Insight with Chris Van Vliet - I Believe In Joe Hendry! NXT & TNA Crossover, His Catchy Theme Song, John Cena, Cody Rhodes

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Joe Hendry (@joehendry) is a professional wrestler currently signed to TNA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studios in Hollywood to talk about the viral success of hit entrance song “I Believe in Joe Hendry” which reached number 4 in the UK charts, plans to return to the UK charts and representing the country in the Eurovision Song Contest, his recent musical performance on TNA Impact, working with the likes of Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre earlier in his career, getting a phone call from John Cena when he was 15, his time in WCPW where he faced off against Kurt Angle and more! Subscribe to Joe Hendry on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoeHendry Quote I'm thinking about: "Success is not the absence of failure; it's the persistence through failure." - Aisha Tyler Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! TIMELINE NUTRITION: Save 10% off your first order of Mitopure at http://timeline.com/INSIGHT BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code INSIGHT to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yes, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and out of all the podcasts that you could be listening to right now, thank you for being here. And thank you, as always, for helping to make Insight one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. Number two right now,

behind the one and only Mark Callaway. I think I'm okay with that. I mean, if I'm going to be number two to The Undertaker, I think that's quite acceptable. But if everybody listening to this right now were to hit that follow button, we would instantly, immediately go to number one. So if you could find some time in your day to click that follow button on Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever you're listening, my goodness, I would be so, so grateful for that.

I had so many people over the last few months asking for Joe Hendry to be a guest. And little did I know that all you had to do was say his name. And he appears. That's exactly what happened here. I had the honor of having Joe Hendry in the West Coast Creative Studio on the day before he debuted in NXT and all of the madness that was attached to that. So he had a jam-packed few days. He was in Chicago for TNA that weekend. Then he flew to L.A. for our interview. And it's funny. He sent me a text that Monday morning. He said, hey, is there any chance we could do the interview earlier? I'm trying to catch an early flight. I said, yeah, of course. And I didn't think much of it. Then I picked him up from his hotel by the

airport. We were driving into the studio together and just chatting. And I'm like, oh, where are you flying to after this? Are you heading back to Scotland? He paused. And he's like, well, to be honest with you, I don't know where I'm flying to. A lot of things are up in the air. And then when we finished the interview, we got in the car and I was driving him to the airport for his flight. He was deep into his texts and emails on the phone. And of course, it all makes sense now, all of this, because about 24 hours after we recorded this, he made his NXT debut.

And that clip is the most watched video on WWE's Twitter since WrestleMania, and it's about to be NXT's biggest Instagram reel of the year. Joe Hendry is over in a huge way. and if you only know him for his insanely catchy entrance theme, you are going to love him so much more after this interview. He's so smart when it comes to just the way that he approaches everything in wrestling. And even though we just met that morning when I picked him up and we drove into the studio for this interview, I felt like I was catching up with an old friend.

I feel like we had known each other for years and we were just like meeting up for a beer. What a great, great guy. I love all the success. that he's having, he deserves it. This is going to be a massive year for him. And he says during this interview that he had grown his account, his Instagram account to 68,000 followers. Well, that was about a week ago when we recorded this. He's now at 135 and counting. I'm sure by the time you're listening to this, he's going to be a way more. Actually, maybe drop it into the comments on Spotify, 135 right now as we record this, but I'm sure it'll be much more by the time you're listening to

this and then certainly more over the weekend. I love it. More than double in a week and it just keeps going. Snap a screenshot and share this on social media, tag us so we can share it out as well. He's at Joe Hendry. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and you should be one of his followers. Go go follow him on Instagram and Twitter and add on to this massively growing number of followers that he has. Please enjoy this conversation with Joe Hendry. I guess all I have to do is just say his name, right? And he appears. I can't get your theme song out of my head.

That was the plan. This is brilliant. This is absolutely brilliant. You've created something really special with us. Thank you. Appreciate it. How did you make such a catchy theme song? Well, I reverse engineered it from what I wanted to happen.

So for me, professional wrestling is all about crowd interaction. So throughout the song, you'll notice we literally show and tell what we want the audience to do. So say his name and he appears and you will see the two claps. Whichever version of the song that I've had, there's always been a visual of the two handclaps. And then I literally tell the audience

to wave their hands. From side to side. From side to side. That's it. And it comes from, I heard Queen talk about how they structured, We Will Rock You, and how they found the perfect BPM

for how they wanted people to stomp and clap. And then I looked at the BPM they used for the slower moments, and I went for 120 BPM for the faster bit, which is like you're, that's the kind of hypnotic pop timing. The amount of like, this is, you've broken this down to like a science. You've 100%. And the song is kind of broken up into two parts. Yes.

You've got the fast part of the start. And then the slow, it's almost like a, I don't know, like a rock anthem after that. Well, I couldn't, I couldn't decide if I wanted to go for, because the song I had before people liked and it was catchy, but I just felt like it needed a bit more energy. So I wanted something a bit faster. And so the first section is a little bit like international love by Pitbull. And I kind of mentioned this when we were kind of driving over that actually I was a musician for a long time before I got into wrestling. And this melody was me saying, oh, God, we're never going to make it with this rock music. We should just be like Pitbull and just name

places. And so I came up with this song that was just making fun of like how not successful we were. And after shows, it would be driving and going London in Paris and Tokyo. And then when I was coming up with this song, it just kept getting stuck in my head. And I was like, maybe this is the one. And so yeah, it was a song that I made for a joke making fun of the fact that I wasn't successful as a musician about 10 years ago. And then that just, it kept getting stuck in my head. And that here here we are now. What was the exact moment where this really caught fire and you got over as big as you're over now? So I think that professional wrestling and entertainment is all about timing. So there are certain things that I've done that would be good ideas in isolation. But if the wave is coming at the right time and then you deploy the idea, that's when things explode. So I'll give you an example. The billboard that I just appeared on. that's an idea I've had for months and months and wanted to do,

but just never had the right moment. And then I thought, well, you know, tens of thousands of wrestling fans are going to be in my home country on a certain day at a certain time. Maybe that's the time to deploy the idea. So I kind of take the same approach with everything that. I take my approach to wrestling like that. So with the song, a lot of people were telling me to upload it to Spotify and release it officially. And I knew I was going to do it.

But it was when I noticed on TikTok, if anyone made a TikTok with this song, it was getting hundreds of thousands of hits. And I thought, oh, now it might be the time. So I decided to upload it. I did that. And then I started to think, actually, what? How many units do you need to sell for it to chart? And then I, as many things, as with many things I do in life, I watched a YouTube video on how to do it. As you should.

Yeah. And there's, honestly, YouTube is such a phenomenal education for, for, For free? Yes, for anything. Yeah. So there was a video about these guys who they got sponsorship money from Saints Row and they were told to make something to promote the video game in a YouTube video. And they were like, let's make a song about Saints Row and get it in the charts.

And they unveiled the units it takes. They unveiled the process you have to go through. And I didn't do the exact strategy, but I took elements of that. And the funny thing is the charts run from Friday to Thursday. But I didn't know that. I just thought, well, I'll release it on Monday. So this all kicked off. This is where the luck came in.

This all kicked off because there was no release competition on the Monday because all artists released on the Friday. So in the Monday's iTunes charts, we were like, I looked at my phone. I was like, oh my God, number 20, the iTunes charts, that's crazy. Then I tweeted that out and everyone was like, he's number 20. Let's push him up. Then it went to one in the UK on iTunes, six in US,

one in Malta, three in Ireland. And it was just, it was wild. And then it really caught fire. And then we hit the media trail. And then it started to actually do pretty well. And this is the same chart that like Taylor Swift is on. So here's the thing. There's multiple charts, right?

