“It's never really sunk in and it was just such a weird day" - TJ Perkins talks about the tragic night when Perro Aguayo Jr. died in the ring

TJ Perkins recently talked about the tragic night when Perro Aguayo Jr. died in the ring. Perkins said that it was quite a strange night since it was his first time being in the ring with Rey Mysterio and seeing Perro Aguayo Jr. after a few years.

TJ Perkins is currently signed to IMPACT Wrestling. He is the current Impact X Division Champion in his second reign as the masked character named Manik. The legendary Rey Mysterio is currently a part of WWE SmackDown, while Perro Aguayo Jr. had achieved fame in lucha libre before his unfortunate death.

TJ Perkins was the guest on Lucha Libre Online. After a Crash promotion show in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, Perro Aguayo Jr. passed away on March 21, 2015. In the interview, Michael Morales Torres asked TJ Perkins about the day of Aguayo Jr.'s last match (March 20) and the tragedy that followed. Here is what TJP had to say:

“It's never really sunk in and it was just such a weird day, because it was sort of like a celebration day. I mean, Rey Mysterio had just he had just left WWE and I think that was his first one (match) or of his first if not... It’s his first event wrestling outside, you know, and it was in Auditorio (Tijuana). So it was great to have Rey. And that was my first chance to be in the ring with him and to see Perro (Aguayo Jr) again after so many years."

God bless @snoringelbow for mentioning one of the greatest luchadores ever, the late Perro Aguayo Jr. #TriplemaniaXXV pic.twitter.com/Utpp1nHRxF

— Dan (@GolazoDan) August 27, 2017

Aguayo Jr. teamed with TJ Perkins as Manik against Rey Mysterio and Xtreme Tiger on the tragic night. During the match, Aguayo Jr. took a head-scissor takedown from Mysterio and fell to the middle rope to receive the 619, but he went limp and unresponsive. TJP checked on Aguayo Jr. while the match continued. Aguayo Jr. remained unconscious, even as Konnan and others tried to revive him. Paramedics arrived and took him to a local hospital, where he was unfortunately pronounced dead on the day after the match.

TJ Perkins believed that Perro Aguayo Jr. was Mexico's next megastar

In the same interview, TJ Perkins said that Perro Aguayo Jr. could have become a superstar one day.

"Perro is one of the guys that we looked up to because he was young and he was going to be a superstar and he was such a nice guy and there was not a lot of nice guys to look out for us when we went there."

Happy birthday my brother, my motivation to be the best luchadora & my inspiration everyday Perro Aguayo Jr. Today on ur birthday I’m thinking of you more than ever. I’m tearing up just thinking of what would or could have been. Today you would have been 40yrs old. ❤️ u my 👼🏼🙏🏻 https://t.co/QlYRztAcow

— Taya Valkyrie (@TheTayaValkyrie) July 24, 2019

TJ Perkins also discussed the aftermath of the match and the awful catastrophe that took place from his perspective:

"So a lot of guys were getting hurt and there was good medical attention at the arena, but everybody was busy in the back because there's like two or three people that were injured. Then obviously the worst was yet to come and it was kind of chaos and afterward I remember like my last (moment with him). I was leaving the arena that night with Rey and saying, okay, we'll catch up. We'll go to sleep and see him in the hospital and it would just we just figured, you know, maybe he got hurt and he’s okay. It'll be okay. I mean, we were all leaving the arena and are different cars and stuff and we all just got calls and stuff and text messages that we lost him. And so I remember driving. Because I live in Southern California. So I just drove home that night after we cross the border and the entire drive home and just never sunk in. It’s so crazy that one minute he's there and the next minute you take for granted that what we do is so dangerous."

What do you make of TJ Perkins' comments? Sound off in the comments section below.