Posted in: Movies, Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: perkins, tj perkins, tjp, Vince McMahon, wrasslin, wrestling, wwe

Rumor: Vince McMahon Made WWE Superstar T.J. Perkins Change His Name To TJP Because He Hates Perkins (The Restaurant)

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon's culinary preferences are legendary in the pro wrestling business. For years, McMahon didn't know what a burrito was, despite eating one every day for lunch ("he called them "steak wraps"). The oft-repeated story was recounted in 2013 by former WWE creative team member Dan Madigan on the PW Torch podcast with Wade Keller:

It's one of these stories that always repeats itself. I think the idea was they were trying to work an angle with Big Show and – like Andre (the Giant), here's a guy who is so physically big and physically imposing – what can you do to get over on Big Show? And how are you going to do it?

I think they were going to poison Big Show and give him a spiked burrito. The whole concept was: 'We're going to spike his food, spike the burrito, you cut to a vignette before that showing him eating it, and then he passes out in the ring.' So, Vince goes, 'Burrito?! Who the hell knows what a burrito is?' It was such a far concept. And everyone in the room goes, 'Well, we know what a burrito is.' And Vince goes, 'Well, where the hell have I been?'

But, the funny thing is, Wade, every day at noon, Vince's secretary would walk into the office – the writing room – with a burrito. It was a steak-wrap cut in half. And he would put ketchup on it. Every day, he was eating a burrito and not knowing what it was. But, that's the idea – when you're in a bubble and in a business where you're ostracized from society, it's you and them, that's it. Everyone else is an outsider, so things like that do make sense in the confines of the wrestling world.

So with that background in mind, it's hard not to believe the most recent rumor involving McMahon and food, as reported on Wrestling Observer's Bryan and Vinny Show this week. On the show, Alvarez claimed to be told by a source inside WWE that the reason former Cruiserweight Champion T.J. Perkins changed his name to just "TJP" is because McMahon personally hates the restaurant chain Perkins and didn't want his brand to be associated with it. A short transcription of Alvarez's story comes from /r/SquaredCircle:

I was told this by someone in WWE, and I believe it…TJP is no longer TJ Perkins…sure as shit, Vince apparently HATES "Perkins" (restaurant). He hates it, and he thinks it sucks…and he thinks that if people hear TJ Perkins, they're gonna think of the ****ing restaurant. So now he's TJP.

UPDATE: Perkins has denied that Vince's culinary preferences played a role in the name change.

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