There are multiple charts. And they have different formulas. So the BBC's official chart is really all about streaming. Whereas the big top 40, which is technically the biggest chart in the UK, is much more sales-oriented. So on the big top 40, we were number four, we did finish up. above Taylor Swift in the big top 40. Wow. Yeah.

And we got, I think, in the official sales chart, so the BBC affiliated one, for sales overall, we got number six. People don't realize that your song's been around for years. They think that this is something that just popped on to the wrestling scene like three months ago. It's five years? You've had this theme song for five years? Five years.

Yeah. I debuted in Ring of Honor. And that was when I first got signed there in 2019. That's when I made the decision I needed a new entrance. So why didn't it catch on that? Personally, I have many, there are many elements to it, but I think I put things together in TNA. So before TNA, I had the gimmick, but not the character. So I had these custom entrance songs that were over and people really enjoyed.

But that was what I was doing, whereas the character elements of who Joe, Henry is on television, that came to be in TNA. And I think you can see that in the video, that you can see the Joe Henry character in that video. And I will say this, it really has taken an army of people to get me to this point. And I'll shout about many people, but one person I'm going to shout at first is Eric Young. Just this is where I feel like, you know, someone's looking out for me. A few weeks before I got to TNA, me and Eric Young, first met on a show in Germany and he was like, right, this should be your finish. This do this. Do that. Do this. Don't do that. Catcher stuff. Do this. And he helped me understand

how I should approach this. So that's when it started. And then TNA management have worked very hands on with me. And it's just been an incredible learning experience. So I think it's putting everything together. In the video that you see now for TNA, you see this, you hear the songs which I had before, but you now see, you see the character elements. What does it mean to believe in Joe Hendry? Well, you tell me, Chris. You know, you tell me. I can't answer that because I am Joe Hendry.

But as someone who believes in Joe Hendry, you could probably tell me. Of course I believe in Joe Hendry. What's interesting, are we believing in you? Like, we have faith in you? Like, Joe Hendry's great? Or do we believe in you like you're some sort of a mythical creature? Like, do we believe in you? Like, does Joe Hendry exist?

Like, does the Tooth Fairy exist? Do you believe in the tooth fairy? do you believe in the buggyman? I feel like there could be two different elements to this. Well, I'm going way too deep on it. I think you may have, but, hey, I think that that actually ties into how my approach in professional wrestling changed. Now I will, I think when you get into professional wrestling, we all, look, everyone that gets

into professional wrestling, we're all, all wrestlers are nuts, you know, to do this. And I feel like we're all trying to prove something. It's us against the world. type of things. When you first get into the business, you're trying to achieve all these things and, you know, prove X, Y and Z, whereas I think when you start to become more confident in yourself, you start, certainly for me, now it's not about I must achieve this, I must do this. It's what's the best reaction that we can get. That's what I'm thinking about. So when I'm making an entrance video or we're doing something on television, we're reverse engineering it from the

perspective of what is the best business that we can do for that audience. And that's the focus now. And that's the difference for me. So sorry, now I've gone too deep on your question, which is whatever the audience feels, you know, that's what we do. When did that shift happen for you? That shift happened when I wrestled Scotty Too Hottie in a brewery in Newcastle, England. And I did an entrance where I made fun of the fact that I can't use the, I used a swear word, which is rare for me. So I won't say it here. But I basically compared the worm to being a very slow people's elbow. So, and we're in this brewery with 300 people. And they're all, and it was, it was Bon Jovi living on a prayer. So when they got the lyric, they're singing along with it.

They're screaming. Everybody's laughing. Scotty's so over. We're there. And it's just this, the energy. in this room is unbelievable. And I had so much pressure of, oh, I must do this and I must achieve that. And that day, it was a promotion called North Wrestling. I was there. And I just thought, you know what? I looked around the room in that moment, who I was wrestling, the reaction from the crowd. And I thought, if it never gets bigger than 300 people in a room, I will give it my best

because this is still, this is the dream. Look at the reactions that we're getting. This is special. It doesn't matter how big. it is I'm just going to give it my absolute best. And from that day, I let go of having to work in this company or that company or achieve this or win this title or win that. It was just about, I will give it my best. And I let that go and I genuinely got the call for TNA. It was one or two days later. Wow. And it was because I just text and says, listen,

I know I can do this. I will get over. And if I don't, you can F and fire me after three months. And that's how we did it. That's just a tremendous amount of self-belief. Yeah. I really believed that I was doing, I believed all this time that I was doing something unique in professional wrestling.

And I, you know, I've always tried to approach it from the perspective of making things that are entertaining for professional wrestlers, but also for people outside of wrestling. I mean this with so much respect, but there's a lot of people who know your theme song, word for word, and they've never seen a Joe Hendry match. Yeah.

It's wild because you're over. Your theme song is so over, your character's so over, but they don't even realize how great you are in the ring. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I mean, I think that it's just all happened so fast. Like to give you an example, five weeks ago,

my brother quit his job at McDonald's and just says I can't do it anymore. And I was like, right, well, I guess you're a video editor then. So I took him on and we just started making these meme videos and all that. And at that time, I think about five or six weeks ago, I had 19,000 Instagram followers and now I've got like 68, 70. By the time this comes out, it'll be more. You know, it's really growing pretty fast.

and I'm just something organic is happening, but we're also doing everything that we can to fuel the flame. You know, it's a very exciting time. And I think so few people get to pursue their dream. So few people get to pursue their dream on this sort of level. Yeah. So it is not something that I take for granted. And you're like merging two dreams together.

Like the love of wrestling, the passion for wrestling, and the love of music and the passion of music, you're combining them together and you've created lightning in a bottle. We say I've created lightning in a bottle, but honestly, like, I would not be doing any of this without the fans and the loyalty that I've had over the years. There were times where the only thing that kept me going and my rent paid were my Twitch audience when it was like there was 12 people watching, you know. And so those are the people that I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful for the fans that are helping me do this because without their support, it doesn't mean anything. All the stuff that I'm doing means something now because they believe in it, you know, forgive the term. But like, that's why this matters because the fans believe in it. So I'm just incredibly grateful to be in this spot. I really don't take it for granted. I know how important timing is. I know that there's so few times in life where you get a window of opportunity like this. and it fully intend to seize it with both hands.

But like I say, it takes an army of people to get you to this point. Like it's, I have so many supportive colleagues, like TNA management have been unbelievable. Like, I just wouldn't be in this spot if I wasn't working with Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers and Moose and Frankie Cazarian and,

you know, and it's one of those things. I'll miss somebody, you know, but it's just like, there's a lot of people looking at it, me. There's a lot of people who are, who have helped me a lot along the way. I have to say, though, I might have to retract that about the system and TNA because we're having problems now.

They might have to get to this point, but now, you know, the student might have to, you know. How do you continue to build on this? Because if just when it feels like you've hit a fever pitch, you do something to make it even bigger. How do you continue to build on this? It's disruptive behavior. So it's, um, there's that thing that Steve Jobs said in a presentation, which is like you can bend and shape your destiny, how you want. And there's actually something on your show that John Sina said that really inspired me. Really? And he said, the field is wide open. He was asked, why is it that so many talents are breaking through? And he said, the field is wide open. And when you realize that, that, you know, that's when things get interesting.

