After receiving a hometown hero's welcome in Los Angeles, "Jungle" Jack Perry fulfilled his destiny by becoming the new AEW National Champion after his third attempt against Ricochet and 20 other men in a Blackjack Battle Royal at Revolution on Sunday. However, looking past the raining confetti, a lot of emotions came crashing in, including not having his biggest fan and supporter of his career, former actor Luke Perry, sitting out in the crowd at the Crypto.com Arena watching him perform and giving him the embrace any champion looks for from their family after such a feat. From once being a fan to now a performer at the Crypto Arena, Perry spoke at the post-Revolution media scrum about his late father and how much he misses him."Today's kind of bittersweet. I don't talk about it too much. My dad died, like seven years ago now. It's not something that I think about in a big way every single day," the new champion said. "Obviously, I think about it, but it's been seven years and thankfully I've been able to have other stuff to put my mind towards. And today, coming here, being in this building, the only time I've been here was walking around with my dad. And at that point I was so young, I was probably still holding his hand. It was interesting and it was really cool for me to now be here in this way, but it was also sad because I was thinking, you know, the person who I wish could be here the most isn't here."Jack's father and the beloved former "Beverly Hills, 90210"teen icon passed away from a stroke on March 4, 2019, at the age of 52. Recognizing the highs and lows that have come since joining the squared circle in 2015, Jack mentioned how his love from family, friends, cohorts like his tag team partner Luchasaurus, and AEW as a whole have reaffirmed his passion for this sport vigorously. This is Jack's third singles championship that he's carried so far in his young career outside of the TNT (one-time) and now retired FTW (one-time) belts.If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "AEW" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
