If you happened to notice a Tarzan-esque lad riding on the shoulders of a dinosaur while watching professional wrestling recently, don’t be alarmed.
It was just Luchasaurus carrying around Jungle Boy.
The two have travelled in this fashion before and most recently employed this tactic, neutralizing a threat from Jimmy Havoc, in AEW’s Double or Nothing’s Casino Battle Royale pre-show, The Buy In. Havoc eventually eliminated Jungle Boy by biting his fingers as he was hanging from the top rope outside the ring. Jungle Boy won over the fans with his aggressive in ring style and fearlessness against much larger opponents.
The 5’10” 150 lb Jungle Boy does not fit the traditional physical profile of a professional wrestler. How has he thrived in an industry in which he squares off against men who may outweigh him by 100 lbs? And where did he come from? If you are unaware of AEW’s Jungle Boy than you have missed some of the most exciting and creative wrestling in the industry today. 22 year old Jack Perry is the son of the late actor Luke Perry of Beverly Hills 90210 fame. Luke, as you may recall, passed away from a stroke at the age of 52 in March of this year. The older Perry was an avid supporter of his son as he ventured into the world of professional wrestling. Jungle Boy is listed as hailing from Valley Village, California while Jack Perry was born and currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Perry has been careful not to tread on the family name while carving out a name for himself. In a March interview with People magazine, Jack had this to say about not using the family name as part of his gimmick:
“My family is a part of who I am, but I’m trying to make my own way. I don’t want to use [my father’s fame] to be successful, I want to have my own success.”
Mission accomplished.
Jack Perry began his professional wrestling career in 2015 as Nate Coy and has also wrestled under the name Johnny Drake. He later went by the moniker Jungle Boy Nate Coy and eventually settled on Jungle Boy as his professional wrestling name. The Jungle Boy’s character stems from an unlikely source – MMA fighter Conor McGregor. Jack Perry noticed that the McGregor adopted a “monkey like posture” prior to his matches. Perry emulated the pose before a fight and the Jungle Boy character was born and has been growing in popularity ever since.
Prior to winning over the hearts and minds of fans in AEW, the 22 year old Jungle Boy had worked the indie circuit making a name for himself while learning the business and perfecting his craft. Jack Perry has worked through organizations such as Underground Empire Wrestling (UEW), Pro Wrestling Revolution (PWR), All Pro Wrestling (APW), and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). Jungle Boy is a two time wrestling champion holding the APW Junior Heavyweight Champion as Nate Coy, holding the title for 302 days before relinquishing the title to Jake Atlas in June of this year. The second title is the PWR Tag Team Championship which Jungle Boy and El Prostipirogolfo are the current holders of, defeating The Border Patrol (Colt Stevens and JR Kratos) in October of 2018.
So where does Jungle Boy go from here? He is scheduled to appear as part of a Four Way match at AEW’s Fyter Fest June 29th in Daytona Beach, Florida. Jungle Boy will square off against Hangman Page, Jimmy Havoc and MJF. This match is extremely intriguing because of the contrasting styles of all the participants. You have the high flying athletic moves of Jungle Boy, the hardcore style of Havoc, the NJPW flavor of Hangman Page and the traditional style of MJF. These larger than life personalities combined with such differing wrestling styles and philosophies should make for a highly enjoyable match.
One angle that feels like a natural fit would be to partner Jungle Boy and LuchaSaurus in the tag team division. The duo has been featured together on AEW’s YouTube channel Being the Elite and were a crowd favorite at the Double or Nothing’s pre-show The Buy In. Fans have submitted their “artwork” depicting Jungle Boy hoisted on the shoulders of the 65 million year old dinosaur. There is no doubt that the tag team of Jungle Boy and LuchaSaurus would be a favorite amongst professional wrestling fans.
Jungle Boy certainly appears to have endeared himself to the AEW fans so I would expect for him to factor into their long term plans, including the events scheduled for the rest of the summer as well as receiving a major television push once AEW hits TNT this fall. With his unique in ring style and slight physical frame, Jungle Boy has been able to overcome the odds to establish himself as a fan favorite and perhaps the freshest character to enter the world of professional wrestling in quite some time. The appeal of Jungle Boy is that the character seems to be a nod to the wrestlers of the early 1980s when wrestling characters were often more exotic and mysterious. Think about in ring performers like The Great Kabuki and Kamala. These wrestlers captured the imagination of fans because of their spooky unknown backstories. The Jungle Boy persona has a bit of that flair that adds an element of fun to the character. Whether intentional or not, the Jungle Boy has a connection to the historic past of professional wrestling by virtue of his creative and unique character.
For its part, AEW has repeatedly shown a willingness to deviate from the norm with respect to creative design and character development. With wrestling veterans such as Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, Dustin and Cody Rhodes mixed with up and comers like Jungle Boy, Sonny Kiss, and LuchaSaurus, AEW has found the perfect blend of performers to infuse the energy and excitement that has been missing from mainstream wrestling for several years. While Seth Rollins has resorted to a Twitter war with fans over a perceived lack of respect, AEW continues to create and promote a fan-centric, inclusive wrestling experience.
AEW has once again shown that it will not follow the recipe of the WWE when it comes to its in-ring talent, character development, and creative design. This out of the box approach that AEW has employed has turned the industry upside down as the quality of the product has met or exceeded the expectations of fans and wrestling insiders alike. Allowing the performers to participate in the creative process has led to a greater investment in the brand as a whole rather than a selfish focus on the individual.
AEW has consistently allowed its performers to continue to wrestle throughout the independent circuit which is a move that most certainly will build loyalty from its stars. The cleverness and uniqueness of characters such as Jungle Boy invite fans to rekindle the fun and excitement that captured our imaginations and made us wrestling fans to begin with.
If you liked this article, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to follow all of our content that goes out daily.
You can find the author of this article on Twitter @ngtriplett. Thanks for reading!