June 17, 2025 • 16 mins
Joe Hendry joins us ahead of TNA Wrestling's return to Pittsburgh (June 20-21) to talk about the company’s epic resurgence, the viral power of his entrance theme (now even in Spanish!), and how fans covering his music has taken on a life of its own. We dive into whether his photo with Mr. Iguana hints at a surprise tag team, and what it meant when James Storm got emotional seeing Joe at the top of TNA. Plus: Hendry reacts to Nic Nemeth's recent comments about him on our show, opens up about backstage moments that made TNA feel major league again, and discusses how close we really are to seeing that John Cena dream match.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You play.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Abound podcast. Stop being.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
What's up you guys, Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official wrestling podcast.
To Battleground Podcast, and for the first time since twoenty eleven.
Oh that's a long time, TNA returns to Pittsburgh Friday
and Saturday, June twentieth to the twenty first, and it's
gonna be at the up mc evin Center. And on
the show today a guy that has been on here
plenty of times.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You say his name, he shows up, he appears. Give
it up for Joe Hendry joining the show. Joe, how
are you been doing? Man, I'm doing very well.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Thanks, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Doing pretty good? Glad to have you back here on
the show.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I gotta talk to you because this was a kind
of a cool thing recently at Triple Many.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, another viral moment.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
For Joe Hendry coming out to the Spanish version of
your song that we've all seen shared many times on
social media.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Tell me about the story on how that came about.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
How it came about it is I got to the
venue and they said we got this cool idea for
your entrance, and I thought, okay, I usually had the
liverything to do with my entrance, but it was actually
Triple A that did that. And I think, if I
can remember the name of the band, I think it's
the Easy I want I want to put them over
here and I want to I want to make sure
it gets the name absolutely right here. But I didn't
(01:35):
actually know about it until we got to the venue.
But before they said yeah, the Easy band. That was correct.
All I needed to do is sad bad, But yeah,
they did an awesome version of my song. And when
they said we're going to do this song, I knew
pretty much exactly what it was going to.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Be, so yeah, And it was great because we were
sitting there and I was watching some of the videos
and I was watching the footage and I was like,
are we getting the regular Joe Hendry song? And then
you start hear and then I was like, oh, this
is fantastic, and you sit here and think about it
for a second. How does it feel that people are
out here covering your theme song?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I mean, we've got Easy band doing this.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I think I recently I saw like a dubstep version
of your song.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I posted that on social media
the today at Download Festival there were people with flags
and like, people really want me to perform Download Festival.
So yeah, I'm seeing a bunch of like new music
stuff coming out that's really awesome and.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It's pretty cool that the fact that there's people out
here covering your theme song, and like you said, I
mean we got the dubstep version, I'm waiting for like
a scream o heavy metal version. That's gonna be a
cool thing, right to see people covering like a wrestling
thing song even though it is a real song, it's
a chart topping song.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
It's it's very cool. Like I thought the song was good,
and like I say, this is a terrible example to
use because there's no way to sound to not sound
out againt when I say this. But I saw an
interview with Dave Girl and he was talking about when
they made Never by Nevana. They were like, I mean,
we knew it was good, but we didn't know it
was that good. And I'm you know, I'm not putting
myself in the same category musicle or anything, but just
(03:09):
to that feeling of you've made something, you know that
it's good, but I never would have thought they would
have resonated with people this much. I thought it was
going to be the pad of the entrances that I
did that were the big thing that got me over,
but I was I was wrong. So so yeah, it's
been an awesome thing to see.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And I mean, I can't tell you how many times,
like and I've got an eight year old who's a
big wrestling fan. I can't tell you how many times
he'll just walk through the house and be like saying,
and I'm like.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
It's caught on.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, it is caught on for sure.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
And you know, the one thing I will tell you
that a lot of people have noticed here about TNA
recently is clearly all in on building around homegrown talent.
And you're at the front of that movement. Was there
a moment maybe recently backstage where it clicked for you, like, yeah,
TNA is at the top of their game.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We are one of the like major companies.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Now, yeah, that is. That's something I take a lot
of pride in and I know the roster take a lot
of pride in it as well. You know, I've been
the TNA for the last three years now, but there's
been people who have been there for you know, ten
plus years. Who have seen it through all different iterations
have been people who have been there since the very beginning.
