NJPW Super J-Cup profiles: TJ Perkins, Clark Connors

We’re taking a look at each competitor in this year’s Super J-Cup, hosted by NJPW and produced by Jushin “Thunder” Liger. The tournament takes place in Tacoma, WA on August 22 and San Fransisco and Long Beach, CA on August 24 and 25. The events will be available on njpworld.com.

TJ Perkins

In a way, it makes sense that TJ Perkins is penciled in for the upcoming Super J-Cup; he’s coming home. Perkins was one of the earliest trainees at NJPW’s Los Angeles Dojo, then called the Inoki Dojo, and trained alongside fellow J-Cup entrant Rocky Romero as well as a fellow who at the time was called Bryan Danielson. Also relevant: His first round match will be against current LA Dojo trainee, Clark Connors.

Perkins spent roughly three years working for WWE on their 205 Live brand and much of his time was spent floundering. After winning the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic tournament and Cruiserweight Championship in 2016, he went on to spend a portion of his time under contract rehabbing a knee injury. When he wasn’t injured, he’d often be working short formulaic matches made for TV, shot in front of post-SmackDown audiences who didn’t always care about guys or girls that low on the totem pole.

Since his official release from WWE in February, he’s been able to regain some name-value by having quality matches with young indie stars on the West Coast, and recently had well-received matches with the likes of Adam Brooks in PCW ULTRA  and DEFY champion Artemis Spencer.

TJP has quite a bit to prove in this year’s Super J-Cup. Despite his extensive career and high honors received in recent years, is Perkins truly one of the best junior-heavyweights in the world today? How quickly will he be able to readapt himself with the NJPW in-ring style? We’ll find out on the first night of the Super J-Cup in Tacoma, WA.

Clark Connors

He’s a rookie, sure, but Clark Connors and partner Karl Fredericks just had one of the best preliminary matches on a big-match card earlier this month at Nippon Budokan. Does that tell you what kind of talent he has?

Connors is a native of Washington state, coincidentally the same state as the first night of this year’s J-Cup. He started in 2017 and even wrestled a few shows for Seattle’s DEFY, the company co-sponsoring NJPW’s Tacoma events.

Connors’ style is hard-hitting and simple, indicative of his recent LA Dojo training. While he’s scored submission victories this year in both NJPW and ROH in preliminary matches, his lack of experience leads many to believe he’s not going far in this year’s Cup.

Don’t sleep on Connors, though. As stated, he just had heated tag match that had 12,000-plus fans reeled in; expect as intense a performance during his Super J-Cup appearance.