Jungle Boy Reveals That He Originally Thought His Gimmick Was "Really Dumb"

After making his official debut in AEW, Jungle Boy became an overnight sensation. When Jungle Boy first heard about his gimmick, he was not too pleased with it.

"For me, I got stuck with the Jungle Boy thing, I never thought of it," Jungle Boy stated during his interview with Taz at Starrcast. "When I first got stuck with it, I thought it was really dumb but over time, I saw how people liked it, and so I adapted a style to the name."

Jungle Boy mentioned that originally A Boy and His Dinosaur was not a planned tag team stable. Instead, they were put together during a local show. After some time together, one fan, in particular, helped Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus come up with the idea for Jungle Boy to sit atop Luchasaurus' shoulders each time they made their entrance.

"We didn't plan to tag together," Jungle Boy announced. "We got put together at a show by Joey Ryan. I thought it was cool, but I didn't think it was going to be as cool as it turned out being. It was actually a fan who tweeted (about their entrance idea). They were like 'We'd think it would be cool if Jungle Boy rode to the ring on Luchasaurus' shoulders. So we were like alright, that's easy for us to do. We did it. As soon as we came out of the curtain, people went nuts. That was the biggest pop of the entire show."

When Taz brought up how dynamic AEW's roster is, Jungle Boy mentioned how an old promotion that he wanted to work for did not like his gimmick at all, and how that inspired him to carry out his character towards companies like AEW.

"There was a little place at home that had a TV show, a little wrestling show," Jungle Boy began. "I wanted to be on it so bad. They told me 'We cannot put this character on TV because it's too silly. We can't have it for this show.' For a while, I debated switching it up and not become Jungle Boy. Obviously, I'm glad I didn't. It's cool for me now that AEW, which is the hottest thing in all of wrestling, does like this and it works for them and they put it on TV. I'm just glad that I stuck to my guns."

During the Q&A session, a fan from the audience asked Jungle Boy what was the best advice his father, Luke Perry ever gave him. His answer was very heartwarming.

"I first started wrestling when I was 10-years-old," Jungle Boy mentioned. "I remember talking to my dad one day in the car, and I was saying something about chasing my dreams. My dad came from Ohio and he didn't have a lot of money. He used to shovel asphalt, so he knew what it was like to follow your dreams. He told me it's not enough to chase your dream. What you have to do is chase it down and tackle it to the ground. You have to cut its head off and hang it up on your wall, and that's what it takes to really be successful."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit A Boy and His Dinosaur Starrcast IV with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.