CJ Perry Reveals Why Her WWE Release Completely Changed Her Life

CJ Perry isn’t holding anything back about her WWE release—and she’s got the receipts.

The former Lana recently sat down on Unwrapped and opened up about being released by WWE in 2021, even though she still had three years left on a five-year contract. It caught her by surprise, but she now sees it as the turning point that launched the next chapter of her life. Perry recalled how things were actually going well when the company cut ties.

“I actually had three more years on my contract… I was on a five-year contract. I covered two, which was such a great blessing because I was on a higher paying tier, which was so awesome.”

She explained that it wasn’t a case of her contract simply expiring—she was released outright while still deep into a long-term deal. But even though the situation looked harsh from the outside, she admitted the experience became a blessing in disguise.

“It got cut short. But it’s all like, now looking back, I’m like—I had to do all that, had to happen, for me to get where I am today.”

Perry revealed the moment came just after a major opportunity landed in her lap: a chance to appear on Surreal Life. WWE approved her for the reality series, but just two days later, she was let go. Looking back, she believes the decision was all about business.

“Surreal Life came… and Vince approved it and Johnny Ace, and two days after they approved it, they let me go. I wouldn’t be surprised… they looked at it and were like, okay, she’s going to get paid a lot of money to go do Surreal Life for two weeks. This is a great opportunity, we need a budget cut… we can bring in somebody—three people—for the amount that we pay her. So let her go, let her go do her thing, go become hopefully a bigger star, make her money. And then we can always catch her on the flip.”

Still, one of her most memorable wrestling accomplishments came just before her release—and it’s something that keeps her name forever etched in WWE history. She looked back at the Survivor Series 2020 pay-per-view, where she won the entire match for her team after being slammed through tables for ten straight weeks on Raw by Nia Jax.

“Definitely my story with Nia and Shayna I really enjoyed… Nia putting me through the table—10 weeks in a row. And then that year, I won Survivor Series… still to this day, I’m like, forget about that. But that will go down in history. You’re going to see my name.”

She knows her in-ring record isn’t overflowing with title wins, but she sees that Survivor Series moment as an iconic victory—and a sign that character work, even when painful, can lead to unforgettable rewards.

“I don’t think in the ring I made a history on a lot of things, but that will go down in history.”

Now, Perry’s found peace in a completely different lifestyle—one focused on sobriety, wellness, building a family with Miro, and embracing creative projects like her podcast Identity Crisis. But she’ll always be proud of how she carved her name into WWE lore, even if it wasn’t the way she—or the fans—expected.

CJ Perry’s story proves that you don’t need a title belt to make history. Sometimes surviving the chaos is the legacy.

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