre of Jack Perry is too much, they don't want to the deal with the conversations, the ramifications that brings, then that's fine," said Perry. "I don't need [AEW]. I will go by myself across the world, all by myself, without any of my friends, without any of the things I'm used to, anything that's been my life for the last five years, and I'll do it on my own, make my own way."

Perry lost the FTW Championship back to Hook at All In last year during the pre-show undercard, a no holds barred blow off to their feud, after which a spot in their match is believed to have spurred the altercation with Punk. Neither have been seen in AEW since, and Punk later joined WWE. That does leave the question as to whether Perry remains an active part of AEW, especially as he carves a new path within NJPW. And even he admits that the answer is unclear. "Some of these things are unclear even to me, but I would say this — loyalty is a two-way street, and I show loyalty to those who are loyal to me. As of now, certain parties have been very good to me, and I intend to repay that."