Joe Hendry (@joehendry) is a professional wrestler and a member of the WWE Raw roster. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Insight LIVE in Tampa, FL to discuss his latest parody song “Fire Logan Paul”, future plans for more parody songs, how he hilariously messed up a WWE try-out, why he decided to dye his hair blonde, making his WWE main roster debut, his WrestleMania 41 match with Randy Orton, how close he got to wrestling John Cena, which Championship he has his sights on next, and more!
So what’s the process when you’re writing a parody song about one of your opponents? What is the thought process of putting this together, and how do you pick the melody?
“So I think it’s a huge challenge to try and get something that is going to make the audience laugh, they’re going to remember, and you hope it goes viral as well. I remember I was working on this song, and I just wasn’t really sure what the big hook was going to be. The song was about me signing to Raw. So it started off with the ‘Raw, Raw, Joe Hendry’s signed to Raw.’ But then if I’m struggling with an idea, I’ll watch the previous week’s TV. Anytime I saw Logan about to speak, he wouldn’t be able to, there’d be so many boos. So I was like, I have to go straight after Logan. Sorry, Logan.”
What’s the thinking behind it? Is it to try to get the crowd to sing along? You’re trying to also embarrass your opponent? What are all the components there?
“You’ve nailed it right there. So basically, it’s two things. One is you want to say something that’s relevant to what you’re doing and the story and who you’re working with, but you also want the audience to be able to sing along, and the easiest way to do that is to use a song that everybody knows. That’s where it gets really challenging when you have to create a song that you’re going I have to write something so catchy that’s not only relevant to the situation, but the audience is going to be able to sing after hearing it only one time. That’s a really hard thing to do, but when you nail it, you know you’ve nailed it.”
I feel like your career took a huge upward turn when you dyed your hair blonde. So what went into dyeing your hair blonde?
“So there are two reasons, I would say. The main reason is that it was around Christmas time. You know when you’re gift shopping for people. I was kind of walking through a store and there was a bunch of wrestling figures. I was like, I’ll take a look at this. I was looking at the action figures, and at the time, I just looked a bit generic. I just thought, if I had an action figure, it would be a bit of a boring action figure. I remember, in various wrestling video games, people would make me, and I’d go it’s a bit of a generic wrestling character. Then I thought, well, what if I dyed my hair? It was when we were in lockdown in the UK, I started watching wrestling that I hadn’t really seen before. I’d kind of missed that period of the 90s where Sycho Sid was starting to get towards the world title. I was like, he’s awesome. This guy’s wrestling! That kind of inspired me as well. So I decided I’d dye my hair blonde, and that’s why I was doing Power bombs and choke slams when I had no business to be doing them.”
Where are you actually recording these, are you recording them in your apartment, your house. What’s the deal?
“Actually, I could drop an exclusive right here for people. Because this is actually very relevant. So this is an exclusive. I haven’t told anyone anywhere, but I have recorded an album with WWE Music, and it’s going to drop this summer. We recorded most of that in New York at the WWE Studios. So what I’ve done now is the microphones that we have there, I have basically replicated the setup back home now, so I don’t need to fly to New York to do it. I can send stuff in, and we can work on it back and forth. So that’s one of the things that makes these songs work, is because they’re fast and they’re topical, so we can basically, we obviously did the Logan Paul song on TV, but we were able to just get it done that week, because we could send files back and forth. But yes, there is an album coming out.”
Is it an album full of all original songs, or have we heard some of these songs already?
“Well, I will say, they are all original songs. I won’t say any more than that; they are all original songs.”
You’ve had these moments with WWE in 2014 you’re probably thinking, it’s right around the corner, I’m going to get signed, and then you end up becoming the 10-year overnight success.
“There was a time, I think, in 2016 where it was looking like I might have been a part of the UK tournament, and I’m glad that I wasn’t, because I don’t feel I was ready for it. Because I feel like, back then, I was doing my entrances, they were getting views, and I was operating on this level of my entrances. But at that point, I had my debut two or three years previous. I would have been up against guys like Pete Dunne and Trent Seven, who were seasoned in-ring professionals at that point. So I feel like it was almost good that I didn’t get that opportunity then, and kind of took a different path, and I feel like everything has happened for me when I’ve been ready for it and in the right order. I wouldn’t change a thing. I love the path that I’ve taken.”
How did your WWE tryouts go? Were you ever close?
