Joe Hendry Reveals Surprising Inspiration For Current In-Ring Style

Joe Hendry has revealed adopting the in-ring style of a surprising former WWE Champion has ultimately brought him to the point of being a star in TNA Wrestling and WWE NXT.

Speaking with Inside The Ropes, Hendry revealed he was unsure about his future in pro wrestling at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic but he received inspiration while watching old Sycho Sid matches while training at home to the point he decided he wanted to be the Sid of the modern era. 

"Mark Haskins and I were flying out to wrestle The Briscoes. Me, Mark and Vicky Haskins all got on the plane at Heathrow to Las Vegas. Everything was fine. When we got off the plane, Mark just shouted, 'The world's shut down!' We went to the hotel and I was told that if I didn't get a flight home there was a very real chance I was going to be stuck in America. My dog was at home, so I had to leave, and that was my Ring of Honor run over. I had just started to build up a bit of steam and that was it done. And then wrestling was taken away from me for two years, no momentum, no leverage, and I had to find a way to get back," Hendry said.

"I started to accept that wrestling might be over, and I think sometimes you have to let go of a dream to actually achieve it. I feel like I personally and professionally had a couple of rock bottom moments around that time, and I feel like I needed that to build myself back up. I got super into weightlifting programmes, powerlifting and bodybuilding. I bulked up to 265 pounds and I would work out for two hours every day because I bought all the gym equipment. That's all I was doing, just working out. In the background, I was watching old WWF stuff that I'd never seen before," Hendry continued.

"I was watching the rise of Sycho Sid and I thought this guy kicks ass. I thought I'm just going to be Sid if he was in the modern era, with the Joe Hendry character. I took a little bit of that influence with my moveset, doing more power stuff. That influence in-ring has brought me to where I am today."

Joe Hendry is currently featured across both TNA and WWE NXT and the two companies reached an "unprecedented" agreement for Hendry to train at the WWE Performance Center while maintaining his indy bookings. Hendry is under contract with TNA through the end of 2025.