Joe Hendry recently caught up with Inside The Ropes’ Kenny McIntosh.
Having signed with Ring of Honor in 2020, Hendry found himself on hiatus as the world shut down due to the COVID pandemic and virtually all wrestling went on hiatus until further notice. Feeling at some point that his career as a professional wrestler was over, Hendry took inspiration from former WWE champions and began to focus on reinventing himself for an eventual return to the ring.
He said: “Mark Haskins and I were flying out to wrestle the Brisco brothers. Me, Mark and Vickie Haskins all got on a flight from Heathrow to Las Vegas. Everything was going great. As we got off the plane, Mark screamed, ‘The world has shut down!’ I got to the hotel and they said if I couldn’t make my flight home I would very likely be stranded in the US. The dog was at home so I had to leave. That killed my chances with Ring of Honor. I was just starting to gain momentum and that was it. I then spent two years out of wrestling with no momentum or impact and had to find a way to come back.”
“I started to accept that wrestling might be over for me. I think sometimes you have to give up on your dreams to actually achieve them. I feel like I hit a couple of rock bottoms around that time, both personally and professionally, and I think those experiences were what I needed to grow again. I got really into weightlifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding. I got up to 265 pounds, bought all the gym equipment, and trained two hours a day. That’s all I did. In the background I’d be watching old WWF shows that I’d never seen before.
“I was watching the rise of Psycho Sid and I thought, this guy is incredible. I thought if he was around today, he’d be Sid with the Joe Hendry character. I incorporated a bit of that influence into my moves, more power moves. That influence in the ring has got me where I am today.”