And I feel like I've had that moment where I realize that like, if I just start to adopt this disrupt, up to thinking and think about, you know, like I say, the, the billboard, which is like, you know, it's you've got to take these creative risks if you believe in what you're doing. And I'm willing to take those creative risks. And yeah, I think it's just continuing to be innovative with how this can build and this can grow. And just, just give them my absolute best. Yeah, instead of trying to fit the mold, you're trying to like fit it around you. Like, I'm just going to, I'm going to do this thing, which I think and I know is going to work, just going to kind of fit it around me. I will say you don't always know it's going to work.

Like, so what I will say is I have to do things knowing that, again, it's the 80-20 rule. You know, I always see that breakdown. I feel like I know the 820 rule is you get, you know, 80% of your yield from 20% of your activities, but I feel it's kind of the inverse for things that you try. I feel like if four things hit and one doesn't, you're doing pretty well, but you have to take the shot. Yeah, yeah. Who were the early influences for you? Who really got you into wrestling?

The Rock. The Rock is the reason I got into the business. I did not grow up a wrestling fan as a kid. I got in through the video games, and then I just loved the Rock's promos and the Rock's character. and I just thought that was to me the best example of if you showed someone a segment of the rock to a non-restling fan, because a lot of people don't get wrestling, whereas if you showed them the rock, they go, I get wrestling. And I've always been inspired by that.

So that's kind of what got me into the business. And then I've, you know, developed more influences along the way. I feel that to me, John Sina is the person that I've, pull from the most in what I'm trying to do here. He's the person I'm inspired by. He said something, sorry, it was an interview with Cody Rhodes on Ariel Helwani, and Cody asked John Sina, what do you, because there's certain things you can control and you can't control.

And he was talking about his loss at the previous WrestleMania. And John Sina said, be the champion without the belt. And that is, so now I'm starting. starting to pay attention to the things that he will talk about. So I want to know how many meeting greets am I doing? How many tickets are we doing this time compared to last time? Those, that's the type of thing that I'm trying to tap into now to learn what it takes. Because my goal ultimately is we have an unbelievable roster here at TNA. You know, if you look at like what Jordan's doing right now is unbelievable. The previous names that I mentioned before,

you know, Mike Bailey is someone who's helped me out a lot. You know, right now, I'm, I'm working with A Steel. Like there's, there's so many, like, positive influences. But it's just when I really think about what it takes to be a top talent, now there's a different type of learning that has to occur. And I want to ultimately, my goal is to be someone that when TNA put me on the poster and say, Joe Henry's going to be here, something happens. And that's what I'm trying to learn how to do right now.

What was this conversation you had with John Cena when you were younger? So when I first got into wrestling, what happened was I couldn't go to a wrestling event that my friend went to. And he got the VIP package. And so I'll tell you from my perspective. Please. So my friend was called Kyle. And my phone goes and I see it's Kyle's number and I answer the phone and I hear,

you know, it's your boy, John Cena. What? And it was John Cena. And my friend Kyle, in the middle of this, you know, busy meeting, he said, my friend couldn't make it. Would you phone him? And John Cena said, yeah, sure. I mean, John Cena talked for 10 minutes.

What? And he let me tell him about my thoughts on creative. And I thought he was going to win the title the next year. And he let me have that moment in that conversation when I'm sure the queue was, you know, just infinite. So that really meant something to me. And you're how old at this time? I was 15 at the time.

Wow. Yeah. And that meant something to me. That was, that displayed leadership for me when it came to how to treat your fan base, you know. And it's funny because for John Cena, that's just, yeah, sure, here, you know, here's 10 minutes of my time. For you, that's a life-changing event that puts you on a completely different trajectory of your life.

Yeah. It's wild to think about those little moments that can completely change your life. Yeah, I think that is something that you, that is definitely something that professional wrestlers need to think about. You know, like we had a meet and greet the other night, and you have to remember that each interaction that you're having is, can be infinitely important. I remember we were in Glasgow and I was standing next to, me and Josh Alexander were doing some photos with fans and a fan turned to him.

said, you literally save my life. A fan turned to Josh Alexander and says, your matches are what saved my life. Wow. You know, and it's like, these moments are real for people. And that is what this business is all about. We think it's about, oh, I should win this bill and have this

creative and all that. Then you have those moments that you see the difference that can be made, and that's what this is. Because life is hard, especially right now, you know, and across the world, life is really hard. So if people come to wrestling, we need to give them a show that's going to inspire them and make them feel good. That's what this is about.

What kind of impact has Cody Rhodes had on your career? So Cody and I initially worked together in what culture pro wrestling. And I think that was a real missed opportunity for me to get mentorship from Cody. Because when I came up through, I came up through a company called ICW in Scotland, which was like at one point it was the hottest indie in the world. But it was very much a shark tank, you know, where you had to like, you know, it was just, it was just that type of environment, you know, and I don't mean that in a bad way necessarily. I just mean that it was, you know, there were, everything was moving so fast and it was we all had, it was like, I have to be respected and I have to convey myself as a top talent. So when I got to what culture, I think rather than learn to be a student, I was trying to be like, I can be on Cody's level, you know, and I think I maybe missed a mentorship opportunity there. Um, but. we were on the same tour right around the time that he was starting AW. And obviously, like, at the time, that might not be the right fit. But rather than just be like, no, Cody came to me and he says, listen, like, I think Ring of Honor are interested in you.

And he's like, and I was like, he's like, but you're not under contract, right? because I've done some stuff with TNA when it was impact back in 2018. I think there was the assumption that I was under contract. But I'd just done like a handful of shows. So Cody set up that call with me in Ring of Honor. And honestly, it was like the deal was done in five minutes. And all of this happened because of that call. Because I wouldn't have got TNA if I didn't have.

I did the first Ring of Honor show back with the new ownership. And so if I hadn't have had my time in Ring of Honor, I learned so much there, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing right now. So I definitely, I owe Cody Rhodes a cigar for sure. Cody Road basically stuck his neck out for you. Oh, 100%. And the thing I respected about him is it's like, okay, like, we can't make something work here right now. But I know these guys want you. I'm going to put in a good word.

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And I was initially hesitant because the rock had just done another rock concert. And I thought, I'm going to have to bring it. If I'm going to do it, this can't just be a concert. this has to be knocked out of the park. And one of the other problems I had was I hadn't played like acoustic guitar for, you know, since 2015. It was the last time I did something like that. I, the type of musician I am, see for my entrance song, I played the guitars in that.

But what I'll do is I'll practice what I need to practice to play the parts in the studio. Yeah. And then forget about it. Big difference from playing live. Yes. I would honestly, like I would have to, if you asked me to play the solo in my entrance song, I would need an hour or two just to re-familiarize myself. It's not it's not planned in there.

I just, again, I feel like your brain only has so much information. So I was like, right, okay, so I got to play these three songs. And I haven't played acoustic guitar in a long time. This is, so we're adding in, to me, we're adding in like these little chaos variables. And I remember TNA management said to me, if you feel that you can't do this, we won't do it. But if you really want to be a top guy in this business, top talents don't say no. This is what we need.

And I was like, fair point. Absolutely fair point. And they said, so if you're telling us we can't, they can't be done, can't make it work, we won't do it. But we're going to prepare as if you can do it.

And when I look back, that is the same conversation I had almost every taping for the six months prior to that. Me going, I don't know if we can do that. I don't know if we can do that. And management say, No, you can do it. You've done it.

And it wasn't like a lack of faith in myself. It was more just like, I'm thinking about logistical variables and all that. And that really taught me the lesson, I think, just in time that actually is a top talent. Your job is not to get over under ideal circumstances. It's your job to get over under the given circumstances. So the conversation then became about how can we do this so that it won't just feel secondary to the musical concerts that have come before. And so we were told we might be able to use a copyrighted song. And I was like, okay, we might be on to something here.

