Jack Perry Explains How He Grew In Being The Scapegoat

At AEW All In 2023, Jack Perry was involved in a backstage incident with CM Punk that ultimately led to Punk’s dismissal from the promotion.

Perry rebranded as The Scapregoat and found himself in NJPW before finally returning to AEW TV in April 2024.

Speaking to Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho, Perry detailed his mindset in being the Scapegoat.

“During the time, it was not nice. It was uncomfortable and scary. That’s why I think I ended up growing a lot because it forced me out of my (comfort zone). I was out for a long time. At that time, it was not something I ever anticipated happening, obviously. I always just imagined what my road would look like. ‘Work hard, do this.’ I never saw something like this. Now, I’m kind of grateful for it because a huge portion of the wrestling world turned on me, and I had always been wanting to make everybody like me. It was kind of holding me back as well because it’s not possible for everyone to like you. I was kind of playing it safe in a lot of ways. I realized, at a certain point, ‘Okay, now it’s done.’ There are people now where, they’re never going to like me. When I came to terms with that and realized that it kind of frees me because I don’t have to worry about trying to get this guy to like me, it’s like the shackles were off. I just dove into the deep end at that point. It’s not going to get worse,” he said.

He continued, “I was at the gym, I remember texting you [Jericho], and you asked how it was going. ‘Really, not good,’ and you said, ‘Yeah, you’re the scapegoat.’ As soon as I saw the word, I was like, ‘That’s interesting.’ I didn’t actually know what it was or where it came from. I looked it up, and it’s an ancient religious thing where once a year, people used to sacrifice a goat to the devil, ‘please forgive us for our sins. Here is a goat.’ I thought it was cool because I was thinking I was the goat, and now I’m sacrificed to pay for the sins of other people. I put the word and imagery and made it this thing. It says the main archetype of the goat is Jesus, and I thought it was cool. People thought I was trying to be Raven. I was trying to be Jesus. I think a lot of that is what Raven was doing as well. ‘Let me be Jesus in this form of wrestling with this dark thing around.’ I really got into this thing I was creating. This allowed me to be me, but also get into this thematic stuff that was going on that felt like it could relate to my real life. I got to go to Japan and they don’t say anything, you come back from the match and there is a camera rolling. I watched Gabe Kidd, who is one of my favorite promo guys, he’d come back and be going insane. ‘You can do that?’ It allowed me to come back and not be so in my head about what I was going to say. I just said what I felt. That started the whole thing of ‘What do I want to do?'”

Footage of Punk’s backstage incident with Perry was ultimately shown on an April 2024 episode of Dynamite, just ahead of Perry’s return.

Perry would align with The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) as the new Elite alongside Kazuchika Okada upon his return.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.