There have been tons of TV dramas with CJ Perry and Miro in the WWE as well as in All Elite Wrestling, over the years. All of those were part of storylines but now they are separated for legit as the AEW star revealed that she and her husband have decided to move separate ways […]
Lana
Catherine Joy “CJ” Perry, famously known as Lana, is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling manager, actress, dancer, model, and singer. Born into a wealthy Russian family in the posh neighbourhood consisting of ex-presidents, diplomats and other powerful political figures, Lana had built her career in music and acting before signing up with WWE in June 2013. Having signed up with the professional wrestling promotion WWE, she performed on the Raw brand under the ring name Lana.
Majoring in Foreign Affairs and Business and Social Media Marketing, Lana invested her knowledge and business acumen into Rusev. Following this, she made her debut in the 2014 Royal Rumble Match where Lana had impressively put The Bulgarian Brute on full display. Helping deliver their message of superiority to the WWE Universe, Lana not only teamed up with him but also accepted Rusev’s marriage proposal in 2015. While she’s occasionally mixed it up as an in-ring competitor on SmackDown LIVE, Lana has also been instrumental in leading Rusev to three United States Championships and twice teamed with her husband on Mixed Match Challenge.
However, everything changed in an instant in 2019, as Lana made her return to Raw alongside Bobby Lashley while locking lips with The All Mighty right in front of Rusev. Later, she divorced her husband and married Lashley, which led to an unforgettable series of brawls and matches between her former and current husbands.
Early Life
Born on 24 March 1985 in Gainesville, Florida, Perry was the eldest among the four siblings. Being a Portuguese and Venezuelan descent, Perry has spent several years of her childhood in the Latvian SSR, where her father worked as a Christian missionary. She and her family remained in Latvia after it restored its independence in 1991. From an early age, Perry aspired to become a ballet dancer like her mother and attended the Riga Choreography School (the ballet school of the Latvian National Opera) before she began dancing with the Latvian National Ballet at the age of 14.
The 17-years-old Perry returned to the U.S. where she initially lived in New York City, dancing at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico, Broadway Dance Center, and Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance. Later, she enrolled at the Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Florida, majoring in dance and acting. While attending FSU, she began attending Florida State Seminoles football games with Jenn Sterger, cheering from the bleachers while dressed as cowgirls. Following the popularity of the FSU Cowgirls, Perry used the exposure into her modelling career and appeared in photoshoots in publications such as the RIDGID Tool Calendar and working as a spokes-model for the energy drinks Matrix and Red Bull. Upon graduating from FSU, she relocated to Los Angeles with the aim of working in show business.
Personal Life
Perry once dated actor and former American football player Isaiah Mustafa before she started dating the former WWE wrestler – Miroslav Barnyashev famously known as Rusev. She married Rusev on July 29, 2016, but divorced him later. She was supposed to marry Bobby Lashley in late December 2019 on Raw episode but was interrupted by her ex-husband Rusev who had beaten Lashley on a ceremonial day. However, on the next episode of Raw, on 6th January 2020, the couple completed the ceremony to become Mr and Mrs Bobby Lashley. Actor Rick Malone officiated the wedding.
Professional Wrestling Career
WWE
Managerial role (2013–2016)
Following her music and acting career, in June 2013 Perry revealed that she had been signed to WWE for their developmental branch NXT. She made her debut on the October 23, 2013, episode of NXT, under the ring name Lana, scouting Alexander Rusev. On the November 6 episode of NXT, Lana became Rusev’s “social ambassador”, using a Russian accent and developing a character that majored in Foreign Affairs and Business and Social Media Marketing in college.
On the 31st January episode of SmackDown, Lana made her main roster debut after which the couple (her and Rusev) appeared in a series of self-promotional videos and speeches in the next few weeks. By early May, Lana started dedicating Rusev’s matches to her “hero”, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, while adopting an anti-American, Russophilic gimmick.
During an in-ring promo before Rusev’s match at Battleground, Lana made some controversial comments where she blamed the United States for current world events while praising Putin. Even though she did not directly mention anything, some media outlets believed that Lana was referencing to the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 that had happened three days before Battleground, in order to help build heat for Rusev in his feud against Jack Swagger. A representative of WWE later told TMZ that the segment was not specifically about the Malaysia Airlines crash, noting that the Rusev-Lana storyline “has been a part of WWE programming for more than three months. WWE apologizes to anyone who misunderstood last night’s segment and was offended”.
Following the November 3 episode of Raw, Rusev defeated Sheamus on WWE Network to win the United States Championship. At WrestleMania 31, Rusev lost the title to Cena after he accidentally crashed into Lana, knocking her off the ring apron. On May 17, at Payback, Cena defeated Rusev in an “I Quit” match after Lana quit on Rusev’s behalf. The following night on Raw, Lana justified her actions by explaining that Rusev said he quit in Bulgarian, only for him to harshly dismiss her. Later that night, Lana turned face as she kissed Dolph Ziggler, officially ending their association. After Ziggler was injured by Rusev, he returned on the August 17 episode of Raw, aiding Lana during a confrontation with Rusev and Summer Rae.
Rae went on to “seduce” Ziggler in order to end his relationship with Lana, but the storyline ended quietly after WWE announced that Lana had injured her wrist while training. On October 11, TMZ reported that Lana had gotten engaged to Rusev, which Lana confirmed.
Lana made her return, once again as a villainess, on the November 30 episode of Raw, where she and Rusev referenced their engagement.
On the April 25, 2016 episode of Raw, Lana returned to managing Rusev. After being drafted to Raw as part of the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, Lana made her first appearance for the brand on August 1, where she accompanied Rusev. On August 8, Rusev’s and Lana’s wedding celebration was usurped by Roman Reigns, and one week later, on the August 15 episode of Raw, Rusev competed in a match for Lana’s honour against Reigns but lost. In early 2017, Rusev suffered a legitimate shoulder injury, taking them off the television.