So if we can use a copyrighted song, it has to be something that people associate with wrestling. So it has to be like a limp biscuit or evanescence or creed. So we started with like, I couldn't really find something for my sacrifice. But then everybody knows my sacrifice. Yes. But then. Those videos made me cry. I know. I know they do.

And but then hire, it was like, fired. Can you please get fired? And I thought, oh, man, that's a little rough. That's a little rough. And look, AJ, love him, love him, bye. He wasn't the biggest fan of that way. I will say this about AJ, right? Working with AJ has been fantastic because he's the perfect catalyst for what I needed at that point on the show.

And whether he agreed or disagreed with what I was doing or liked it or didn't like. it. It didn't matter. When he went out, he gave it a thousand percent. Part of the reason why it got so over is because of the way AJ sold it. So, you know, that he he needs, I hate to give the guy credit. I hate it. But I knew when I went out to do the concert, what I had to do was I was like, how can I make this as easy as possible for myself? So you know what I said you have those chaos variables? I was like, how can we take away those? So some of them were gone because we were in a music venue. So I knew, right, you know how live music sounds sometimes.

In, you know, wrestling shows or whatever, and sometimes it doesn't always hit. Or like if you're watching like a, they'll show like music from a festival on TV and the sound just isn't quite there. Live sound can be tough. But rather than play full band, it was acoustic. So you're going, right, I'm in a decent music venue,

an amazing music venue. So we're going, right? That was the palms, right? Yes. And yeah, there's a lot of concerts that have. happen in that room at the palms. Yes. So we took away some of the chaos variables there.

So I decided I will get the best guitar that money can buy because I thought I can't, there's a lot of things I can't control. And this is what wrestling is control the things that you can't control. So I was like, I will get. That's a John Cena thing, by the way. Really? Control the control of all. He said those three words to me to change my whole perspective on life.

100%. So it's so funny. Control the variables here. As much as you can. So I got the best guitar, the money can buy in my view. It was a Martin one piece solid mahogany guitar, which was like, it sent me back like two and a half grand, something like that. And people were like, oh my God, I can't believe you did that.

And I knew I had to do it because I knew with that concert, my career would never be the same after it. Whether it be bad or good, my career would never be the same. And when I came back from that concert, that was the moment that, people started to see me in a different light. Didn't the airline lose that guitar on you? Yes. So should we say which airline it was?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, they're not replied to my messages about it. Wait, is your guitar still lost? No, no, no, no. Okay. So what happened was, I got this guitar. I'm told you can take it with you.

And they were like, well, actually, no, you can't. Oh, like as a carry on? Yeah. So then they took it off me. They checked that and my bag. My bag made it, but the guitar didn't. So they just chose not to put the guitar on. I'm going, oh my God.

because the rehearsal was the day before. So this is in Las Vegas, right? So I've got to Las Vegas with no guitar. Oh. So I'm in Vegas. We can't do the rehearsal now the day before because the guitar is not there. And I am sweating buckets about this.

Which airline is it? It was, it was BA. I hate to throw them under the bus. I hate to throw them under the bus. But they're not leaving me. Well, they didn't throw your guitar under the plane. No, I know. They got, so eventually arrived at like midnight,

the night before. the concert, right? And the crazy thing was when I opened the case, or did I arrive at the venue? It might have been later than, we got it really late. I think it might have been super late the night before or the morning of, but I remember I opened the guitar and I thought, this has been in like freezing temperatures in the sky, this has been in the Vegas heat, these strings, this is never going to be in tune, picked it up, perfectly in tune. And that moment, I knew I'd made the right decision by getting the best guitar that I could get. I mean, there's more expensive guitars with, you know, limited edition, this and that,

but in terms of, you know, a solid guitar that's going to get you through it, that's when I knew I made the right decision on that. I brought a guitar here. Brought my guitar. It's certainly not a $2,000 one piece guitar. Could you demonstrate a little bit of how you put this together? And I played a little, I still do play a little guitar, but I was in a band in college. So it's, we'll talk about controlling the controllables.

So the first thing is we're going to have to, we're going to have to move on from Yamaha for the first part. Oh, boy. That sounds pretty clear. It's not too bad. It's not too bad. I got this guitar when I was 16. This was a Christmas present. So, again, control the controllables, right?

Right. So I had to go right. I haven't played acoustic guitar live since 2015. So how can I make this as easy as possible for myself? Yeah. One of the things that people commented on in the comments is they were saying a lot of people when they do these concerts, they only play the chords. Whereas I had the predicament of when higher plays acoustically, there's two guitarists because there's someone doing the main riff and then there's someone playing the chords. So I thought, how can I give myself the best chance?

Because I got to play three songs. So what I did is I transpose them all to the same key and the same chord position. So my hand would never have to move from this day. D position. So I can focus on, you know, doing this face to this camera and point into AJ and, you know, trying to do all these things, again, just controlling the controllable. So the first thing I did, which the guitarists are going to do. Yeah. There you go. Yep, drop D tuning. Okay. So that's a chord in itself, right? Yeah. So I'm here. And like, so for the, the first song, which was Cheez-It Champion, right? And this is another thing that was hard. The song is from A.J's

perspective. So it says, I tried to make it in the NFL, whereas I had to change that in real time going, you tried to make it in the, and when you're trying to take, you know, look at this camera and say this thing and do that, those are the little details that can hold you up. So trying to do all this, it was, it was tough. But I realized this is the spot I've asked for. This is what I'm trying to achieve. So you have to deliver. You've got to go in and do the business. So the cords where it was basically just from this deposition, I figured out I could do the whole song from so it was just like you tried to make it in the NFL you tried to dive but you just fell so there's that and then so the next for AJ he's being a trooper but I'll tell you the thing

the thing is initially I think A.G was never meant to come in for you know a long period of time it was my understanding was it was just meant to be that one thing that hard to Yeah. But, you know, I think it's fair to say at the time it was the most talked about feud. And so we went from not being able to get on a paper view to, you know, arguably being in the most talked about feud. And now he's a champion. Beyond the trees at champion, you know, which is, which I think is, in my view, you know, I think it's a testament to everybody that was involved in those segments because we were able to take something that was, you know, a pre-show segment and elevate both of us by the end of it. So you go from that song to the AJ Style song. Oh, man, it is pretty. So you need, the action needs done on this guitar. Because you notice, this sounds okay. Yeah.

If I go here, sounds a little. Stop making fun of my guitar. Let's take it to the guitar shop. So again, same positions. It was just same tune. That's all you have to do for that one. And then Creed. That's such a good entrance theme.

Oh, that's awesome. Man. It's awesome. And by the way, I think that your entrance theme has somehow, catapulted its way into the top TNA entrance themes of all time. Wow. Yeah. There you go.

You think about like obviously AJ, you know, which one, either one of them, they're both very good. Yeah. Samoa Joe. Yep. Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle's one is underrated. Very underrated. So underrated.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that yours is on that list. At least top five right now. Well, it is approaching a million streams on Spotify. I guess it's got like 900,000 at the moment. And well over a million on YouTube. Yeah, that's crazy.

Wow. That's crazy. But yeah, then from there, we went on to Creed with the, I don't know if I'll say it, because I don't want to get you demonetized on YouTube for copyright, because that can happen, even singing the song. What? Yeah.

