In the midst of all the scuttlebutt about the status of Total Nonstop Action, including the myriad of recent releases that caused speculation about the overall status of the company, there's also some contract news on the All Elite Wrestling front as well.
Jack Perry, who signed with the upstart league upon its inception, is said to be very close to the expiration date of his current contract, prompting questions about if he will re-sign with the promotion or explore the free agent market.
Of course, Perry is known, fairly or unfairly, as the guy that caused CM Punk to leave AEW after the "real glass" comment on the pre-show spurred a backstage physical altercation between the two just moments before Punk was set to compete against Samoa Joe at Wembley Stadium in 2023. It can't be understated how much that incident, and a few similar behind-the-scenes disputes, stalled the momentum of the organization for a few years afterwards. The bottom line is, if Perry doesn't utter that phrase into the camera because he was immature about previously being told that he couldn't use real glass for a spot on television, CM Punk might still be in AEW, and the current landscape of the business looks very different. Don't get me wrong, Punk was going to end up on bad terms with All Elite no matter what happened because he thought of himself as a much bigger deal than he actually was, despite being the biggest star on the roster. Punk thought he was going to be the Steve Austin of All Elite and get catered to, and to a large degree that's what happened, but when he wasn't given the control to run an entire show with Collision, regardless of having no previous experience doing so, he was going to look for a way out.
Let's be honest here, Punk had a chip on his shoulder from the day that he returned to the business because he wanted to be the top guy in AEW that he previously didn't get to be in WWE. When The Elite and their political connection to founder, Tony Khan got in the way of that objective, the infamous backstage fight with them happened. For all intents and purposes, Punk should've been released in September of 2022. The Young Bucks were too narrow-minded to do business and make the money that was on the table for a feud with Punk, and since drawing money isn't the goal of AEW, Tony didn't make the people that he paid millions of dollars to be professional and work together.
In many ways, Jack Perry just happened to be the guy that was at the center of the tipping point. If it wouldn't have been Perry then Punk would've eventually had an issue with someone else to exit the organization. Ironically, Punk's return to the business and thus his rocky exit from AEW in September organically set the stage for him to return to the WWE just a few months later when Survivor Series was in Chicago with the domino effect being that he eventually become the top guy in the WWE that he wanted to be.
Still, Jack Perry was the catalyst for All Elite Wrestling to lose the biggest star that the company had, and the argument could be made that the "stain" of that incident didn't start to fade until his more recent baby face run.
After the fight with Punk and the subsequent airing of the security camera footage that did he no favors, Perry was sent to New Japan Pro Wrestling for roughly six months under the "scapegoat" persona, a heel way to lean into the controversy. By mid-2024, he was back on AEW television, aligned with The Young Bucks, but the heel character never really got off the ground. In some ways, I understand why Tony tried to turn a negative into a positive, with the notion that the fight with Punk could be used to generate heat, but it mostly just reminded the audience that CM Punk was in WWE. Perry abruptly disappeared from AEW programming for almost a year after that, spending nearly all of 2025 as a healthy scratch from the roster before he returned in September to reunite with Luchasaurus to reform Jurassic Express.
Sure, it was a retread of a gimmick from years earlier and could potentially be called a step backwards, but given that Perry's character had zero momentum, it was at least something to try to reignite the hype that he had when he was originally a baby face. For the most part, it worked and Perry has spent the majority of 2026 being reintroduced into the fabric of the shows, winning the national title for a short reign earlier this year.
The Wrestling Observer's Bryan Alvarez reported that as of now, Perry hasn't signed a new contract, but it's possible that he could ink a new deal relatively soon. As far as what Perry does next, I'd say that it's a safe bet that he will re-sign with All Elite Wrestling because it's a relatively light schedule and the best money that he's going to make in the pro wrestling business. I can't see him going to WWE, not because CM Punk being there is a hurdle, but rather that his size and mindset would work against him. The WWE system is already stocked with talent between the main roster and the developmental system that Perry doesn't really bring anything to the table that isn't already there. That's not a knock on Perry either, but rather to point out that there's an entire Performance Center of wrestlers under contract, as well as stars on the main roster so by sheer numbers, the WWE already has what Perry offers.
Based on some of his past interview clips, including the infamous Q&A from a UK convention a few years ago, it's doubtful that Jack Perry has the mindset to see the bigger picture of WWE anyway. In theory, New Japan could be an option, but they aren't going to be able to offer the same money as Tony Khan so if there's an AEW contract on the table, Perry should and probably will take it. That being said, despite being initially dubbed, "one of the pillars of AEW," a ship that sailed a few years ago, Jack Perry doesn't move the needle. "Jungle Boy" Jack isn't a draw, or at least not more than anyone else currently on the roster. Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, MJF, Darby Allin, Kyle Fletcher, and Konosuke Takeshita would all be better choices to build around.
To put it in broader terms, what's the ceiling for Jack Perry? I could be wrong, but I don't think he would boost numbers any more than the six performers just mentioned. Furthermore, I'd say that those half a dozen workers are more versatile and more marketable than Perry. Since money is no object for Tony Khan, and the primary goal isn't making a profit, even if it should be, Jack Perry will be offered a solid contract to stay in the company, but will also maintain a rather mediocre status quo of being a mid-card baby face compared to the main event potential that some thought he had at the start of his AEW career.
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