TNA's Joe Hendry Recalls Key Moments In His Rise To Success

TNA star Joe Hendry is one of today's rising stars in wrestling, having greatly increased his stock over the last year. Appearing on "Busted Open Radio," Hendry looked back on some of the biggest moments that led him to where he is today.

The first moment Hendry recalled took place in an independent promotion called North Wrestling, shortly after the performer lost his job with Ring of Honor, presumably in 2022. Hendry made his entrance to confront former WWE star Scotty 2 Hotty in front of roughly 250 people, and despite the relatively small audience, the positive reaction changed his outlook entirely.

"I thought to myself, 'You know what? This crowd was electric tonight,'" Hendry said. "If that's my job in professional wrestling [and] it never gets any bigger, I'm okay with that, and I'll do it to the best of my ability. So at that moment, I let go of all expectations of where I needed to go or what I needed to do. It just became about the process instead, so I started to really love it at the smaller scale."

Thankfully for Hendry, there were bigger things in store for his career. Around that time, he reached out to TNA Wrestling (formerly known as Impact), asking for an opportunity to prove himself, despite a previous opportunity with the promotion not lasting very long.

This time around, Hendry asked representatives of the promotion to give him three months to win over the crowd. If he wasn't able to make things work by that point, they could let him go. After a few weeks of teasing in video packages, Hendry made his return at Impact Bound for Glory in October 2023, unsure of how the crowd might react to his arrival.

"I walked down the ramp and there were signs. I was like, 'What is going on?'" Hendry continued. "So we did Bound for Glory. The next night, I had a match. ... I came back through the curtain on the second night and there was a member of TNA management who was standing there and [said], ... 'We are going to present you with a long-term deal.'"

With Hendry's theme music (and its release as a single) playing a key role in his rise to success, it makes sense for the wrestler to capitalize on the popularity of his song. TNA officials wanted to hold a concert for Hendry in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the wrestler had concerns. The Rock had just done something similar, and Hendry was worried it would come across as a cheap imitation.

Without divulging any identities, Hendry stated that he was talked into the idea by his mentor in wrestling, who told him that top stars in the industry are expected to say yes when big ideas are presented to them. When the time came for the segment, Hendry recalled much of TNA's management and roster crowding around the monitors to watch, knowing it was going to either succeed or fail spectacularly.

"Sometimes, you just do it. You just go out there and you do the business," Hendry said. "Thankfully, that day, I went out, I did the business, and when I came back, I knew the locker room [and] I knew management were not looking at me in the same way as when I walked out."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.