Joe Hendry jokes that he thought he died following his IMPACT Digital Media Championship win because he wasn't used to getting booked well.
Hendry returned to IMPACT Wrestling at Bound For Glory 2022, a few years after he worked for the company in 2018. Having spent some time with competing for Ring of Honor and performing in Europe, Hendry honed his craft and reinvented himself prior to his arrival. Not long after his return, Hendry defeated Brian Myers to win the IMPACT Digital Media Championship.
Speaking on The Paltrocast with Darren Paltrowitz, Hendry discussed the fans' response to him and his popular theme song. He recalled how he worried that people wouldn't know who he was when he returned to the company. He stated that he thought IMPACT must have put some plants in the crowd, based on the response he got, and he was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was wrong.
"I’ll be honest, this is a huge shock to me. I’m loving it, but I was not expecting this. I remember we were discussing it at the pay-per-view when I debuted, and I was kind of thinking, 'Ah, they’re not gonna know who I am.' As a wrestler, you’ve gotta be a pessimist. When I walked out, I thought management had put plants up on the ramp with signs, and I thought, ‘This is a bit obvious.’ Then I got back and they’re like no, that was just the fans. I was just like, wait, what? So the pay-per-view went pretty well," Hendry said.
Hendry then detailed how he had a remarkable experience at the television taping the following day. He stated that, perhaps somewhat caused by jet-lagged, he felt like he had died because he wasn't used to getting booked well, so it was hard to process winning the title. Hendry then joked that he briefly thought he was living in a simulation. Once he realized that he was indeed in the land of the living, he got very excited.
"The TV [taping] the next day, I don’t know what happened. I’m not questioning it. I genuinely had a moment on the second set of tapings where the show was still going on, I’d just won the belt. Me and Brian Myers were on first. I thought, I just need to take a walk for five minutes and just register what’s happened. No one noticed me taking five minutes to walk out because the fans are all watching the show, they’re pre-occupied with that. I remember just walking through Sam’s Town and I thought you know what, I’ve got my order done at Dunkin’ Donuts. I’d just like a black coffee. I’m walking there, and I’m going, 'What’s going on? Something’s up.' It just felt so weird to me. You know the whole Mandela Effect? You just feel like you’ve accidentally drifted into a parallel universe or something like that. I’m walking through the lobby and I was kind of jet lagged as well, and I was walking through the lobby, and I had this moment where I went, I’ve died. That’s what it is. I’ve died. Of course it went this well. That’s how not used to being booked well I am. So I actually thought I may have died and was living out of a simulation. But it turns out this has actually happened, so I’m very excited," Hendry said.
In the same interview, Hendry discussed working with the IMPACT creative team. Check out his comments here.
Hendry previously stated that IMPACT has the best TV wrestling product in the industry right now. Click here to see what he had to say.
Check out the card for next week's episode of IMPACT Wrestling here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