I've been watching it since two thousand and two. So
(04:25):
to be at the forefront of this era where we're
doing unprecedented business like to be honest, business wise in
terms of live gate, I don't know for sure, but
it might not be without the realms of possibility to
say that this is the best business that TNA's ever done.
I don't know the exact metrics on it. I'd love
to find that out, but regardless, it's certainly this is
(04:48):
a huge upswing for TNA Wrestling. A lot of factors
that went into it, and I'm I'm delighted to play
my part in that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, absolutely for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And of course, for the first time since twenty eleven,
TNA Wrestling returns to W'sburgh Friday and Saturday, June twentie
through the twenty first held at the UPM see Evin Center.
Now this is something awesome because again this goes back
to the viral moments. You've gone viral on TikTok, trended
on x Fans chant your names and arenas that don't
(05:16):
even belong to TNA. Yeah, is wrestling finally waking up
to just how powerful personality and online presence really is
in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And I think I think so for sure. But also
I think that different waves of popularity in pro wrestling
come along for different reasons. I think that it's it's organic,
you know. I think that's that's the main thing. When
you look at any person in professional wrestling who gained
popularity quickly, a lot of the time is because it's
(05:50):
it comes from the pute intention of trying to entertain
the fans. You know. It's like when I think about
top talents in the business that I tried to model
myself after and look at is like like if you
look at Cmpunk, for example, like he is authentically himself
and that is the thing that resonated with the audience.
And what I the stuff that I've made, whether it
(06:13):
be music or resting, the things I do, it's things
that I would find entertaining and it comes from a
place of genuinely wanting to entertain the audience. And quite honestly,
I was happy doing it in front of two hundred people.
You know, a lot of the time, less I was
totally happy. I got to a place when I was
completely happy doing it in front of you know, small
crowds and just giving it my all. And I made
(06:33):
a deal with myself. I says, you know, if this
is as big as it gets, I'll do it to
the absolute best of my ability. And ever since I
started switching my mindset to that mentality, just every door
that I could have imagined started to open up like again.
And a key example is when I wrestled Randy or
at WrestleMania. You know, I was I was not thinking
selfishly about well what do I want? It was about, right,
(06:56):
we've got a situation where we can get a lot
of eyeballs on TNA. And then also was best for
the moment and the show as well. And we you know,
people can say whatever they want to me about that,
but it created an iconic moment and it was so
much so that a top trading card was made out
of it, and it's a moment that everyone will remember.
With doing my spin into the RKO, and then there's
(07:18):
you know, people talked about the second RKO, but when
Randy taps me, that's his seal of approval. And also
again I said I'm the one that said it. I
wanted people to associate my title run with an ascension
in big business and the show after that, the meat
and meat lineups were insane, the draw was insane. So
I had a positive impact on business and that's what
(07:39):
my contribution to TNA wrest and that's what I wanted
to hold you about.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Absolutely, And I got to tell you our buddy that
does the show with us, Josh Big Joe Hendry fan,
Like I kid you not, anytime a shirt pops up,
he's buying it. And he filmed his reaction when that
music hit in WrestleMania and he lost his mind. There's
a lot of words that he said that you can't
really stay on the radio.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But we posted the video about it and it's great.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
And you know one thing that was a really cool
moment recently in an interview with Chris van Vliet, James Storm,
who is a TNA legend, got very emotional. He said,
seeing the TNA World Champion having a WrestleMania moment. Yeah,
when legends like that see you as part of TNA's
future and legacy, does that come with added pressure or
(08:26):
is it just some motivation?
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I think it is more remotivation. I mean, I think
you get to a certain point where, like I say,
I've wrestled around the art in at WrestleMania in front
of you know, what was it, fifty sixty thousand people,
sixty thousand people. I did the Rumble with seventy thousand people,
and at the time that was the third most watched
pl of all type. So and so for me, I've
(08:52):
kind of been in those big pressure, those high pressure situations,
and I feel like I've delivered. So to me, there
just comes a point where you have to accept if
you do this at a high level, everything is going
to be high pressure. So I think that you're right.