If I sing that song right now, you'll, hey, that's it. Wow. YouTube will bring the hammer down. Oh, geez. But it was the same, it was the same core position. I can't even remember. What if you sing the parody version? Even that.

What? Even that, yeah, so I have pat-on YouTube. Yeah, I have parody videos that you'll have to do a rev share or they take the revenue, even just by doing a cover. Wow. That's fair, though. I get it. Scott Stap, he's the genius behind that.

Yeah, absolutely. And they're back on tour. I saw that. Incredible. But yeah. Give me that riff, at least. Which one? Oh, you're saying that's going to get us demonized.

100%. Yeah. Wow. Well, that was a fun little interlude there. I've always wondered, how is it when someone speaks with an accent? They sing with an American accent. Do I? I mean, when you say, say his name, and he appears,

I believe in Joe Henry. If you were to say those words, it would sound very different from how you sing them in your interest. Yeah. Why is that? I think it's because of the media that we consume, right? So people aren't really sure about my accent. They're like, you don't sound Scottish, but that's just because I think they're expecting

Grado. You know what I mean? So I think it's, but it's the fact I've consumed so much American media. So I think that's... It's the same thing. It's with any, like the Beatles or One Direction or, you know, Ed Shearin. Like, you listen to an Ed Shearin song and you don't know in a... about him. You're like, oh, yeah, he's from like, I don't know, somewhere in the US.

Well, I think, yeah, I think if you're going to sing in a Scottish accent, it becomes, like, quite an aggressive artistic choice at that point, you know. But when you say Scotland in your entrance theme, I do have to go, Scotland. I had to do it there. I had to do that. And I, as a Canadian, I appreciate that you said Canada, so. Had to. Thank you. I mean, you only shout out a few countries.

I tried to mind as much as I could. Like to write that song genuinely, I spent two weeks full time on it. Obviously, I had the melody from years before, but just actually figuring it all out two weeks full time. It is insanely catchy. Thank you. Even if you're not a wrestling fan, you hear that song once. My wife was singing it around the house the other day. She's like, how have you done this?

It's like such an earworm. Thank you. Thank you. So I've heard you talk about Eurovision. I don't know a lot about this. So break this down for me and what's your idea here? So Eurovision is a contest that we have in Europe where it's like millions of people watch this contest about, you know, each nation supplies a song. And people weren't that happy with the UK's contribution in recent years.

So I was doing an interview with the BBC and they said they would back me to do Eurovision. So I won't say exactly. What? Yeah, I won't. Now, they were joking, but this is where you have to take that little thread of truth, and you have to make it real. So that's what this whole thing has been. Because they said that, now I'm going to build upon it. And eventually, I hopefully can get enough steam where it becomes a realistic option for Eurovision.

So I won't say exactly what I'm going to do because it's not, the details aren't confirmed, but I've got something pretty epic planned. Do you realize how ridiculous it is for Joe Hendry to be singing a bad? out Joe Hendry? Hey. Are you saying Joe Hendry's not special enough to sing a bit? Joe Hendry is very special. I'm just saying in wrestling, this works.

10,000% in wrestling this works. When you start to go out beyond wrestling, people are kind of like, what is this? What's happening here? But isn't that part of the fun? You know, absolutely. That is part of it. Because it's about, see all of us in wrestling,

I wonder if you can relate to this. To me, wrestling is the misfits. So if you love wrestling, you're a bit of a misfit. And when we all love wrestling collectively, it's all the misfits coming together. And I think we all are in our own ways. But when you have a joke that we're all in on it and people outside of it don't get it, that's fun.

You know? So when your song is reaching number four on the big top 40 chart, does that mean it's being played on the radio in the UK? Yes. They tried not to. So they play snippets of it and stuff like that. So the next I will, I now take, I will take the knowledge that I gained from doing it last time. I now know what it would take to go from four to one.

So I think. That's the goal. Number one, you think it's possible? I think it's absolutely possible. Yeah, knowing what I know, I'm pretty confident we can do it. I think honestly I wouldn't bet against me doing it. There's also something about wrestling where everybody bands together. Yes.

they'll go, one of us, one of us. Yeah. One of us. And even if they've never watched one of your matches, didn't know who you were before this, they want to be part of this thing that's happening. So they're ordering this song or they're downloading it or they're streaming it or whatever just to lift wrestling as a whole up. Absolutely.

And that's, again, it's not something that I take for granted. All of this only works because the fans are getting behind it. And I think it's because, like, there's so few moments in life where it feels like you're really achieving your dream in real time. And the fans know that are part of it. They know they're the reason that is happening. And they're getting to experience that with me. So I'm just like, I'm having a blast.

I'm having so much fun. Like, I'm just, I'm not, I don't know. I just feel like whenever I started approaching wrestling from the perspective of, I say this to all my students back home. It's like you got to rate yourself in ring. you've got to rate your promos, you've got to rate your physique. And I now think there's a fourth element in its promotion. And I think you got to rate all yourself and all those things out of ten and go,

can I improve by one point in each of these areas in a three-month period of time? And that's how I approach wrestling now. So I don't put too much pressure on myself for achieving X, Y, and Z, as long as I'm good with me making sure I'm doing Mabit to facilitate this process. Well, the idea of who you are six months from now is a direct, result of what you do today and tomorrow and the day after that and how you continue to build on that. I completely agree with that. And I don't think that people realize that the tiny things. I mean, that book Atomic Habits is so, so good, so powerful. It's the things you do today

that you then build on tomorrow. And you're having the success you're having now because of the things you did towards the end of last year and the start of this year. Yeah, I can definitely say from my experience, that is that is absolutely true. Is there like a certain formula? Like is it, you know, every day I'm going to, I'm doing this. These are the things I needed to do every single day in order to achieve the success I want to have. Yeah, I do believe so. So I think, you know, I remember he didn't like CEOs talk about like they wear the, virtually the same clothes every day because they don't want to make that decision in the morning and you're like, psycho. But then when you actually have a lot of decision fatigue is real and you need to minimize that as much as possible.

I've found that getting to this point is about grinding for an opportunity, whereas going from this point to the next point is about picking which opportunity. So it's like grind, grind, grind, grind, and then a lot of it is critical thinking. So for me, again, control the controllables. If I make sure I hit my macros every day, I work out X amount of times per week. I do in-ring training X amount of times per week. I do all of the right things that don't require that critical thinking. You know, I can push to the max in the gym without fatiguing myself, like, in terms of

how I need to think about things. So I think it's like the things that don't require, like I reckon I've got like four hours of intense planning and thought and creativity a day. And when that's not happening, I can be doing the gym. I can be, you know, out walking the dog with, you know, with that, you know, getting some cardio in. I can, you know, I love how I just gave the worst example of working hard. Just I can walk the dog.

But you know, we know guys, it burns some calories. Yeah, yeah. I think that, yeah, I think it's integral to have systems in place for yourself, to set yourself up for success. I think what I'm trying to say is like, if you have systems, you don't have to think. Yes. That's what, that's what, man. I started my career in radio.

And I'm just thinking now of like your song playing on mainstream. stream radio. Like, here's the latest song from Joe Hendry. It's, I believe, it's Joe Hendry on 101.1.1. The wolf. Like, yeah. And then it's say his name it. Like, it's so, I don't know. It's just so funny. That, and I love that. The kind of the billboard was the same thing. Like, I think the thing that made me laugh most about it was just the fact that there will be people driving past this billboard. And so the advertising company are like, You want like a QR code or something? Or I'm like,

you want, just trust me. You want a web? Just the, just your face. Just the face. You doing that outside of Clash of the Castle is brilliant. It's so smart.

