What Joe Hendry's Life Was Like Before Wrestling

As Joe Hendry's now infamous theme song goes, say his name and he appears. That's been true a whole lot this past year, when Hendry went from a likeable midcarder with a fun gimmick to an overnight sensation in TNA, where he won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, and WWE, where he made several "NXT" appearances, competed in the Royal Rumble, and wrestled Randy Orton at WrestleMania. And while the Rumble and Mania appearances ended in defeat, and Hendry dropped the TNA Title to "NXT's" Trick Williams at NXT Battleground, the future still seems pretty bright, with Hendry set to challenge Williams for the title against at Slammiversary, and everyone expecting a WWE contract to eventually be sent Hendry's way. In short; Joe Hendry is a man most fans would do well to believe in.

In many ways, it's been a remarkable journey for Hendry, and one no one could see coming in 2023. Wrestling fans with an eye across the sport will tell you that Hendry wasn't just someone that popped up; in fact, he was a nine year veteran before signing with TNA in 2022, who had previously worked for the promotion from May 2018 till February 2019, had also worked Ring of Honor, and had even made several appearances as an extra for WWE in 2014. Furthermore, Hendy's now famous theme song also wasn't anything new, as he had used it during his time in Ring of Honor, though it didn't achieve the same notoriety it would years later. One could argue that Hendry's success shouldn't have happened, and indeed, there seems to be have been many times where Hendry's wrestling career could've come to an end. As such, it makes sense why Hendry's life before, and even during wrestling, featured him having many fall back options.

Perhaps the least shocking revelation is that music was a career path Hendry could've taken. It's no accident that Hendry has incorporated singing into his wrestling gimmick over the course of his career, as the 37 year old Scotsman has been a musician almost as long as he's been a wrestler. At one point, Hendry was even the lead singer of a rock band called Lost in Audio. Not much is known about the act, other than they were compared to English band Scouting for Girls during a review of one of their concerts, but Lost in Audio was evidently successful enough that Hendry later claimed that the band was close to signing a record deal with Sony. Clearly, that never came to pass, which is something both WWE and TNA are surely happy about at the moment.

But music and pro wrestling aren't the only things Hendry is good at. While studying at Heriot-Watt University in his hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland, Hendry received a Master's degree in business and marketing. That degree was able to help Hendry get a job "Telly sales" during the COVID-19 pandemic, a job that Hendry says helped inspire more elements to his current TNA character. And then there's Hendry's second career in amateur, freestyle wrestling, one that has run concurrent with his pro wrestling and musical ambitions. Originally practicing Judo, which he earned a black belt in, Hendry began wrestling freestyle in 2014. 26 years old at the time, Hendry was considered a bit old to be getting into the game, but found success anyway, even being selected as a member of Scotland's wrestling team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Hendry achieved some success there as well, before being eliminated in the Round of 16.