Long before CJ Perry became known to wrestling fans as Lana, the character she portrayed on WWE television was, in many ways, a direct extension of Vince McMahon’s own worldview. Perry, speaking in a recent interview, revealed that McMahon did not simply oversee her promos from a distance.
He wrote them himself, word for word. “Vince wrote my promos… The Russian stuff, he was absolutely hands-on,” Perry said.
McMahon deliberately crafted Lana’s on-screen persona during a particularly charged period in American politics. With Perry’s character positioned as a proud Russian advocate alongside her then-on-screen and real-life partner Miro (also known as Rusev), Vince had found a vehicle to comment on American national identity in ways that resonated far beyond the arena walls.
“I think he was using me as his puppet to talk about America,” Perry reflected.
The strategy worked. During the Obama administration, Lana’s promos generated international headlines. One particularly memorable segment featured edited footage of President Barack Obama working out with lightweight dumbbells, juxtaposed against imagery of Vladimir Putin riding a horse shirtless and practicing judo.
McMahon reportedly loved every second of it.
“Vince thought it was the most hysterical thing,” Perry recalled. “There’s one clip I’ll have to send it to you guys. I throw to it and they cut to Obama working out with these little eight-pound weights, and then I’m like ‘unlike a real man,’ and I cut to it and it’s him doing judo, riding a horse and shirtless.”
The segment captured something that Perry believes genuinely appealed to McMahon on a personal level. Vince, known for his obsessive dedication to physical fitness well into his 70s and reportedly squatting 650 lbs (295 kg) at age 75, could relate to the image of a leader who projected raw physical dominance.
“I understand, like, Vince just could identify more with Putin because, you know, Vince, he’s lifting 650 pounds at 75. He’s squatting. It’s like you’re a maniac,” Perry said.
But the era of politically charged promos came to an abrupt end when the landscape in the United States shifted. The moment Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, McMahon pulled the plug on the entire concept, calling Perry and Miro into a meeting to deliver the news personally.
“Once Trump became president, he sat me and Miro down and said, ‘Okay, no more politics. It’s too polarizing and controversial,'” Perry recalled.
The pivot was immediate. What had once served as a creative channel for McMahon’s commentary on global politics became off-limits overnight.
