Joe Hendry: Reaction for WWE NXT appearance was ‘total validation’
TNA star Joe Hendry felt “total validation” by how the crowd reacted to his WWE NXT debut.
As part of the growing relationship between WWE and TNA, Hendry and Frankie Kazarian appeared as entrants in a 25-man battle royal on NXT this week. Hendry got a big reaction from the audience as they sang along to his theme music, which has been going viral on social media and Hendry has pushed into the music charts.
Hendry joined Busted Open Radio as a guest on Thursday’s episode. During the interview, he was asked if he thought the pop he received from the NXT fans would be that big. Hendry said it exceeded any expectations he could have had:
“I think one of the advantages of it happening so quickly is I didn’t have the time to overthink that aspect of it. But to be honest, this has absolutely exceeded all expectations. Like, in all ways — for the camera to shake [when the crowd reacted]. I kind of had a feeling –I started to twig that like, ‘Ok, this could be a bit of a moment here’ when there were people who work at the PC, other actual wrestlers and stars at the PC, a lot of them were talking about my song. And that started to get me to think. You know, a couple of the producers were saying they were expecting a big reaction. And I kind of just started to get this rumbling that like, ‘Oh, more people know this song and my act and are familiar with me than perhaps I realized.’
“I still didn’t think it would get that over. But, hey, it’s very hard to process. Because it’s so new, I haven’t had time to process, everything has been happening so fast. But — it doesn’t feel real, it’s awesome. I feel like — it’s total validation. Like I said, I did music for 10 years with no success and then recently I just had a song on the charts and I was like, ‘Damn, that was validation.’ And then to go out there and just have this feeling that I had something to offer the business and to go out and get that reaction.
“I managed to have like a 40-minute nap and I just woke to JBL saying that my stuff was the best stuff he’s seen in years. And I’m just like, ‘Woah.’ He was the champ when I was getting into wrestling, you know? It’s surreal, and it’s awesome, and it’s wonderful, and I hope everyone gets to experience their dream like this.“
In the battle royal, Hendry was immediately eliminated when the other participants ganged up on him. But this may not be the last we’ve seen of him in the WWE-TNA crossover. WWE uploaded a post-match video where Hendry, angry about how he got eliminated, warned that he can appear on any show whenever he wants to.
Hendry is a former TNA Digital Media Champion. Before signing with TNA, he was part of the Ring of Honor roster when ROH was owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Drew McIntyre gave an interview to Cultaholic earlier this month expressing how proud he is of his fellow Scotman Hendry.