Joe Hendry

Joseph Samuel Hendry (born 1 May 1988) is a Scottish amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, and musician better known as Joe Hendry. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He was a one-time and currently the longest reigning Impact Digital Media Champion.

Hendry is also known for his appearances in his native Scotland with Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), where he was a one-time ICW Tag Team Champion, in England with New Generation Wrestling and Defiant Wrestling (formerly What Culture Pro Wrestling).

A decorated amateur wrestler, Hendry has earned British Senior National Championships in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. Hendry represented Great Britain internationally in freestyle wrestling at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in 2017, and subsequently earned a position on the freestyle wrestling team for Scotland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Professional wrestling career

Training and early career

Hendry initially trained to become a professional wrestler with Damian Mackle, Mikey Whiplash, Robbie Brookside, and Marty Jones at the Source Wrestling School. In 2014, he made two appearances for WWE: as a Rosebud on the 19 May episode of ''Raw'', and as a Russian diplomat on the 10 November episode of ''Raw''. His first Canadian tour was with SMASH Wrestling. He has also worked for Pro Wrestling Ulster.

Insane Championship Wrestling (2013–2019)

In 2013, Hendry began regularly appearing for Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), and was first introduced as a member of James R. Kennedy's stable, the Kennedy Administration. He entered into a rivalry with Big Damo, before feuding with fellow Kennedy Administration member Kenny Williams. Williams won the ICW Zero-G Championship during this time, and Hendry faced him several times for the title but was unable to win it. On 6 April 2015, Hendry unsuccessfully challenged Drew Galloway for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship at Pro Wrestling Ulster event in which the EVOLVE and DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate titles were also on the line.

Hendry later formed tag team the Local Fire with Davey Boy. Together, they entered the ICW Tag Team Title Tournament (held to crown new champions once Polo Promotions left the company after winning the belts) and beat Mike Bird and Wild Boar in the finals at Shug's Hoose Party 3 on 31 July 2016 to win the vacant ICW Tag Team Championships. They lost the titles on 11 September 2016 to Polo Promotions in a ladder match.

On 16 June 2019, Hendry defeated Andy Wild at ICW I Ain't Yer Pal, Dickface!.
On 27 July 2019, Hendry was forced to leave ICW after losing to Leyton Buzzard in a singles match at Night 1 of Shug's Hoose Party 6. This led to him signing with Ring of Honor just days later.

Discovery Wrestling (2014-present)

Hendry debuted for Discovery Wrestling in 2014, teaming with Marty Scrull to defeat Cryme Tyme (JTG & Shad Gaspard) Appearing sporadically he would face the likes of Grado, The Young Bucks, Damien O'Connor, Tommy Dreamer before earning a shot at Lewis Girvan's Y Division Championship, where he was unsuccessful.

Hendry earned his way back into title contention with victories over Dalton Castle, Kenny Williams, Timothy Thatcher and former champion Girvan.

On 6 October 2019, Hendry defeated Joe Coffey for the Y Division Championship. Holding the title for a record-setting 1,280 days, Hendry retained against Coffey, Theo Doros, Andy Wild, BT Gunn and Gene Munny before Munny defeated him in a rematch on 8 April 2023.

On 3 June 2023, Hendry returned to Discovery Wrestling to successfully defend his Impact Digital Media Championship against Jack Morris.

New Generation Wrestling (2015–2018)

Hendry made his debut for New Generation Wrestling (NGW) in 2015, losing a match to Nathan Cruz before forming Team Scotland with fellow ICW wrestlers Davey Blaze, Lionheart and Kid Fite. Team Scotland often antagonised NGW Champion Nathan Cruz and eventually challenged Cruz to face them in an eight-man tag team match with Cruz's title on the line with the stipulation that if Cruz or any of his teammates were pinned, he would lose the title. Cruz retained his title in the eight-man tag team match in November 2015. Hendry, Lionheart and Kid Fite next appeared for NGW in May 2016, all three answering the NGW Tag Team Championship Open Challenge set by The UK's Biggest Tag Team (Stixx and Colossus Kennedy). After Hendry used the belt as a weapon, the trio became the new tag team champions. The official name for the team was later confirmed to be Insane Fight Club.

