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WWE’s Lana happy to ‘fail’ to ‘encourage others to chase their dreams’

Lana joined the WWE after a varied career spanning dance, television, film and music

Matty Paddock
Wednesday 24 February 2021 18:41 GMT
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<p>Lana has become a WWE superstar</p>

Lana has become a WWE superstar

As arguably one of WWE’s unsung heroes, Lana says she’s hoping fans around the world can be inspired by her failures as well as her successes. Far from being my view that the 35-year-old has failed at anything, the popular performer herself readily admits she’s been prepared to fall flat on her face in front of the watching world – literally and figuratively.

If that’s a unique perspective, it’s because Lana, real name CJ Perry, is every bit as unique as a person and a performer. Her journey to stardom in WWE has been far from whatever ‘normal’ is. After a varied and successful career spanning dance, television, film and music to name a few, she first signed with WWE’s then developmental division, NXT back in 2013, with dreams of slugging it out in the squared circle with the industry’s best. It would, however, be some three years before the Florida-born star got the experience of her very first outing – the mere matter of a bout at WrestleMania 32 in front of over 100,000 fans in Texas.

WWE had, before then, much preferred Lana in an on-screen managerial role, the villainous mouthpiece of Rusev, the Bulgarian Brute. That she also did that job so well was both to her credit and her detriment. Speaking exclusively to The Independent, she admitted that she hadn’t been allowed to wrestle matches before then. Fully accepting that she was likely to slip up or, in her words “fail” as a result of a relative lack of experience, she’s instead channelled that frustration and uses it for good.

She explained: “I have been trying to get this opportunity way before [it happened]. I was training at live events or maybe working at live events but not being able to get that spot on television. Now I’ve been given that opportunity and am trying to make the most of it and trying to run with it. I believe that luck is when opportunity meets those that are prepared. So I was constantly coming in early, training at live events and not seeing television, hoping that one day, I would get that opportunity and that, when I do, I’m as prepared as I can be.

“The cool thing for me is that I can take the WWE Universe with me on my journey... it’s really wild, my very first match in my entire life happened at Wrestlemania, it happened in front of you. WWE wouldn’t allow me to have a match before Wrestlemania, so [it was] in front of 101,000 people.

Lana in action

“Early on I had to accept that I was going to fail in front of you guys, and that I was going to have to fail in front of you many times. That was really hard for me because I don’t like failing, I want to be good. As an in-ring competitor I had to accept that I’m going to learn as I go, that I’m going to fail and that’s going to be part of my journey. I hope to encourage people that it’s okay to fail as long as we’re learn and don’t make that mistake twice.

“It really had to change my mindset to go on this journey and I just hope to encourage others to chase their dreams - and to know that when you fail, you’re not alone.”

It’s clear she isn’t bitter over WWE’s decision to have “a different route” for her. Re-affirming her ambitions to get physical in the rough-and-tumble sports entertainment empire that is WWE long before she managed to, she knows patience is also key.

“I’ve always wanted to be an in-ring competitor, from the very beginning,” she went on to say. “I’ve always been drawn to things that are a lot more physical, so even when I danced and was a professional ballerina, I became obsessed with break dancing, because there was only one girl and ten guys as it was a lot more athletic and hard-hitting. When I got the opportunity to start training [to wrestle], I was obsessed with it, but WWE had a different route for me.

“At the end of the day this is a television show and we’re characters, so I was very fortunate to be The Ravishing Russian with Rusev. I take all opportunities as that’s really important for longevity in WWE - as people we evolve and change so as characters we should evolve and change.”

So often it is the case that WWE and professional wrestling as a whole is better when it draws from reality – weaving real-life into its oft-wacky and distorted storylines. It makes sense, then, that Lana is actually the perfect for the company and its followers – widely recognised by the fact that she has a cult following amongst WWE’s fanbase.

Now a regular performer in the ring – one of the most prolific on WWE’s Monday Night Raw programme in the last year – she embraces the uniqueness of her journey and compares it to her own upbringing.

“I like that it’s not normal,” beamed the star, who won her latest tag team match alongside Noami this past Monday. “I like that it’s unique because I’m unique... the person that’s behind The Ravishing Russian Lana - CJ - there’s nothing in my life that feels normal. I always feel like a misfit.

“I know that’s super weird because people look at me and they’re like ‘you don’t look like a misfit!’, but that’s how I always felt, growing up as an American in Russia and then coming to America and feeling more Russian! I’m glad it’s never been done before. I’m glad it’s unique to me because I feel like we’re all unique, but I’m down for something different.”

Watch Lana and the stars of WWE Monday Night Raw each week on BT Sport. Visit wwe.com for more.

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