You're Scottish. It's in Scotland. Who's in the main event while he's a Scottish wrestler. His name's Drew McIntyre. So many things line up here. Yeah, that was a tough decision. That was a tough decision.

Why was it tough? It was tough because you want to push the boat a little bit, but you don't want to, you know, sometimes it's, you don't want to upset anybody. Well, you don't want to, I think sometimes you don't know where the line is until you've gone too far. Are you saying this could be perceived as this guy's just trying to put himself over? Well, I think that's absolutely what it is. Let's not pretend that's not what is. But I think it's like, I need to be, I need to be bold and respectful of the. business at the same time, you know.

So that's why I did it on the Friday and not the Saturday. I thought that was respect. Not because it was half the price, you know. But I did kind of think, you know, Pat McAfee did happen to say, say his name and he appears on TV. So I thought, well, you know, we're both having fun. So why not join in the phone? There have been some hints.

And I feel like fans have been seeing some crossover here. TNA is working with WWE. WWE is working with TNA. It would be amazing if someone in NXT or someone in WWE did in fact say his name. Well, you know the rules. If someone does say that, say his name, I will have an obligation to appear.

But I will say this. I think that you look at what Jordan's just done. Unbelievable. She has, to me, I've said this before, but when you think about what it takes to be a professional wrestler, she is outstanding in all areas. She's such a leader and she went out and she's just nailed it every step of the way. And, you know, I hope she knows that the entire roster are behind her.

And that's the kind of family that we have at TNA. That's we're supportive of each other's success. And it's been this working relationship has been, I think it's been amazing for both parties. I think when you get something where two parties work together and they both get value out of it, then that is when you're doing business right. And to me, the possibilities are endless and the fans are excited. Yes. Drew McIntyre said he believes in Joe Hendry.

And I appreciate that. I really did. That means a lot because, again, I've said this as well. I'm going to compare him to someone you met recently, which is to me, on the UK Indies, Drew was our undertaker. Oh, wow. He was the guy you went to. He was the guy he lifted the shows.

He was an example, you know? And to me, he is just like Jordan, like Drew is an example inside and outside of the ring. And yeah, so I was absolutely honored for him to say that, especially when it's, you know, this was his moment. And to even just take a second to say that, he knew how big that endorsement was going to be for me. So I'm always grateful for having worked with Drew, unbelievable wrestler, unbelievable human being. And just, you know, him and Jordan, credits to the business. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg.

And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are.

The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henco. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. The great thing about wrestling right now is it feels like anything can happen. This wasn't the case a few years ago. When we're talking about a PLE happening in Scotland, could Joe Hendry appear? Feels like it could make sense for him to appear. That wasn't even a possibility a few years ago.

Now, just the fact that that's even there. That's what's really exciting now. Yeah, I completely agree. It's wrestling is at its best when anything can happen. I remember what really first got me into wrestling, I'd played the games a little bit, but it was actually Smackdown 2. They got me into wrestling.

And when you turn that game on, it's like, this is proof that anything can happen. And that sentence just stuck with me because wrestling is about having that, I just love having that unpredictable element of it. It's so much fun. And I'm just, you know, I'd, Something else I want to bring up if you don't mind is it's like,

this is how crazy my life is right now. So we just had a show in Chicago, sold out. Matt Hardy is getting beat up by the system. The Nemeth brothers run down to save him. You know, the numbers are too much. My music hits. I run down. By the way, the crowd goes wild when your music hits.

And then Jeff Hardy comes out. Yeah. Jeff Hardy. And I'm standing in the, in the rest. we're raising her hands and I'm like, I had like, I just thinking to myself like this again, when I first, I wasn't like, like I said, the biggest wrestling fan when I was a kid, but I did have action figures of the Hardys. I was enough of a fan that had figures.

And I only had like eight figures or something, but the Hardys were two of them. And I was just like, what is going on? And I can't do Jeff's voice, but I'd never met Jeff before. And he came up and he and so this is, he's just made. He's just come back to TNA and he turned right and he came up to me. He was like, he said something to the effect of love the guitar stuff. You know, and I was just like, what? Well, Jeff Hardy's more passionate about music than anything.

A collaboration of him would be cool one day. I mean, it's possible. It is. But then Matt, like, this is, again, again, just how I want to put across how supportive the roster are. And wrestling can be selfish and sometimes you have to be selfish. But I was in that ring. And we had a moment where I was not.

supposed to talk for a lengthy period of time. I might have had something to say or whatever, but there was a moment where Nick Namath was on the mic and he made a conscious decision to pass the mic to me. When he, he would have been fully within his right to continue on, he passed the mic to me. And I just thought that that meant a lot that he did that. He wanted to give me that moment, a legend like that. And then I was going to say the small thing that I was going to say, and Matt stopped me. And he said, before you start, I just want you to know that we all believe in you. And he said, you are going to be the next guy in TNA.

Matt Hardy said that to me. When it was supposed to be his mic time for the Hardy's return, they took that moment to say that to me. And I'm just thinking, what an example, you know? He also said, I see a lot of what I had with broken Matt in you. Unbelievable. And when you think back to how over broken Matt was, delete the entire crowd doing that. This is what you're touching on right now.

It's all happening so fast that I haven't had time to think about it like that. But it's, I'm just, I can't tell you how lucky I am in wrestling and in life. I'm in such a good place. That's not luck though. Like this is a lot of hard work. It's a lot of preparation. It's right place, right time, right person. And it's all coming together now.

Yeah, I just, honestly, I'm just. the crazy thing is it all the foundation of everything that's going on like I just remember my life started to get good this sounds so crazy when I got a doc you know and I had to put something before me and it made me appreciate the little things in life

and then so I wasn't obsessively thinking about why have I not done this in wrestling and why have I not done that and I'm just in such a good place in life right now for this to be happening so to get like this support from my colleagues. And this is the thing. All the things that you're saying are true. I just don't know if this happens if I wasn't working with Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers and Moose

and Matt Cardona coming back and working with me. And you know what I mean? Like along the way, there's just been so many people who have put effort into me and time and energy into helping me get to that next level. Could say they believe in Joe Hendry. I would hope so. I don't think Brian Myers would ever admit to that. What are the goals in TNA now? If you're not in this game to be the world champion, then what are you doing?

You know, that's the goal. Right now, I want to be, I believe I can do it. I believe I can do it. And I want to be someone that when TNA says Joe Henry's here, that that helps the business. That's my goal. And again, there are certain elements you can't control when you get a title shot. You can't control that.

But what I can do is I can put myself in the best possible position to get a title shot. And that's what I'm trying to do. But it's not something I'm not trying to force a title shot. I know that's something I need to earn. And so I'm just having fun trying to get better at this. every day. It's amazing when you think of who's held that championship, too. Like, the legacy is so long to add your name to that list of legends like AJ Stiles and Samoa Joe and the list goes on and on and on. Current angle. I mean, yeah, it's incredible. It feels like from the

outside looking in, it feels like it's within your grasp. It feels like it's just a matter of time. I can't look at it that way. I can't look at it. I'm not saying that you meant it this way, but I just can't take that for granted. I've realized this. So in wrestling, there will be situations where

maybe it could be this person, maybe it could be that person. This is what I mean about the disruptive behavior. I have to take such action that I have so much momentum, it's undeniable. I have to do, I need to continue doing what I'm doing.