WhatCulture Pro Wrestling / Defiant Wrestling (20162018)

Hendry then began working for WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW). The first few weeks Hendry started a feud with Joseph Conners when, on 3 September, at WCPW Stacked Hendry was involved in a fatal four way for the WCPW Championship, in which, he was betrayed by Conners, who won the title. He faced Conners two times for the WCPW Title, but was defeated twice. After two defeats by the then WCPW Champion Drew Galloway, Hendry turned heel. On 6 March, at Exit Wounds, Hendry, Joe Coffey, Travis Banks, and BT Gunn formed The Prestige, a stable claiming something was wrong with professional wrestling and they were going to fix it. At the Mexican qualifier for the WCPW Pro Wrestling World Cup, Hendry defeated Martin Kirby by referee stoppage, becoming the WCPW Champion. On 2 October 2017, at WCPW Refuse to Lose '17, Hendry defended his championship against Will Ospreay. During the match, Marty Scurll cashed in his 'Magnificent Seven' briefcase (which he won earlier in the night from Hendry's stablemate El Ligero) to make the match a triple threat. Scurll then won the championship by submitting Hendry with the crossface chickenwing. Hendry then started a feud with fellow stablemate Travis Banks, causing the exodus of Joe Coffey and BT Gunn from The Prestige.

Ring of Honor (2016)

In 2016, Hendry made a few appearances for the American promotion Ring of Honor during the promotion's tour of the United Kingdom titled ''Reach for the Sky''. He competed on both nights of the tour, losing both of his matches against Donovan Dijak and Jay White on November 18 and November 19 respectively.

World of Sport Wrestling (2018–2019)

Between 10 and 12 May 2018, Hendry was part of the television tapings for the reboot of World of Sport Wrestling. On the 28 July episode of ''WOS Wrestling'' (taped 10 May), Hendry partnered Martin Kirby in the WOS Tag Team Championship first match against Iestyn Rees and Kip Sabian. However, Kirby walked away from Hendry during the match, allowing him to be beaten down by Rees and Sabian. The two men traded wins over each other; Kirby on the 11 August episode (taped 10 May) in a singles match, and Hendry on the 1 September episode (taped 11 May) in a submission match.

Hendry was also involved in title challenges for the WOS Championship. On the 4 August episode (taped 10 May), he interrupted a segment with the then-current champion, Rampage. Executive Stu Bennett gave him a title shot soon afterwards, but Hendry was defeated by Rampage. On the 18 August episode (taped 11 May), he wrestled in a number one contender three-way match, alongside Justin Sysum and Nathan Cruz, which Sysum won.

From January to February 2019, Hendry was part of the World of Sport Wrestling UK tour, where he was largely used in tag matches. He was successful in all of them, teaming with BT Gunn four times and Grado once.

Impact Wrestling (2018)

On 25 May 2018, Impact Wrestling announced through Twitter that Hendry would be part of the 1 and 2 June television tapings for the promotion from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Hendry made his debut for the company on the 5 July episode of '' Impact!'', as a surprise to Grado by his girlfriend Katarina. On the 12 July episode, the trio got involved in a feud with Eli Drake, who insinuated to Grado that Hendry was trying to make Katarina his girlfriend. On the 17 July episode, Hendry defeated Drake in his first match for the company. On the 26 July episode, in a backstage segment, Drake gave the trio a gift which Grado unwrapped; it was a framed photograph of Hendry and Katarina together. Insulted by this action, Hendry and Katarina took the photograph away to dipose of it. On the 2 August episode, Hendry teamed with Grado in a tag team match with Drake, Trevor Lee and Caleb Konley. Lee and Konley took Hendry out of the match before the bell rung, which led to Grado being outnumbered and losing the match, and Hendry being tended to by Katarina on the outside, furthering the love triangle storyline. On the 9 August episode, in a backstage segment, the trio were arguing over the events of the previous week. Katarina questioned Grado over why he could not beat Drake on his own, because Hendry did, and Hendry told Grado that he would beat Drake again to end the feud. However, on the 16 August episode, Grado attempted to help Hendry as the referee was being distracted by Lee. Drake took control and pushed Hendry into Grado, knocking him off the apron and then winning the match with a roll up. On the 6 September episode, Hendry teamed with Grado in a tag team match against the Desi Hit Squad (Gursinder Singh and Rohit Raju), in a losing effort. Following the match, Katarina turned heel, berating Grado and splitting up with him, before proclaiming her love for Hendry. Katarina made out with Hendry, but Hendry rebuffed her, instead siding with Grado. Hendry then called her the embarrassment in the situation, not Grado, so Katarina slapped him and walked away. On the 27 September episode held in Mexico City, Mexico, Katarina approached Hendry and Grado in a backstage segment, and introduced Murder Clown to them, who would wrestle Hendry the following week. On the 4 October episode, Hendry was defeated by Murder Clown, which ended up being his final televised match for Impact Wrestling.

