After becoming one of the hottest stars in professional wrestling in the summer of 2024, Joe Hendry began to reguarly be featured on “WWE NXT” throughout 2025 and eventually signed with the brand this past November after his four-year stint with TNA. Following his success in “NXT,” Hendry was officially called up to the main roster after WrestleMania 42, but the journey to becoming a member of the “WWE Raw” roster was a demanding experience for the former TNA World Champion.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on “Insight,” Hendry shared that he was determined to improve in the ring once he signed to “NXT,” but it meant attending classes at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on a daily basis.
“So ‘NXT’ I think was one of the most difficult challenges I’ve had in my career and one of the best phases that I’ve had in terms of my growth and development as a wrestler,” he explained. “I made the decision I’m going to go in every day right, I’m going to go to the classes … Shawn [Michaels] said ‘Hey would you be interested in training at the PC,’ and I lived in Scotland at this time and I was like ‘I’ll see you on Monday,’ and I had like a couple days to figure out how this was going to go and thankfully, TNA allowed me to do that … it was really tough. But I feel like I advanced in ring. I feel like I advanced years in just that intense period that I was there.”
Hendry names three people who helped him become a main event star
Hendry continued by reflecting on those who he’s learned from both before and during his time with WWE, as he credited three respected individuals in the business who helped him make the transition from a comedic character to a main event star.
“A lot of people don’t know that as well as Shawn and what he’s doing with NXT, Terry Taylor has his influence like all over modern wrestling. Like if you look at what like Oba [Femi] and Trick [Williams] and Je’Von [Evans] are doing, like they’ve learned so much from Terry and his principles … there’s been certain people who have really helped me get to the next level in my career and I met them at the right time. Like when I got to TNA, working with Ace Steel really helped me take things to the next level and go from like a a comedy guy to a main event guy there. And I feel like Terry and Shawn helped prepare me to be a main event guy in NXT.”
Hendry was hoping that if he dedicated himself to training at the Performance Center that it would eventually lead him to become NXT Champion, and when he did win the title in February, he stated that it was the most rewarding victories of his career because of how disciplined he became to achieve that goal. Now that he’s a full-time main roster star, Hendry claimed that he’s been impressed with the fast-paced nature of Triple H’s creative process so far.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Insight” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Read the full article here