I think motivation is more the word that I would
It's very motivating to hear those words and it's all right,
you got to keep going. There's so many people who
(09:12):
would crawl over broken glass to get an opportunity to
do AshEL in professional wrestling, or do AshEL for the
major organization. So to be in the spot that I'm in,
the worst thing in the world that I could do
would be to take that for granted. So for me,
it's just about getting as good as I possibly can
at this game. Of professional wrestling contributing.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Right, absolutely for sure.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
And you know, you talk about the motivation, you talk
about the pressure. A lot of eyes became on the brand, especially,
and you know, I'm just gonna rip the band aid off.
A TNA World Heavyweight Champion is not somebody on the
TNA roster, And of course a lot of people have
things to say about that, one of those people being
(09:54):
Nick Nammoth, who recently was on our show. We talked
to him about that for a brief second, and I've
got some audio for you and he I wanted to
get your response to what Nick.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Yeah, and Joe Henry has been doing aweso. Like I
beat him a couple times, but he beat me and
he won the title, and I patted him on the
back and I shook his hand and SAI, damn it tonight,
you were better than me. But in no world are
you ever going to be better than me. And at
this point we were rooting for him as a champion
because you know, he has the all the downloads, he gets,
the clicks on social media, iTunes, everything you can think of,
(10:27):
except for the fing pro wrestling part where he didn't
back it up. He went above and beyond to go
to do other company shows and for the most part
backed it up and in this one case, because of
him not being able to back it up in the ring,
someone who doesn't work in TNA is the TNA World
Heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So you see Nick say something like that, what's your
response to that?
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Well, if I can't back and if I can't back
it up in the ring and I beat him, what
does that make him? You know? But also I think
I heard him say some some comments about I should
get taken to wrestler's court. I mean, I think I
think he should be taking a wrestler's court for bringing
Ryan Nenneth to TNA wrestler. That's what I think.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You know, I will say that when we did seriously.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Seriously, like, look, Nick's a legend in the game. He's
one of the best to ever lace up a pair
of boots, and he's a competitive guy. He's going to
say things like that. If I was Nicknameth, it would
hurt my feelings if that to know that Joe Henry
was the guy for TNA Wrestling, and you know what,
me and him competed. Yes, he beat me, but I
beat him when it counted. And I became the champion. Look,
(11:36):
Nick is a legend of the game, like I said,
one of the best to ever do it. But I
fully accept my part in dropping the ball and the
TNA World Championship going to another company. So you know what,
if Nick Nick has every right to be upset, every
member of the roster should be upset that the TNA
title is somewhere else, and that motivates me to go
(12:01):
and get it back. And once I do that, if
Nick wants another show, it sounds like we have unfinished
business there, can you?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I think so.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
And you know what I think, once Joe Hendry gets
that TNA World title back, which we're putting that out
in the universe, I think Nick Neimoth gets the first shot.
But let's be honest with you, Nick Nimmoth is not
gonna get his hand raised once Joe Hendry becomes the
TNA Champion again.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I like it. I like I like I like you
to approach here. I like you.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I think we are putting it out in the universe.
And a lot of things are awesome right now with TNA.
Of course, in the middle of this wild renaissance, major
names are coming to TNA, working relationships forming with WWE,
and you know you've been very vocal about this, wanting
to face John Cena before he's done with everything that's
happened lately.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I know he's got a few dates left.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Is there still a possibility that it's on the table
that we see John Cena step into a TNA ring
to face Joe Hendry?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
What do you think I think it could happen? I mean,
never say, right.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I mean, if if you'd have showed up in the
rumble was crazy. But if I'd have told you in
even March, Hey, I'm going to wrestle Randy or at
WrestleMania in a featured singles match, that would have sounded
pretty crazy, right, h Does me wrestling johnsona sound that crazy?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
No, it does not.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
It's within the realms of possibility. If it happens, it's
because I did everything I was supposed to do. If
it doesn't happen, it's because I dropped the ball. And
like I say, that's already happened once this year. Kind
of let it happen again.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
We're just gonna put out in the universe Joe Hendry
will become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, he'll beat Trick
Williams and then Joe Hendry will didn't defend his TNA
World Heavyweight Championship against John Cena.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Maybe a champion versus champion match never seen ever.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I like the way you think about that, and uh,
you know, getting ready to wrap things up. I know
we've got a little bit left in this interview. A
lot of people on the internet. Anytime that Joe Hendry
post something, it goes very very viral.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Recently, Uh, you posted.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
A photo with another superstar that has taken the world
by store, mister Iguana, and you asked everybody to name
the duo. Is there is that something that you'd want,
