On a recent episode of the “Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy” podcast, Joe Hendry, a wrestler with TNA, shared his thoughts on the increased attention he’s been garnering following his highly-praised appearance on WWE NXT TV.
Below are some notable excerpts from the podcast:
Speaking about his debut on NXT which did exceptionally well on social media, Hendry said, “It’s actually [the most viewed] of the whole year now. My debut even surpasses WrestleMania in terms of viewership — not just on WWE’s video platform, but also their most viewed tweet. It’s close to becoming NXT’s most viewed Instagram reel of the year as well.”
When asked about handling his sudden surge in popularity, Hendry explained, “I’ve consistently put in hard work to create content that both wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans would enjoy. This year, however, is a little different. I’ve concentrated on improving myself, be it my physique, promo, in-ring work, and have been training hard when not taping. My focus has been on steady, realistic improvement rather than overnight success.”
He further added, “I learned from Moose, who approaches wrestling with the same dedication as his NFL career. Also, understanding the importance of timing has been crucial to me this year – it can exponentially increase the impact of your actions. A case in point was the billboards with just my face that I’ve wanted to do for years, but only rolled out during Clash at the Castle, when 20,000 wrestling fans were in my home country.”
On emulating John Cena, Hendry said, “For me, John Cena is an inspirational figure that I look up to. In past years when I wasn’t as famous, I had limited time with the audience so I focused heavily on all the memeable stuff. Now that I have more attention, I have the bandwidth to add more nuance to my character like Cena did when he transitioned from Basic Thuganomics to being the John Cena we know today. Now I can let a bit more of myself come through and I’m really enjoying this phase. It’s somewhat akin to The Rock and Stone Cold’s philosophy – ‘It’s just you with the volume turned up.’ ”