After spending years as an isolated island within the professional wrestling landscape, walling itself off from the rest of the promotions around the world in order to craft a narrative all its own, WWE has officially opened itself up for business in a major way, bringing in TNA wrestlers like Joe Hendry for a unique developmental crossover experience while also allowing stars to work matches for other promotions like Pro Wrestling NOAH, GCW, and Marigold.
Now, for fans, these decisions by Paul “Triple H” Levesque and company have been absolutely fantastic for the industry, as they helped out WWE wrestlers, helped out indie wrestlers, and made it feel like WWE is truly part of the greater professional wrestling landscape, instead of some weird alternative that uses its own terminology.
But who is the biggest beneficiary of WWE's new mindset? Well, that would be Hendry, who is the breakout star of the TNA-NXT partnership and has been earmarked by Shawn Michaels and company as a star worth investing in, even if he doesn't technically work for the promotion.
Discussing his unique situation with Matt Camp on The Wrestling Matt, Hendry revealed the freedom he's been afforded as a hybrid TNA-NXT wrestler, with HBK going so far as to allow him to work out at the PC in order to hone his craft while still taking indie dates.
“I’m in a situation where we’re having historic collaboration between TNA Wrestling and WWE. We’re in a situation where TNA Wresting have worked it out with WWE where I can appear on TNA Wrestling as a contracted talent, I can appear on NXT, and I can train at the Performance Center full-time and do indies and do signings. This is unprecedented. It’s never been done before in the business. So thank you to TNA and WWE for figuring it out,” Hendry said via 411 Mania.
“I have no ego when it comes to getting better. That’s why I’m training at the Performance Center. I’m never just gonna rest the skills that I’ve got. I’m always trying to build to something more. I’m very grateful to TNA Wrestling for giving me the opportunity to do that. I think I’m collaborating really well with management, and I think we’re putting ourselves in a position to do historic business for TNA.
“For me personally, from a training perspective, Shawn’s giving me a huge opportunity, and Shawn said, ‘Hey, this door is open. If you want to train at the Performance Center, we’re gonna open that door.’ I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’ I said, ‘Give me a week to sort out my real-life stuff back home in Scotland, and let’s go.’ We figured it out. So right now, I’m training at the Performance Center and I’m here in Orlando, and I’m getting this amazing opportunity to learn from the greatest in-ring performer of all time.”
How many wrestlers can go from NXT to TNA to an indie show for a promotion like House of Glory and then have a meet and greet at Dave and Busters, all the while going viral online weekly? Even if WWE doesn't adopt this business model in the long term, it certainly is reaping the benefits of Hendry's success both now and into the future.
Joe Hendry is incredibly popular in the TNA locker room, too
While Joe Hendry is currently the talk of the town in the greater WWE Universe and in NXT specifically, that doesn't mean the performers in the TNA locker room have suddenly turned on the cross-over star.
Discussing HendryMania in the performance center, TNA stalwart Cody Deaner celebrated his wrestler's good fortune, as it couldn't have happened to a better person.
“Of course I believe in Joe Hendry, how could you not? It’s really cool seeing what he’s doing. Going back to earlier, you said that I see you more as a human being than I see you as a professional wrestler. When I look at Joe Hendry, I see the human being that is Joe Hendry because I know Joe personally. I’ve had him on my podcast, I’ve produced some of his matches, I’ve been in the ring with Joe. I know Joe from a lot of different angles and I see Joe is the whole human being like you said earlier and Joe Hendry is a freaking awesome human being,” Cody Deaner told Reel Appreciation via 411 Mania.
“He’s such a cool dude. When one of the good guys succeeds in professional wrestling at the level he’s succeeding at right now firing on all cylinders, it just puts a smile on my face because the cliche of the good guys always win in the end, that’s a movie trope, but sometimes it doesn’t happen in real life, sometimes the bad guys win in real life. But, when the good guys do succeed and they make it, it gives me hope that there is truth to the fact that the good guys can win and do it their way. He’s just an awesome human being.”
Eventually, Hendry is probably going to leave TNA behind to join WWE full-time, as it's clear he is the true breakout of this TNA-NXT pairing in addition to The Rascalz, but even if that feels inevitable, that doesn't mean he's burning any bridges along the way, as it's clear the “Prestigious One” is doing everything in his power to handle his business the “right” way.
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