I cannot leave the, decision in anybody's hands. I have to make it. I have to make it so, you know. How did you arrange it? So you had one of Kurt Engels. It was one of his last handful of matches. So this is, this is, I look back at this and I'm like, how on earth did I have the balls to pull this off? So I started training in 2013. And in 2016, I made it to What Culture Pro wrestling. And that was just a fun time. That was the Wild West. We were bringing in everybody into what culture.

And there's some funny things that were talked about that never happened, which I'll tell you about in a second because I don't think I've ever said it publicly before. But what happened was I somewhat a fan asked me, what's your dream match?

Now, the rock is the reason I got into the business. So that's my dream program with segments. And I have to say this. I fully 100% believe that, and especially now with companies crossing over, I can't tell you why.

I just believe it in my heart that I will have some sort of interaction with the Rock and John Sina. I just, I can't tell you why I just believe it in my heart, right? I'm sure they're both aware

of who you are. I mean, I talked on the phone with John Sina. Well, yeah, he knew it was when I was 15, right? But I'm sure they're both aware. Well, a fan asked me, but what's your dream match?

And I thought, and I answered, I says, well, just like a one-off match. And I went, Kurt Angle, and I tagged him. Thinking nothing of it. Kurt Engel DM'd me in 2015, trainee, right? And he says, listen, he says, I've heard your name.

I've seen a couple things. Because 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 Hendry 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. I mean, I had a bit back and forth and, you know.

So ICW bring in Kurt Angle for their show at the Hydro, which was huge at the time. It was like, you know, for an indie promotion to get 6,000 people or however many thousand people it was. And it was insane. But they brought in Kurt Angle. And so I went to management and I said, let's do a match because it was Joe Coffee that was facing him. I says, let's do a match with me and Joe Coffee. Because at this point, I'd started amateur wrestling, which is, for. some reason decided to take that up at 26, right?

But we can maybe get into that later. But I thought because of the amateur wrestling thing, I'd just won like one of the championships in amateur wrestling. And they were like, or I'd got a medal of some significance or something. And I was like, they might think it's me. So let's have me and Joe Coffey face each other to see who faces Kurt Angle. So it's Joe's facing him. But Kurt DMs me and says, that's great that we're going to be facing each other at the hydro.

And I says, oh, Kurt, it's actually just an angle. were not. Then I thought to myself and I was like, what culture doing pretty well with that YouTube money over there? And I heard through the grapevine that what culture had asked Kurt to come in and he'd said no. So I asked for a meeting with the owners of what culture at the time. And I walked into the boardroom. And so before I got there, I says, okay, Kurt, I was like, what if I had a financier to pay for a match? What would you need? And he told me what he'd need. And then I went to, and I sat down with these two multi-millioners

who, and I have to say, by the way, I'm very thankful for Watt Culture Pro Wrestling. What Culture did a lot for me. They don't get enough credit. If you think about all the wrestlers that came through there and really made a big name there, like Cody did a lot of cool stuff there,

Will Osprey, Gunther. Like, if you look through the names, like Pete Dunn, like you, if you look through the names that are so many and obviously, like, the stuff that I'm doing, and I'm Gabriel Kidd that so many people came through what culture

and I don't think they get enough credit. But I walked in the boardroom and I says, thanks for a meeting. You guys tried to get Kurt Angled, 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 current. And I says, but if I get them, 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 Anglo. I was like, those are the terms. And they were like, all right, they shook my hand. And then I went from being, I was never meant to be like a top guy in what culture. Wow. So I went from, you know, being like a guy to getting that opportunity to wrestle Kurt. So if you can imagine this, I started training in, how I got the balls to do that?

I don't know. But I started training in 2013. Yeah. And in 2016, it was the week of the third anniversary of me. my first match. I was standing opposite Kurt Angle and we're in a you know, we're in a sold-out building

and I look over and there's Jim Ross and Jim Cornett commentating in the main event of an internet pay-per-view and I'm looking at Kurt Angle and I'm my family are in the balcony, I'm looking around and I'm going, is this happening? Am I facing Kurt Angle in the main event of a pay-per-view with Jim Ross and Jim Cornett commentating? Is that what's happening here?

Yeah, it's wild. And I'll tell you this, Kurt is the man. When I made the entrance video for him, I threw his medals in the bin. Like I was like, I'd shredded him. And I was, I was like, oh, God, like, I hope he's okay with this. And he loved it. He loved the entrance video. He loved it.

And for him, this is what I learned about top, top talents. He was, he's so, he's Kurt Angle. He was so secure. He was just like, this is about your moment. This is going to help your career and we need to maximize that. He didn't care about getting himself over because he's current angle. He was like, what can I do for you? And I just thought, man, again, another leader, another example.

And at the end of the match, he said some awesome stuff. And he just, again, another credit to the business, just unbelievable. That seems to be a common thing with every top person is they're just unselfish. They wanted to be, they wanted to just be the best moment or segment or match. which involves like me making you look as good as possible too. How did you have your first match ever in a WWE ring? So what happened was I like I said, I started training in 2013 and Robbie Brookside had who coaches at the PC.

He had, I think signed for WWV. He had some time left in the UK. So he decided to go up to the, up to Glasgow. And I, you know, I was trained by Big Damo and Big Damo brought in. And that's another person I need to be very thankful for by the way. Like he helped me out a lot. And but he brought in Robbie Bucke.

So my introduction to wrestling was, you know, 10 in the morning until 10 at night in the ring with Robbie Briccide. And there was like four or five of us. And it was me, Nikki Cross, Piper Niven. You know, it was like, it's, there's no. It's not a coincidence that all those names are, you know, what they've done and where they've been. And, you know, so I was so fortunate to get that introduction to the business.

And I just knew nothing, but I just gave him at all. And then he sat us also, when I say four or five, there were some sessions where there were like 20, you know, but I'm just mean the ones that were there day in, day out, all, every one. I told my job at the time. And I says, listen, I just got a job. And I was like, look, I'm going to do this thing. And if you need to fire me, cool, I totally get it.

But I have to go do this thing. And they didn't fire me. But I was willing to be fired to go and train with Robbriccite. Man. Yeah. And, you know, I'll figure out the rest later. That's kind of how I've always been. But we trained.

And one of the days where we had like 20 people or whatever, Robbie Brousside said, right, what do you all need to improve on? And I said, when it came to me, I went, Mr. Brookside, I'm going to be honest. I'm brand new to this. So I need to work on absolutely everything. but I will tell you this. I had a concert last month in Edinburgh, and 800 people came.

And that means something. And then he went, and then one of the other times he came up, I just asked, can I get to try it? And he was like, and then I got the call to go and do the try it. So I did like a rumble,

and I debuted a promo in ICW, but my actual first singles match outside of my training, school was at a tryout in a WW ring. So can you imagine this? Imagine this. Never had a singles match outside my training school. And I'm doing a match in an empty arena in front of William Regal, Fit Finley, CM Punk, and Paul Heyman.

Man. Can you imagine the pressure? And the funniest thing about it, right, is I look back at it. And I've got a picture of me and the gear I had on when I did this. And I remember thinking, like, I look awesome. And I look back at the picture and I'm like, I look awful. Yeah, yeah. And the funniest thing was, someone must have ribbed me because I was like, what trunk should I get?

And someone's like, you know what? You should get red trunks with a white trim. I was like, all right, I'll do that. And I'll look at the picture. I'm like, I'm dressed as Santa. You know what I mean? And actually, what's funny, though, is 3MB did a segment that weekend. and they were doing like a

sanitary-related thing. And so Jinder Mahal had to wear my red trunks with white trim. That's hilarious. Yeah. Poor gender. Didn't you have some other like brief stints with WWE? Like a few like you worked as an extra. Was it twice?