On 15 February 2019, Hendry thanked Impact Wrestling for giving him a platform to appear on their program, but announced that he was no longer signed to appear for the company.

Return to ROH (2018–2022)

In 2018, Hendry's return to ROH was announced as Silas Young's challenger for the ROH World Television Championship at the Honor United event on 24 May, which took place in Edinburgh. Hendry failed to win the title. Hendry would then compete for ROH during the Honor Re-United event, where he competed in a few matches, most notably participating in the International Cup on 16 August, where he lost to Hangman Page in the opening round. He competed in a four-way match on 18 August, that was won by Marty Scurll, and then lost to Jonathan Gresham in singles competition on 19 August.

On 8 August 2019, it was announced that Hendry was a free agent no longer, and had now signed a contract with ROH. Hendry made his first appearance as a full-time member of the ROH roster by interrupting Dalton Castle during a promo at Saturday Night at Center Stage on 24 August. Hendry would then show up as Castle's partner, the following night at Honor For All, where the two defeated Shinobi Shadow Squad ( Cheeseburger and Eli Isom). Hendry subsequently formed a tag team with Castle while also competing in singles matches at the same time. At Glory By Honor XVII, Hendry participated in a battle royal to determine the #1 contender for the ROH World Championship, but was eliminated by the eventual winner Silas Young. Hendry unsuccessfully challenged Shane Taylor for the World Television Championship on the first night of Honor United on 25 October. The following night, on 26 October, Hendry rebounded from his loss by defeating former World Champion Matt Taven after Castle's entrance theme distracted Taven.

Hendry continued to team with Castle throughout the fall of 2019 and early 2020, competing in various matches, before ROH went on hiatus due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Hendry returned to ROH on 12 January 2021 by participating in an eight-man tag team match, which his team won.

Hendry would then challenge his former tag team partner Dalton Castle for the World Television Championship in a four corners survival match at Final Battle, also involving Rhett Titus and Silas Young. Titus won the title. Following Tony Khan's purchase of ROH, Hendry wrestled at Supercard of Honor XV, losing to Castle.

Return to Impact/Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2022–present)

On 15 September 2022 episode of ''Impact!'', a vignette aired that Hendry was coming to Impact Wrestling, with the company announcing on Twitter that he had signed with the promotion. On 7 October, at Bound for Glory, he made his in-ring return by participating in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet, being eliminated by Moose.

On 22 October 2022, Hendry won his first title in Impact Wrestling by defeating Brian Myers for the Impact Digital Media Championship, which aired on the November 10 episode of ''Impact!''. He would soon begin feuding with Moose over the title after Moose mentioned Hendry's name on ''Impact!'', leading to a match between the two for Digital Media Championship at Hard To Kill on 13 January 2023, which Hendry won to retain the title. After retaining the title against Matt Cardona on the 9 February episode of ''Impact!'', Hendry continued his rivalry with Moose, leading to a Dot Combat match between the two for the Digital Media Championship at No Surrender, where Hendry retained again to end the feud. Hendry would then surpass Cardona to become the longest reigning Digital Media Champion and began feuding with former champion Brian Myers, defeating him to retain the title at Sacrifice.

At Rebellion, Hendry teamed with Dirty Dango and Santino Marella to defeat The Design ( Deaner, Angels, Callihan, and Kon) in a handicap match, after Callihan turned on Design by attacking Deaner. Following the event, Marella was attacked, and Hendry and Dango decided to investigate who attacked Marella. On the May 18 episode of ''Impact!'', Hendry revealed that Dango was Marella's assailant and Dango would soon lay out Hendry while proclaiming "case closed." This led to Hendry defending the Digital Media Championship against Dango at Under Siege. Hendry won by disqualification after Dango hit a low blow right in front of the referee. On 9 June at Against All Odds, Hendry successfully defended the title against Dango in a rematch to end the rivalry. On 15 July at Slammiversary, Hendry lost the title to Kenny King, ending his reign at 266 days.

On October 26, during the UK Invasion Tour, Hendry participated in the Glasgow Cup, defeating Rich Swann in the semifinal and Frankie Kazarian in the final to win the tournament.

On 9 September at ''Impact! 1000'', Hendry and his tag team partner Yuya Uemura participated in the 20-man Feast or Fired match. Hendry told Uemura to grab briefcase number 4, which contained the pink slip, and Uemura was fired from Impact Wrestling. YouTuber Simon Miller reviewed ''Impact! 1000'' on WhatCulture Wrestling's YouTube channel where he blamed Hendry for Uemura's firing. This led to Hendry and Miller attacking each other during the recording of ''Joe Hendry's Food Fight'' for Impact Wrestling's YouTube channel. On 20 October, Impact Wrestling confirmed that Hendry will face Miller at Turning Point, which Hendry won.

