TNA's Joe Hendry Recalls How Match Against WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle Came Together
TNA star Joe Hendry has revealed how he ended up facing Kurt Angle in WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) back in 2016.
Hendry, in his recent appearance on "Insight," remembered the sequence of events that led him to face Kurt Angle, early in his pro wrestling career. The TNA star said that when he faced Angle, he was a part of WhatCulture Pro Wrestling, which had gained in popularity. He recollected how a social media reply to a fan where he named Angle as his dream match caught the eye of the Olympic gold medalist.
"I look back at this and I'm like how on earth did I have the balls to pull this off?" he said. "A fan asked me, 'What's your dream match?' And I thought and I answered it, saying, well, just like a one-off match and I went Kurt Angle and I tagged him thinking nothing of it. Kurt Angle DM'd me, in 2015. He says, 'Listen, I've heard your name, I've seen a couple things,' 'cause I think at that point I'd done like my first like viral entrance. I came to the ring to 'Wrecking Ball' but I came to the ring in a zorb as Henry Ball. And so Kurt said, 'I know who you are and you're not ready yet. But maybe one day you'll get the match,' and I was like, 'Wow!'"
The match, held at the Refuse To Lose show, was won by the Hall of Famer, and Hendry discussed how he ultimately brought Angle to the show.
Hendry on convincing WCPW and Angle for the match
Joe Hendry then revealed how he convinced Kurt Angle and WhatCulture to feature in the promotion in a match against him. Angle was set to wrestle in another British promotion ICW, where Hendry faced Joe Coffey to determine the Hall of Famer's opponent. In that angle, Coffey was to win and face Angle. Hendry said that WhatCulture had tried to bring Angle in, but the former WWE star rejected the offer.
Hendry, though, was determined to face Angle and asked him what monetary compensation he would require for him to come to WhatCulture, while he also had an idea to convince WhatCulture to put him in the match.
"I walk in the [WhatCulture] boardroom and I says, 'Thanks for meeting [me]. You guys tried to get Kurt Angle, didn't you?' And they went — and I'm just a trainee at this point and they went — 'Yeah, yeah.' And I went, 'What did he say?' and knowing what he said and they went, 'Oh, he said no.' And I went, 'I can get you Kurt Angle,' and I says, 'But if I get him, I need both of your word that I wrestle him,' and I says, 'And I'm top guy after that.' And I'm a trainee at the time and they went, 'You can really get Kurt Angle?' I was like, 'Those are the terms' and they were like, 'Alright.' They shook my hand."
He added that he was never meant to be the top guy in WhatCulture, where he later held the WCPW Championship on one occasion.