I have to say. I'm a seven or eight-time Rosebud at this point. Oh, it's that many times. Yeah. Oh, yeah, because there were the house shows as well. Okay. But if we slow down a video, can we see you in a rosebud entrance? You can see me a couple times.

So there's one where Jack Swagger grabs me, and I'm wearing like this pink suit. And I'm like, and there was a meme going about when it was like me then and me now. And we had those two photos back to back because I wrestled them in what culture and he grabs me like this to pay back to that. So that was pretty funny. But I was actually Roussev and Lana's lawyer at one point as well, which was crazy. because if you think about how few people get mic time on on raw on smackdown yeah i cut a 90 second promo as their lawyer on on i think it was smackdown in liverpool how'd that even happen so there were um so it's quite a funny story so what i didn't know is two people

had been specifically hired to be brought in to be to do this role specifically hired. I didn't know this. And William Regal had told us that when you are asked if you can do something, you know, be the one that steps up. So when he said, someone backstage came up to me and said something about like, oh, I remember the red ties. And I was like, the red ties. So I went to, you know, some clothes shop and bought red ties. What happened was whoever that was backstage, I think it was one of the referees. But they'd got to. They'd got. the wrong person. So they told me to go get red ties and it wasn't me. So I brought the red ties and I said to someone, what were the red ties for? And they were like, oh, it's a Roussev's lawyers.

And I was like, oh, cool. So someone goes, where's my lawyer's at? And I went, so some poor dude that had been hired to do it specifically is sit behind me. He had to shave his head for it and everything, right? So he's got prepared and I just went like this. And so they asked me to come forward. And they said, so it was me and it was me and Lionar actually. who has very sadly passed away. Again, someone who gave a lot to, especially Scottish professional wrestling. Piper and Ivan actually had,

I think it was like an armband with his symbol on it. So, you know, that was really cool that she did that. But it was me and Adrian. And they said, here's this promo, and you're both going to read it out and we're going to pick one. And I remember at the time, this was really cool because me and Adrian were close

and so for both of us to get this moment on on TV it was very cool and I'm glad that we got to do that and but they said to me can you do a Russian accent and I was like and I remember Stone Cold saying about the forklift truck it was like can't you drive a forklet he was like yeah just say yes so I was like yeah of course I can and I'm like looking up like Russian accents trying to get the and my Russian accent was horrible but they said go read out the problem

we're going to let a couple people do it and we're going to pick one. And I knew in my heart I was like the thing was this long. It was like a lot. And I thought, if I memorize this word for word, they'll just pick me.

If I don't use the sheet. And so they, we went in the ring. There were like I say, a bunch of different people who were going to try out for it. I read it out once without the sheet and they went,

him. And then nobody else got the chance to do it. that's how that came to me. There's just so many lessons from this entire conversation, but it's like it's the belief in yourself. It's always say yes. Even if you probably aren't the right person, always say yes. Sure, I can do a Russian accent. I can drive a forklift. It's also this like, I love how you keep saying like you just knew it was going to happen. Like this belief that like maybe you had lived that before or something. But I can really relate to you on that. Can I add one thing to it?

Absolutely. I think the other thing that people need to realize is that don't think I'm not terrified when this stuff's happening. Don't think I'm not going, like, I've got to say all this in a Russian accent that I can't tell you how nervous I was before that concert.

I knew I couldn't show it, but anyone at TNL tell you, I was freaking out because I hadn't played guitar in like, however long. But sometimes you just have to go out there and you just have to get the business done. It doesn't matter how you feel. And I think to me, I'm sure you'll appreciate this. It sounds like we read similar books, but courage is not, not being afraid. It's being afraid and having nerves and going out there

and giving it your best anyway. Yes. That's what this game is. It's about just going, you know what? If you've prepared as best you can, if you go out there and you give it everything that you've got, then that is, that's all you can do. Congrats to you on everything. And I can't wait to see what's next for you. You've built all of this momentum and you still haven't even reached that fever pitch. Like there's more that's going to happen and I can't wait to see it. First of all, thank you for coming all the way to L.A. to do this. This is so great having you in the studio. And I end every interview talking to my gratitude because it's such a cornerstone of my life. What are three things in your life, Joe, that you're grateful for right now?

Three, three things I'm grateful for. I'm grateful. It's so hard because I'm just, I'm grateful for it all, you know. I'm, I'm, it's very hard for me to vocalize it and put it into one or two words because I just, I feel like a very fortunate person. I'm grateful for, I'm grateful for the challenge. And what I mean by that is, this has not been like this for me. There were times where this felt, this couldn't have felt further away, you know, in terms of where I was as a professional wrestler or as a person. there were times this couldn't have been further away, but I'm grateful for the road that it's given me.

I wouldn't change a thing. There are people who go, oh, you know, I'm 36. It's like, oh, but if you'd have made it a bit sooner or if you've done this, that's not how this works. You know, life is a journey, and I'm grateful for the challenges that I've had along the way because it's shaped everything that's happening right now. I'm grateful for my home.

And what I mean by my home is the people around me and my dog and my friends, you know, like I just have, I'm very, I'm very lucky, you know, I'm very lucky in that regard. And I'm grateful to be content, really, to be honest, because I don't feel like I need, like I say, to achieve X, Y, or Z in order to be happy. I'm enjoying the process so much. Yeah. When you have like the colleagues, like, see, we have a family at TNA wrestling.

That is, and I know that's so cliched. Everyone says that. But that is my experience from the wrestlers to the staff, like the unbelievably talented, like, production. And like, it's just we have such a hardworking, close-knit group. And we're all supportive of each other's success. So to be achieving your dream is one thing. but to be doing it around so many great people in such an amazing supportive company, that's, you know, you could ask for it.

You can't ask for more. I love that. I love the idea that, like, you're not saying, I need this to be happy. Or if this happens, then I'll be happy. You're saying, I'm pretty happy. And these other things happening just kind of add on to that. I love that so much. If it all ended tomorrow, I'd be happy with what I did.

Because ultimately, I'd never, I realized I didn't care about being. the biggest or the most famous or the, it wasn't about metrics for me. It's about, was that good? When I know that if I show people one of my entrances, one of my entrances or one of the songs, they laugh and it gets a reaction. And it's like, in my mind, we did, you know, we made some good stuff. That's what it's about for me. There we go, my friends. How can you not root for Joe Henry. And I love that he is so much more than just a catchy entrance theme. The sky is seriously the limit for him. And, you know, after what he told Sean Michaels on NXT in that little backstage segment, he said he could show up anytime, anywhere on any show. Man,

this could get very, very interesting. I hear a lot of people talking about, oh, is he going to be in the Royal Rumble? Yeah, maybe, but that's like seven months from now. How about we look ahead to Is he going to show up on Raw or is he going to show up on SmackDown or where does this go from here? I can't wait to see it. What a great guy. What a great guy. Snap a screenshot. Let us know what you thought of this episode and tag us when you share it out on social media.

And he's a good, he's very active on social media. So pretty good chance. He's going to retweet this or share it on his story. But tag us both. He's at Joe Hendry. I am at Chris Van Fleet. I will leave you this quote from a. Eisha Taylor.

Eisha Tyler, my goodness, I will leave you with this quote from her. Because it seems really fitting because everybody's success story has a little bit of failure in it. Success is not the absence of failure. It's the persistence through failure. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Ask CVV number 37 tomorrow. If you've got a question, send it in using that hashtag Ask CVV.

and we will see you then. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media

about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.