Professional wrestling style and persona

Hendry has been a musician for 10 years (he and his band were close to signing a deal with Sony Music), and has incorporated his prior career into his professional wrestling work. Hendry writes and performs his own entrance music and videos. As a face, Hendry was known for flamboyant ring entrances, usually parodying a famous song to mock his opponent. Examples of this include: Phil Collins' " In the Air Tonight" used during his feud with former manager James R. Kennedy, the ''EastEnders'' theme tune to mock Sha Samuels, and Limp Bizkit's " Rollin'" to mock Wolfgang. In Insane Championship Wrestling, he was known as the "Local Hero", referring to a section of ''Kerrang!'' named "Local Heroes" that Hendry had appeared in, as to make fun of his "lack of musical success".

Following a heel turn in March 2017, where Hendry was the leader of WCPW stable The Prestige, he became known as "The Prestigious One". Although the stable disbanded in early 2018, Hendry has continued to refer to himself by the moniker, stating that "it's me with the volume turned up", and also in a BBC interview when training for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Hendry was also formerly known as 'Stadium Joe' during his stint with ICW, a reflection on his in-ring persona having a tendency to exaggerate the truth and fabricate stories.

Amateur wrestling career

A black belt in Judo, Hendry transitioned to amateur freestyle wrestling in 2014 at the relatively late age of 26. Hendry would capture the British Senior National Championship in freestyle wrestling in 2017, and was subsequently selected for membership on Team Scotland at the
2018 Commonwealth Games. Hendry went out of competition in the Round of 16, losing to Australia's Nicolaas Verreynne. Following the Commonwealth Games, Hendry would go on to win the British Senior National Championship in Greco-Roman wrestling in 2018.

Personal life

Hendry has a Master's degree in business and marketing. He is the nephew of politician Drew Hendry, the SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, and a former Highland Council leader.

Championships and accomplishments

Amateur wrestling

* British Wrestling
** 2018 British Senior Championship Freestyle Bronze Medal
** 2018 British Senior Championship Greco-Roman Gold Medal
** 2018 English Senior Championship Freestyle Gold Medal
** 2017 British Senior Championship Freestyle Gold Medal
** 2017 British Closed Senior Championship Freestyle Silver Medal
** 2017 Tryst Open Senior Freestyle Gold Medal
** 2015 Scottish Open Senior Freestyle Silver Medal
** 2015 Tryst Open Senior Freestyle Bronze Medal

Professional wrestling

* British Wrestling Revolution
** BWR Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* DDT Pro-Wrestling
** Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship ( 1 time)
* Discovery Wrestling
** Y Division Championship (1 time)
* Fight Forever Wrestling
** Fight Forever Men's World Championship (1 time, current)
* Impact Wrestling
** Impact Digital Media Championship ( 1 time)
** Glasgow Cup (2023)
* Insane Championship Wrestling
** ICW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Davey Boy
** ICW Tag Team Title Tournament (2016) – with Davey Boy
* New Generation Wrestling
** NGW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kid Fite and Lionheart
* Pride Wrestling
** N7 Championship (1 time)
* Pro Wrestling Elite
** PWE Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* '' Pro Wrestling Illustrated''
**Ranked No. 84 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the '' PWI 500'' in 2023
* Pro Wrestling Ulster
** PWU All-Ulster Championship (2 times)
* Reckless Intent Wrestling
** Reckless Intent World Championship (1 time)
** Reckless Intent UK Championship (1 time)
* Respect Pro Wrestling
** Respect Pro Wrestling Championship (1 time)
* Ring of Honor
** ROH Year-End Award (1 time)
*** Best Entrance (2020)
* Scottish Wrestling Alliance
** SWA Laird of the Ring Championship (1 time)
* Scottish Wrestling Entertainment
** SWE Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* Scottish Wrestling Network
** SWN Award (2 times)
*** Outstanding Recognition Award for Versatility in Sport (2018)
*** Adam's Wrestler of the Year (2018)
* What Culture Pro Wrestling / Defiant Wrestling
** WCPW Championship (1 time)
** Defiant Internet Championship (1 time)
** Kurt Angle Invitational Rumble (2016)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendry, Joe
1988 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Edinburgh
Scottish male professional wrestlers
Scottish male wrestlers
Wrestlers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland
British male sport wrestlers
21st-century male professional wrestlers
Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions
TNA/Impact Digital Media Champions