like a Joe Hendry and mister Iguana tag team just
taken over maybe TNA and the one hundred.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I was devastated that they that we didn't have a
tag match in Tripoli. They need to do a tag
match with me and mister Iguana.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
What about this?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
And we talked to the powers that be mister Iguana
and Joe Hendry versus the Nimaths for the TNA World
Heavyweight Championship tag team.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I mean, you know what, I'd never I'd never thought
about that, But if there was if there was someone
to look I know, look me, me and Elijah have
a bit of an alliance here, but that might be
the one exception that needed to take a step aside
for mister Iguana. Then that is the one.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I mean there, there's your way to you know, get
your payback on the comments to Nick said you take
his title away from him. You and mister Iguana are
Tag Team Champions and we'll figure out a name a
name for this duo after you become Tag Team Champions.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, sounds good.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think that's the great thing.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Last thing I want to ask to you because this
is always a fun thing and with you being you know,
not only a wrestler but a musician. If we were
to scroll through Joe Hendry's like playlist right now, we're
scrolling through and we stop upon a song that we're like, huh,
we didn't think Joe Hendry listens to this. What is
that song on your playlist that would surprise us?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I don't know. I mean, well, my favorite song of
all time is The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. I think
that would be fairly surprised with you.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Hm, solid solid pick, solid pick, and I mean it
fits Joe Hendry. I mean, you've gambled on yourself and
it's awfully obviously paid off with everything.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I like it.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, it's a life metaphor right there, Joe Hendry. It's
an honor and or privilege to have you back here
on the show before we let you go. Is there
anything that you want to say to people watching or
listening to this right now?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah? Absolutely, I just I would encourage you to come
down and see T and A Rest and live. We're
very fan focused. It's going to be an amazing experience
here in Pittsburgh. We're doing Friday and Saturday at the
UPMC Arena and it's our event center. Again. We're gonna
what we're gonna do is we're gonna trial something new
we now have. Not only do we have a free
(16:26):
subscription tier on TNA Plus, but at certain tiers, what
we're going to offer is usually you would have to
wait a week or so to see the television that
we take, whereas if you are a TNA Plus subscriber
on a certain tier, you will be able to watch
the show live in Pittsburgh. So if you're not able
to be there in person, that'd be a great way
(16:46):
to watch it, but if you are nearby, come on
down
Welcome to the Battleground Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You play.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And exclusive interviews with some of your favorite wrestlers.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Abound podcast. Stop being.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
What's up you guys, Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official wrestling podcast.
To Battleground Podcast, and for the first time since twoenty eleven.
Oh that's a long time, TNA returns to Pittsburgh Friday
and Saturday, June twentieth to the twenty first, and it's
gonna be at the up mc evin Center. And on
the show today a guy that has been on here
plenty of times.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You say his name, he shows up, he appears. Give
it up for Joe Hendry joining the show. Joe, how
are you been doing? Man, I'm doing very well.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Thanks, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Doing pretty good? Glad to have you back here on
the show.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
I gotta talk to you because this was a kind
of a cool thing recently at Triple Many.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, another viral moment.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
For Joe Hendry coming out to the Spanish version of
your song that we've all seen shared many times on
social media.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Tell me about the story on how that came about.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
How it came about it is I got to the
venue and they said we got this cool idea for
your entrance, and I thought, okay, I usually had the
liverything to do with my entrance, but it was actually
Triple A that did that. And I think, if I
can remember the name of the band, I think it's
the Easy I want I want to put them over
here and I want to I want to make sure
it gets the name absolutely right here. But I didn't
(01:35):
actually know about it until we got to the venue.
But before they said yeah, the Easy band. That was correct.
All I needed to do is sad bad, But yeah,
they did an awesome version of my song. And when
they said we're going to do this song, I knew
pretty much exactly what it was going to.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Be, so yeah, And it was great because we were
sitting there and I was watching some of the videos
and I was watching the footage and I was like,
are we getting the regular Joe Hendry song? And then
you start hear and then I was like, oh, this
is fantastic, and you sit here and think about it
for a second. How does it feel that people are
out here covering your theme song?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I mean, we've got Easy band doing this.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
I think I recently I saw like a dubstep version
of your song.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I posted that on social media
the today at Download Festival there were people with flags
and like, people really want me to perform Download Festival.
