TJP Says Christopher Daniels Pitched The Idea Of Him Portraying Manik Years Before It Happened

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJP was interviewed by Wrestling Epicenter’s Interactive Wrestling Radio. You can see the full interview at this link, and check out highlights above.

The Suicide/Manik Persona:
“Funny story. I had come in to do a World X Cup in 2007, 2008… Somewhere around there and they had come up with this concept. Frankie (Kazarian), friend of mine from Southern California, was told the concept and was kind of bummed out. He was at a stage, especially then, where he was in his prime and wanted to be himself and spread his wings. He had just come off a couple of angles in TNA where he wasn’t able to do that and now they wanted to put him in this thing all together. It was a cool concept but maybe not for him. He was bummed out. I remember joking, sitting in the locker room with Christopher Daniels and Kazarian and him (Daniels) saying, “They should just have TJ do it. He’s already in a mask! They want to have him full time but they don’t know what to do with him.” I was like, “Yeah, they should give it to me.” I ended up not coming back to TNA for a while. It is weird. I came back 3 or 4 years later and that is exactly what happened! I think it was kind of dead in the water by that time just because of the momentum that it had. But, the way that they had envisioned the character was the way that I played it.”

On getting to work with Hulk Hogan on camera in TNA:
“It was amazing. He’s Babe Ruth! It is funny to say this and I don’t remember who told me this but there are like 3 people that could be considered the most recognizable people on Earth to where everyone knows who they are. He’s one of them!