TNA's Joe Hendry Reflects on "Total Validation" WWE NXT Debut

Hendry's NXT debut is WWE's most-liked video since WrestleMania 40.

By Liam Crowley

Say his name and he appears. Joe Hendry made his WWE debut this past Tuesday, entering the NXT Championship No.1 Contender's Battle Royal on WWE NXT. Hendry was one of two representatives from TNA, as Frankie Kazarian also competed in the match. Hendry's appearance fulfilled a lengthy push from fans on social media for him to be involved in the NXTNA crossovers, as his popularity across the industry has increased exponentially in the year 2024. Hendry reportedly impressed enough with WWE officials that WWE wants to utilize him much more moving forward, which was set up by his brief spat with NXT general manager Shawn Michaels after being eliminated from the battle royal.

Joe Hendry Reflects on WWE NXT Debut

It all happened so quickly.

Speaking to Busted Open Radio, Joe Hendry reflected on his WWE NXT debut, noting that it materialized within a couple of days.

"One of the advantages of it happening so quickly is that I didn't have time to overthink that aspect of it. This has absolutely exceeded all expectations in all ways. I started to think 'this could be a moment' when there were people who work at the PC [WWE Performance Center] and other stars at the PC, a lot of them were talking about my song," Hendry said. "A couple of the producers were saying they expected a big reaction. I started to get the rumbling that more people knew the song and my act that I realized. I still didn't think it would get that over. It doesn't feel real. It's total validation."

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(Photo: WWE)

Hendry got the biggest pop of the night and one of the loudest reactions that the WWE Performance Center arena has ever heard. His entrance contained all the magic from his TNA presentation, complete with his signature theme tune and his spin around graphics, but WWE made some small tweaks to how he walked to the ring.

"What's interesting about it is, it's not how we usually do the entrance. I was looking forward to experiencing the NXT production to see how they would want to do it. I started very similar to how (Chris) Jericho started with turning around," Hendry continued. "I'm there for a little longer. I hadn't really prepared for how long that would feel in real time. There was about 20 seconds where I was like, 'I can take this in.' The comments, people said you could see the genuine moment I had with the crowd. That's me going, 'Thanks guys. Thank you.' I feel the fans had my back that day. I go stand out there before I turn around, and I heard gasps. If you watch the video, you can see the camera shake. For that to be WWE's most liked video since WrestleMania. To be able to do that representing TNA is unbelievable. I have not processed it yet."

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