So yeah, I'm seeing a bunch of like new music
stuff coming out that's really awesome and.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It's pretty cool that the fact that there's people out
here covering your theme song, and like you said, I
mean we got the dubstep version, I'm waiting for like
a scream o heavy metal version. That's gonna be a
cool thing, right to see people covering like a wrestling
thing song even though it is a real song, it's
a chart topping song.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
It's it's very cool. Like I thought the song was good,
and like I say, this is a terrible example to
use because there's no way to sound to not sound
out againt when I say this. But I saw an
interview with Dave Girl and he was talking about when
they made Never by Nevana. They were like, I mean,
we knew it was good, but we didn't know it
was that good. And I'm you know, I'm not putting
myself in the same category musicle or anything, but just
(03:09):
to that feeling of you've made something, you know that
it's good, but I never would have thought they would
have resonated with people this much. I thought it was
going to be the pad of the entrances that I
did that were the big thing that got me over,
but I was I was wrong. So so yeah, it's
been an awesome thing to see.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And I mean, I can't tell you how many times,
like and I've got an eight year old who's a
big wrestling fan. I can't tell you how many times
he'll just walk through the house and be like saying,
and I'm like.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
It's caught on.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, it is caught on for sure.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
And you know, the one thing I will tell you
that a lot of people have noticed here about TNA
recently is clearly all in on building around homegrown talent.
And you're at the front of that movement. Was there
a moment maybe recently backstage where it clicked for you, like, yeah,
TNA is at the top of their game.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We are one of the like major companies.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Now, yeah, that is. That's something I take a lot
of pride in and I know the roster take a lot
of pride in it as well. You know, I've been
the TNA for the last three years now, but there's
been people who have been there for you know, ten
plus years. Who have seen it through all different iterations
have been people who have been there since the very beginning.
I've been watching it since two thousand and two. So
(04:25):
to be at the forefront of this era where we're
doing unprecedented business like to be honest, business wise in
terms of live gate, I don't know for sure, but
it might not be without the realms of possibility to
say that this is the best business that TNA's ever done.
I don't know the exact metrics on it. I'd love
to find that out, but regardless, it's certainly this is
(04:48):
a huge upswing for TNA Wrestling. A lot of factors
that went into it, and I'm I'm delighted to play
my part in that.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, absolutely for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And of course, for the first time since twenty eleven,
TNA Wrestling returns to W'sburgh Friday and Saturday, June twentie
through the twenty first held at the UPM see Evin Center.
Now this is something awesome because again this goes back
to the viral moments. You've gone viral on TikTok, trended
on x Fans chant your names and arenas that don't
(05:16):
even belong to TNA. Yeah, is wrestling finally waking up
to just how powerful personality and online presence really is
in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
And I think I think so for sure. But also
I think that different waves of popularity in pro wrestling
come along for different reasons. I think that it's it's organic,
you know. I think that's that's the main thing. When
you look at any person in professional wrestling who gained
popularity quickly, a lot of the time is because it's
(05:50):
it comes from the pute intention of trying to entertain
the fans. You know. It's like when I think about
top talents in the business that I tried to model
myself after and look at is like like if you
look at Cmpunk, for example, like he is authentically himself
and that is the thing that resonated with the audience.
And what I the stuff that I've made, whether it
(06:13):
be music or resting, the things I do, it's things
that I would find entertaining and it comes from a
place of genuinely wanting to entertain the audience. And quite honestly,
I was happy doing it in front of two hundred people.
You know, a lot of the time, less I was
totally happy. I got to a place when I was
completely happy doing it in front of you know, small
crowds and just giving it my all. And I made
(06:33):
a deal with myself. I says, you know, if this
is as big as it gets, I'll do it to
the absolute best of my ability. And ever since I
started switching my mindset to that mentality, just every door
that I could have imagined started to open up like again.
And a key example is when I wrestled Randy or
at WrestleMania. You know, I was I was not thinking
selfishly about well what do I want? It was about, right,
(06:56):
we've got a situation where we can get a lot
of eyeballs on TNA. And then also was best for
the moment and the show as well. And we you know,
people can say whatever they want to me about that,
but it created an iconic moment and it was so
much so that a top trading card was made out
of it, and it's a moment that everyone will remember.
