NXT Champion Joe Hendry is crediting the working relationship between WWE and TNA for his rise in NXT.
In an interview with The Sun, Hendry spoke about how his career benefited from that promotional tag team.
“It was always my dream to become a success in the WWE, but I do take pride in that my goal is to give focus to what my job is at the time. Now my job is to be NXT champion and to elevate this brand and to represent the brand. WWE was going to be a great opportunity for me to grow as a performer. So I obviously was thrilled about the prospect to come to WWE, and credit to TNA and WWE for working that out together and allowing that to happen and for the partnership to be so strong. It benefits everybody. Like for example, I was able to go back to TNA recently and wrestle for them. So, that was that was a huge benefit of the partnership,” he said.
Hendry revealed that he once thought about becoming an MMA fighter rather than a wrestler.
“It’s funny because now, the UFC and WWE are under the TKO banner, but at the time, you know, the UFC was, I guess, the main competitor to WWE So I was like, wow, I know what I’ll do: I’ll become a fighter and a pro wrestler. So that, that was kind of my strategy. I started with amateur wrestling and I worked really hard alongside my pro wrestling at the same time. I won two British titles. I captured the freestyle and Greco-Roman British championships, and that was in 2017 and 2018. I also went to the Commonwealth Games for Scotland. I made the decision to focus primarily on professional wrestling because it just got to a point where I felt like I’d be dividing my attention too much, so I decided to focus purely on professional wrestling and thankfully it paid off. But yes, there was, there was a time when I was doing both and I was going to try and be a professional wrestler and a fighter at the same time,” he said.
Hendry explained how proud he is to represent Scotland on the world stage.
“Yeah, it’s it’s amazing to see what Scotland’s been able to do in professional wrestling. To see what Scotland has done in professional wrestling and for Drew to be holding the WWE undisputed championship, for me to be the NXT champion at the same time is just incredible for a country that is such a small part of the world’s population,” he said.
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