In-ring competition (2016–present)
On the February 29, 2016 episode of Raw, Lana confronted Brie Bella during a backstage segment, arguing that Bella’s fans only supported her out of pity for having a “bad husband”. On the March 14 episode of Raw, she distracted Brie during a tag team match against Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina) that had her lose the game while aligning herself with Team BAD. On the March 22 episode of Main Event, she brought the returning Emma and Summer Rae to her guild. As a result, Lana faced off Bella in a tag team match at the WrestleMania 32 pre-show, in what would be Lana’s in-ring debut, which her team (dubbed Team B.A.D. & Blonde) lost.
On April 11, 2017, Lana was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. As her hyped televised return aired, Lana resumed the in-ring competition under her new gimmick at NXT live events that same month. Lana made her return on the June 6 episode of SmackDown Live, in an unsuccessful attempt to compete in the impending women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Meanwhile, she also ignited a feud with SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi.
On June 18, Lana was defeated by Naomi in her first televised singles match at Money in the Bank after a distraction by Carmella. She went on to compete against Naomi two more times on the June 27 and July 4 episodes of SmackDown Live, being defeated both times in quick fashion. On July 23 at Battleground, Lana competed in a five-way elimination match to determine the number one contender for the SmackDown Women’s Championship but was eliminated by Becky Lynch. At the Royal Rumble on January 28, 2018, Lana took part in the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match as the 13th entrant but was eliminated by Michelle McCool. Following this, Lana competed in the WWE Mixed Match Challenge, where she teamed with Rusev as the two defeated Elias and Bayley in the first round, marking Lana’s first official win in WWE. On the May 22 episode of SmackDown Live, Lana defeated Billie Kay to qualify for the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match marking her first singles win in the company. At the event, Lana failed to win the ladder match.
Throughout late July, she was booked with Rusev and Aiden English against Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega. This led to Lana turning face for the first time since 2015. At SummerSlam, Lana and Rusev faced Vega and Almas which they lost, however they won the rematch on the following night on SmackDown Live. She competed at WrestleMania 35 in the annual Women’s WrestleMania battle royal match but did not win.
Lana turned heel again on the September 30, 2019, edition of Raw, after betraying Rusev and kissing Bobby Lashley, during Rusev’s Universal Championship match with Seth Rollins. After Rusev was legitimately released from his WWE contract, Lana remained in character, mocking him on social media. Lana then began a feud with MVP, after he tried to gain Lashley as an ally. At Backlash, Lashley was unsuccessful in capturing the WWE Championship due to an altercation between MVP and Lana at ringside which distracted Lashley and allowed Drew McIntyre to retain his championship.
The following night on Raw, Lashley confronted Lana and blamed her for his loss at Backlash stating that she used him to get famous including making their sex life public. Lashley would then ask for a divorce before leaving with MVP. The same night, Lana vents her frustrations to Natalya backstage. On the June 22 episode of Raw, Lana solidified her alliance with Natalya by distracting Liv Morgan thus helping Natalya to win the match. In August the duo began feuding with the returning Mickie James.
Other Ventures
- In 2009, Perry joined No Means Yes, a girl group signed to Ne-Yo’s record label comprising Perry (billed as “C.J.”), Kat, Shea, and Tanu. The group released one single, “Would You Like That”, and recorded two others (“7 Years Bad Luck” and “Burn Rubber”) before disbanding in 2010.
Perry later stated: “A girlfriend of mine in college referred me to the man that was putting the group together. I honestly was so scared to sing and I didn’t even know a song to sing at the audition so I sang “Jesus Loves Me”. I remember them saying “we can work with her tone because she has the right look and she is a model that break dances”. I am so thankful to this day for that experience because I do not think I would have ever gotten the role in Pitch Perfect if I hadn’t overcome my fear to open my mouth and sing.”
- Perry went on to work as a backup dancer for performers such as Keri Hilson, Nelly, Pink, Usher, Akon, and Rich Boy.
- In 2013, she starred alongside Kelley Jakle in the music video for Jakle’s cover of the Paramore song “Ain’t it Fun”. She trained as an actress at The Groundlings School and under the acting coaches Lesly Kahn and Larry Moss.
- She appeared in acting roles such as an episode of The Game in 2011, the lead role in I.C.I.R.U.S. in 2011, the musical comedy film Pitch Perfect in 2012 and the 2015 sequel Pitch Perfect 2, and an episode of Banshee in 2013.
- In 2016, she starred in the WWE Studios production Interrogation alongside WWE Hall of Famer Adam “Edge” Copeland.
- Lana has appeared in four WWE video games making her in-game debut at WWE 2K15 as an NPC. She also appeared during Rusev’s entrance and winning celebration. She later made her managing debut in WWE 2K16 and later appearing in its follow-ups, WWE 2K17 and WWE 2K18. She was confirmed to be a playable character for the first time in WWE 2K19 and followed that up with latest video game appearance in WWE 2K20.
- In 2016, it was announced that Lana would be featured as a main cast member for the sixth season of Total Divas.
Championships and Accomplishments
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked 98 of the top 100 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 100 in 2019
Sports Illustrated
- Ranked No. 29 in the top 30 female wrestlers in 2018
Rolling Stone
- Worst Storyline (2015) – with Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev and Summer Rae
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Best Gimmick (2014) – with Rusev
WWE
- Slammy Award (2015) for Tell Me You Didn’t Just Say That” – Insult of the Year The Rock insults Rusev and Lana – Raw, October 6
