Joe Hendry opens up about his rise to stardom, becoming the WWE NXT Champion
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Over 60,000 fans packed Allegiant Stadium for Night 2 of WrestleMania 41 with the hype of the first night still in the air and anticipation for anything to happen at WWE’s most anticipated event of the year.
The star of WWE, Randy Orton, stormed into the ring, waiting for his opponent. It could have been anyone since he was the champion and was left without a rival. But that night in Las Vegas was something special. Not just about Orton making his 20th WrestleMania, but about the man who walked through the curtain and onto the entrance ramp.
“Say his name and he will appear.”
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Joe Hendry enters WrestleMania 41 on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium on April 20, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Craig Melvin/WWE via Getty Images)
Every pro wrestling fan in the house knew who was coming out. It can only be one person.
“I believe in Joe Hendry.”
Then the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) World Champion, Hendry’s appearance was a permanent fixture in the show. It was the first time a TNA contract star appeared at WrestleMania. And it just went to show that a viral push from pro wrestling fans can go a long way.
“It was an unbelievable moment,” Hendry recalled on Fox News Digital. “I think that’s a time beyond your wildest dreams. There are times when you have to go, ‘Is this a dream? Walking out of WrestleMania?’ I remember walking, backstage, seeing the vignette marking Randy Orton’s 20 years at WrestleMania, and for me to be the enemy and the surprise enemy, it was a great moment. And thank you very much.”
It was about seven months after his WrestleMania appearance that Hendry was no longer a TNA wrestler, but a WWE star. Thrown into the NXT roster, he was already familiar with the rising stars on the roster.
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Hendry quickly made a name for himself. The Scottish star may have lost his title shot at the Iron Survivor Challenge at the NXT Finals but redeemed himself earlier this month.
The Scottish wrestler won a ladder match over Dion Lennox, Jackson Drake, Keanu Carver, Ricky Saints, Sean Legacy and Shiloh Hill to capture the vacated NXT Championship.
Joe Hendry celebrates his win during NXT at the WWE Performance Center on Feb. 3, 2026 in Orlando, Florida. (Matt Pendleton/WWE via Getty Images)
“It means the world,” he said of becoming the NXT champion. “It’s very humbling that with the number of talented people we have in the Operations Center and at NXT that I’m privileged to be a champion and represent the brand. It’s a surreal feeling, but it’s a responsibility I take seriously and want to bring to NXT.”
Hendry took the road less traveled to become a pro wrestler.
Inspired by WWE video games, Hendry told Fox News Digital that he was “absolutely obsessed” with the game as he watched wrestlers from the Attitude Era and earlier compete against each other. Welcome to other things that make pro wrestlers go from backstage tweeners to immortal icons like ring gear, vignettes, entrance songs and more.
Hendry had gold medals in freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling before his career took off. He competed in Inana Championship Wrestling in Scotland before moving on to Discovery Wrestling and New Generation Wrestling. He appeared in Ring of Honor and World of Sport Wrestling before landing in Impact Wrestling, which later returned to its original name of TNA.
But when did Joe Hendry start believing in Joe Hendry?
“I remember when I got my black belt in judo, it was the first thing I finished in my life,” he said. “I had started a lot of things and stopped them. And when I did that, I was like wow, I accomplished the goal. Then after that point, I realized that for a lot of people, the hard part is that they get too close and just push it over the line, I think as humans, that’s something that we all find difficult, but sometimes you need to give yourself permission to win and go take it all the way to the end.
“Thank you, that’s what I was able to do in the ladder match and become the NXT champion.”
Joe Hendry during the Men’s Royal Rumble match during the WWE Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium on Feb. 1, 2025. (Photos by Joe Camporeale/Imagn)
Hendry now sits atop the NXT roster as champion and the face of the brand. But he’s not the only Scotsman to do so on the WWE roster.
Drew McIntyre is the undisputed WWE Champion as he prepares to defend his title at WrestleMania 42.
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“It was Drew who told me that Scotland is 0.068% of the world’s population, but we have a very large percentage of WWE titles. So, I’m very proud to be someone who worked with Drew. The way people talk about Undertaker in the locker room, that’s what we saw Drew McIntyre when we were independent and he didn’t see our Undertaker now. to be NXT champion at the same time is an amazing feeling when he challenged me we work together He always makes me better and brings out the best in me.
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