“So I’ll tell you now. I’ve messed up a WWE tryout worse than anyone ever has. I’ve never told this story before. So yeah, we do the tryout, and we’re getting a bunch of feedback. So William Regal is telling us, ‘You’ve done a good job, need to focus on physiques. You need to focus on your technique.’ I’m thinking, all right, cool. So I go into catering. All the other guys are talking about how good the cake is in catering. I’m like, these guys, we’ve just been told to work on our physiques, and they’re eating cake. I’m going to show them that I’m eating rice and chicken. He’s going to see that, and he’s going to go, he’s coachable. So I’m sitting there with my rice and chicken. So, William Regal comes down, sits with us all. This is the awesome thing about William Regal, he sat down with us for like two hours and just told us, this is what wrestling is. I can remember almost every word that he said, and it helps me to this day. But the main point was that you as a wrestler is about building trust with the audience, so when the audience see you, they know that they are going to get value. They’re going to be entertained. It’s not just the big wins, like we talked about, the pay-per-views and the TVs, it’s the house shows, it’s the fan interactions, it’s everything. He made me realize that about the business, but he’s given us these amazing lessons. I’m sitting there with my chicken and rice, and he’s in the middle of this very impassioned speech, and while I’m chewing, this little piece of rice just falls down the back of my throat, and I just try and clear my throat a little bit to get rid of it, and I inhale the piece of rice. So I’m in a situation where I got two choices, right? I can either just cough and interrupt this story, oh, sorry, my bad, and move on. Or you can just say, You know what? I’m going to try and clear my throat silently. So he’s telling the story, and I go, I’m going to do that. I just end up accidentally inhaling another eight grains of rice. So he’s telling this story, and I’m there, and I’m like, and the guy sitting next to me is like, What are you doing? He’s in the middle of a story. I basically spat rice all over the table where everyone’s eating, and he’s telling the story. So from his perspective, he’s telling this story, and I’ve just gone, oh yeah [coughed up rice]. So maybe that was the reason. Who knows? But no, he sold it beautifully. He just says, ‘Can’t take you anywhere, Joe.’ And then walked off. So that was a comedy gold response.”
Well, you’ve been the TNA World Champion. You’ve been the NXT Champion. What’s the next one you have your sights set on?
“That’s such a tough question to answer, because you have different focuses at different points. I used to be like, I have to sign with WWE. I have to be there by this year, and I have to do that. Actually, when I was on the Indies, that got quite exhausting, that way of thinking, and I shifted my focus. I remember the day it happened. I was wrestling for a company called North Wrestling in Newcastle, England, and I did a parody video of Bon Jovi on Scotty 2 Hotty. I remember the audience just went nuts. There was like 200 people there, but they all went nuts. I thought, You know what? If this is as big as it gets, that’s cool. This is my job. I’m committed. I am a pro wrestler. If it never gets bigger than this, I know I killed it. I know I entertain those fans, and I’m going to give my best to entertain the fans no matter what I’m doing. When I shifted my focus to delivering value for the fans, rather than I want this belt. I want this. I want that. That’s when things really took off. I feel like now I’m in a phase where I feel like if I just commit to entertaining the audience as best as I can, and doing the absolute best job I can, all those things that I want will come to me. That said, Intercontinental Championship, please.”
You made it really clear that you wanted to have a match with John Cena before he retired. The last time you were on my show last year, you said, I’m going to put this out on the world. I’m manifesting this. How close were you to having that match with John Cena?
“I mean, I don’t know. I think the thing is, to me, it’s something either happens or it doesn’t. Ultimately, I have to put the responsibility on myself. I didn’t wrestle John Cena because I didn’t do enough to make me an obvious choice to wrestle John Cena. So I didn’t do enough somewhere along the way, and that I feel led into the motivation that I needed in NXT, because it made me realize. Because if you think about it, I’m going, I’ll wrestle at the Royal Rumble, I’ll wrestle at WrestleMania, and I’m saying this crazy stuff, and it’s happening. So I think that gave me a reminder that you just can’t take progress for granted. You have to work for everything. I was like, All right, okay, I got to take things up another level now, and I think it inspired me to work harder. So again, I have no regrets, because I look back and go, yeah, maybe could have been stronger in this area, this area, this area, but I won’t let that happen again. The next thing I want to put out there, I’ll make sure I get it.”
Take us backstage to WrestleMania. 41 Randy’s music hits. He’s out there. There’s this long, long, long pause before your music hits. What are you thinking in that moment?
“I mean, that is hard to put into words. I was standing there for what felt like a long time. When all this is going on, it feels pretty surreal. There were definitely a few moments where I was like, This is real life, isn’t it? This isn’t like some elaborate dream that I’m having. But I remember being in Gorilla, I was watching the video package for Randy’s 20th WrestleMania and I was like, this is a really good video package. I was like, This is great. Then I was like, oh, it’s me, all right. I’m about to go out. Just a moment where I kind of got lost in it. And then they were like, right, go. And then so I’m standing in front of the video wall, I’m doing my pose, and I’m just like, This is nuts. I was there the whole time he was doing the promo, it’s almost impossible to put it into words. The door opens, I do the spin, and it was just like this wall of energy and noise. I was just like, wow. I still remember exactly what I saw. That’s one of the things about wrestling, is I don’t know if, like, fans realize this, this is kind of a wrestler thing, but sometimes, if you have a moment in wrestling, if you watch it back on YouTube or whatever, you kind of don’t remember it from the first person point of view, through your own eyes, you’d remember it as you’re watching two people wrestle or whatever. But that’s why I make sure, with these big moments, to just really try and take a mental picture of what’s going on. I’ll never forget making the walk at WrestleMania. It was surreal. It was incredible.”
How many blue shirts and pairs of white pants do you own?
“So this is a point of major contention. It’s less than you think, and the reason I say that is because people are like what? But if you think about it, the shirt is actually only worn for probably 15 minutes a month really. Because it’s like, I’ll wear it maybe one segment a month. It’s not one, that’s what I’ll say. It’s not one, but it’s not much more than one.”
What about the white pants?
“Again, it’s not one. It’s not much more than one.”
What is Joe Hendry grateful for?
“Opportunity, that I got to learn new skills in NXT, and family.”
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