During a recent appearance on the “Insight with Chris Van Vliet” podcast, TNA World Champion Joe Hendry looked back on his “validating experience” of his WWE NXT debut in June of last year.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On booking two flights to Orlando for NXT: “So we had two flights booked because we suspected it was going to go down for a couple of days. But when the interview took place, I did not know. When the phone went back on, I knew. The timing is crazy. So I got on the plane to Orlando, and yes, I had the appearance the next day. Obviously, you have a dream outcome for how you want it to go, but I could never have expected the response that it got, and I have a theory as to why it got the response that it did.”
On the attention of his NXT appearance: “So it actually became WWE’s most watched video on X, it was 21-22 million views, something like that. It was an insane amount. It was the most-watched video. I think the reason is because of this. So in TNA, my music will play for a certain amount of time, and then I’ll walk to the ring. Whenever I see signs, I’ll point. I’ll get up. I’ll do my hand waving, I’ll get in. I’ll do the spin around and hold. In NXT they wanted to try this thing where they load you in and it’s the same. So you’re there right at the start. Is what I did for Mania as well, right? So it’s ‘Say his name and he appears, I believe in Joe Hendry,’ and then you do the spin around.”
On what was changed for his entrance: “Now the timing is slightly different. So, usually I know exactly what I’m going to do at each point. I had not figured in that I would have an additional 30 seconds that I didn’t know what to do with. So I actually just reacted organically. I was just looking around. I was like, damn, all this work that I put in over the years, it was just such a validating moment. I was just looking around, and it was very real. I think it’s that real moment that people could feel. I see it in the comments, and I think when wrestling has those moments of you’re creating something, but you have those really organic moments. I think when the two come together that people really like that.”
During a recent edition of the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, Tommy Dreamer expressed his belief that a heel turn for Sami Zayn is coming soon. He said,
“Coming up, if I’m just watching, I feel Sami’s going to turn and you have three with Paul Heyman and then that would set up the perfect Roman return, if you had Punk, Jey and Roman. Again, when we’re talking about things not making sense, it’s three babyfaces against two heels.”
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