With doing my spin into the RKO, and then there's
(07:18):
you know, people talked about the second RKO, but when
Randy taps me, that's his seal of approval. And also
again I said I'm the one that said it. I
wanted people to associate my title run with an ascension
in big business and the show after that, the meat
and meat lineups were insane, the draw was insane. So
I had a positive impact on business and that's what
(07:39):
my contribution to TNA wrest and that's what I wanted
to hold you about.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Absolutely, And I got to tell you our buddy that
does the show with us, Josh Big Joe Hendry fan,
Like I kid you not, anytime a shirt pops up,
he's buying it. And he filmed his reaction when that
music hit in WrestleMania and he lost his mind. There's
a lot of words that he said that you can't
really stay on the radio.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But we posted the video about it and it's great.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
And you know one thing that was a really cool
moment recently in an interview with Chris van Vliet, James Storm,
who is a TNA legend, got very emotional. He said,
seeing the TNA World Champion having a WrestleMania moment. Yeah,
when legends like that see you as part of TNA's
future and legacy, does that come with added pressure or
(08:26):
is it just some motivation?
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I think it is more remotivation. I mean, I think
you get to a certain point where, like I say,
I've wrestled around the art in at WrestleMania in front
of you know, what was it, fifty sixty thousand people,
sixty thousand people. I did the Rumble with seventy thousand people,
and at the time that was the third most watched
pl of all type. So and so for me, I've
(08:52):
kind of been in those big pressure, those high pressure situations,
and I feel like I've delivered. So to me, there
just comes a point where you have to accept if
you do this at a high level, everything is going
to be high pressure. So I think that you're right.
I think motivation is more the word that I would
It's very motivating to hear those words and it's all right,
you got to keep going. There's so many people who
(09:12):
would crawl over broken glass to get an opportunity to
do AshEL in professional wrestling, or do AshEL for the
major organization. So to be in the spot that I'm in,
the worst thing in the world that I could do
would be to take that for granted. So for me,
it's just about getting as good as I possibly can
at this game. Of professional wrestling contributing.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Right, absolutely for sure.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
And you know, you talk about the motivation, you talk
about the pressure. A lot of eyes became on the brand, especially,
and you know, I'm just gonna rip the band aid off.
A TNA World Heavyweight Champion is not somebody on the
TNA roster, And of course a lot of people have
things to say about that, one of those people being
(09:54):
Nick Nammoth, who recently was on our show. We talked
to him about that for a brief second, and I've
got some audio for you and he I wanted to
get your response to what Nick.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Yeah, and Joe Henry has been doing aweso. Like I
beat him a couple times, but he beat me and
he won the title, and I patted him on the
back and I shook his hand and SAI, damn it tonight,
you were better than me. But in no world are
you ever going to be better than me. And at
this point we were rooting for him as a champion
because you know, he has the all the downloads, he gets,
the clicks on social media, iTunes, everything you can think of,
(10:27):
except for the fing pro wrestling part where he didn't
back it up. He went above and beyond to go
to do other company shows and for the most part
backed it up and in this one case, because of
him not being able to back it up in the ring,
someone who doesn't work in TNA is the TNA World
Heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So you see Nick say something like that, what's your
response to that?
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Well, if I can't back and if I can't back
it up in the ring and I beat him, what
does that make him? You know? But also I think
I heard him say some some comments about I should
get taken to wrestler's court. I mean, I think I
think he should be taking a wrestler's court for bringing
Ryan Nenneth to TNA wrestler. That's what I think.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
You know, I will say that when we did seriously.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Seriously, like, look, Nick's a legend in the game. He's
one of the best to ever lace up a pair
of boots, and he's a competitive guy. He's going to
say things like that. If I was Nicknameth, it would
hurt my feelings if that to know that Joe Henry
was the guy for TNA Wrestling, and you know what,
me and him competed. Yes, he beat me, but I
beat him when it counted. And I became the champion. Look,
(11:36):
Nick is a legend of the game, like I said,
one of the best to ever do it. But I
fully accept my part in dropping the ball and the
TNA World Championship going to another company. So you know what,
if Nick Nick has every right to be upset, every
member of the roster should be upset that the TNA
title is somewhere else, and that motivates me to go
(12:01):
and get it back. And once I do that, if
Nick wants another show, it sounds like we have unfinished
business there, can you?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I think so.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
And you know what I think, once Joe Hendry gets
that TNA World title back, which we're putting that out
in the universe, I think Nick Neimoth gets the first shot.
