TNA's Joe Hendry Says WWE Has Welcomed Him with Open Arms, Talks Historic Potential

Joe Hendry talks about the historic potential with TNA and says WWE NXT has welcomed him in with open arms

By Matthew Aguilar

Joe Hendry has been on one amazing run over the past year, and especially lately, it really does feel like he might appear if you say his name. Hendry has been a fixture of TNA and has become one of the most popular stars on the roster, but recently he's also been featured heavily on WWE NXT, even performing one of his trademark concerts this past week. ComicBook had the chance to talk with Hendry all about this unprecedented crossover and his unique role in it, as well as the historic potential that he can reach with TNA, how WWE has welcomed him with open arms, and more. First though, we had to talk about the TNA WWE collaboration, and he couldn't be more appreciative for TNA opening up these opportunities.

A Truly Unique Partnership

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(Photo: wwe/TNA)

"Absolutely. I've been extremely fortunate. I'm very grateful to TNA and WWE because TNA have allowed me to explore different avenues to build my brand and therefore help lift TNA's brand as well. I think that I've had a very good collaborative working relationship with TNA. So when I bring something to them that I'd like to do, or even they'll bring something to me that they maybe think I could do, I think that myself and TNA have an opportunity to do historic business for the company," Hendry said. "This is what I've always wanted to do in professional wrestling, is to have a spot like this, a spot that can help build the company, that can sell tickets, that can bring eyeballs to the product, just to make a positive contribution. So I'm very grateful that TNA are putting me in a position to do that."

"And I'm also very grateful that WWE has welcomed me with open arms as well. So TNA, they have worked collaboratively with WWE to bring us to a situation where right now," Hendry said. "We now have a situation where TNA is working with WWE. So I am a TNA wrestler who is appearing on NXT and I'm training full-time at the performance center as well. So that is an unprecedented situation, and it's one I'm very grateful for."

Hendry has the ability to work with TNA and train with NXT full-time at the performance center, but you can still see him appearing with independents and signings as well, which is supremely unique and rather unprecedented. "Not only that, but because of the way this is all set up, I'm still able to do signings and independents. So you've got someone at this stage in my career where I'm able to appear on TNA Wrestling, I'm able to appear on NXT, I'm training at the performance center, and I'm doing indies and signings as well. So right now it's given me an opportunity to be one of the busiest wrestlers in the world, building my brand, and I believe that I'm trying my best to do good business for all companies that are involved," Hendry said.

Returning to Tampa

TNA is also making a return to Tampa for the first time in 11 years, and Hendry has fond memories from his time there, including one particular. "Yeah, absolutely. I have fond memories of Tampa. I've spent time there training with Natalya and Tyson Kidd, and they've also made such a positive contribution to my progression as a professional wrestler. I've trained with Ace Steel here in Orlando. Obviously, there's what I'm doing here at NXT," Hendry said. "I wrestled Matt Cardona in Florida when I was the TNA Digital Media Champion. Thankfully, PCO has that title now, for God's sake. Yeah, I'm so thankful that AJ Francis is no longer the champion. We need to get PCO a custom belt because the things that AJ Francis has done to that belt on social media, we need to get that sorted. We need to get PCO just a fresh belt. The one that AJ Francis had needs to be torched and replaced."

Joe Hendry's next appearance will be on tonight's new episode of TNA Impact, and then he will return to NXT as part of next week's Great American Bash.

What do you want to see next from Joe Hendry? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

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