But let's be honest with you, Nick Nimmoth is not
gonna get his hand raised once Joe Hendry becomes the
TNA Champion again.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I like it. I like I like I like you
to approach here. I like you.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I think we are putting it out in the universe.
And a lot of things are awesome right now with TNA.
Of course, in the middle of this wild renaissance, major
names are coming to TNA, working relationships forming with WWE,
and you know you've been very vocal about this, wanting
to face John Cena before he's done with everything that's
happened lately.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I know he's got a few dates left.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Is there still a possibility that it's on the table
that we see John Cena step into a TNA ring
to face Joe Hendry?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
What do you think I think it could happen? I mean,
never say, right.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I mean, if if you'd have showed up in the
rumble was crazy. But if I'd have told you in
even March, Hey, I'm going to wrestle Randy or at
WrestleMania in a featured singles match, that would have sounded
pretty crazy, right, h Does me wrestling johnsona sound that crazy?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
No, it does not.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
It's within the realms of possibility. If it happens, it's
because I did everything I was supposed to do. If
it doesn't happen, it's because I dropped the ball. And
like I say, that's already happened once this year. Kind
of let it happen again.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
We're just gonna put out in the universe Joe Hendry
will become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, he'll beat Trick
Williams and then Joe Hendry will didn't defend his TNA
World Heavyweight Championship against John Cena.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Maybe a champion versus champion match never seen ever.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I like the way you think about that, and uh,
you know, getting ready to wrap things up. I know
we've got a little bit left in this interview. A
lot of people on the internet. Anytime that Joe Hendry
post something, it goes very very viral.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Recently, Uh, you posted.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
A photo with another superstar that has taken the world
by store, mister Iguana, and you asked everybody to name
the duo. Is there is that something that you'd want,
like a Joe Hendry and mister Iguana tag team just
taken over maybe TNA and the one hundred.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I was devastated that they that we didn't have a
tag match in Tripoli. They need to do a tag
match with me and mister Iguana.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
What about this?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
And we talked to the powers that be mister Iguana
and Joe Hendry versus the Nimaths for the TNA World
Heavyweight Championship tag team.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I mean, you know what, I'd never I'd never thought
about that, But if there was if there was someone
to look I know, look me, me and Elijah have
a bit of an alliance here, but that might be
the one exception that needed to take a step aside
for mister Iguana. Then that is the one.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I mean there, there's your way to you know, get
your payback on the comments to Nick said you take
his title away from him. You and mister Iguana are
Tag Team Champions and we'll figure out a name a
name for this duo after you become Tag Team Champions.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, sounds good.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think that's the great thing.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Last thing I want to ask to you because this
is always a fun thing and with you being you know,
not only a wrestler but a musician. If we were
to scroll through Joe Hendry's like playlist right now, we're
scrolling through and we stop upon a song that we're like, huh,
we didn't think Joe Hendry listens to this. What is
that song on your playlist that would surprise us?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I don't know. I mean, well, my favorite song of
all time is The Gambler by Kenny Rogers. I think
that would be fairly surprised with you.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Hm, solid solid pick, solid pick, and I mean it
fits Joe Hendry. I mean, you've gambled on yourself and
it's awfully obviously paid off with everything.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I like it.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Yeah, it's a life metaphor right there, Joe Hendry. It's
an honor and or privilege to have you back here
on the show before we let you go. Is there
anything that you want to say to people watching or
listening to this right now?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah? Absolutely, I just I would encourage you to come
down and see T and A Rest and live. We're
very fan focused. It's going to be an amazing experience
here in Pittsburgh. We're doing Friday and Saturday at the
UPMC Arena and it's our event center. Again. We're gonna
what we're gonna do is we're gonna trial something new
we now have. Not only do we have a free
(16:26):
subscription tier on TNA Plus, but at certain tiers, what
we're going to offer is usually you would have to
wait a week or so to see the television that
we take, whereas if you are a TNA Plus subscriber
on a certain tier, you will be able to watch
the show live in Pittsburgh. So if you're not able
to be there in person, that'd be a great way
(16:46):
to watch it, but if you are nearby, come on
down
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