Joe Hendry's IMPACT Wrestling run was short lived, and he thinks led to a lot of incorrect perceptions.
The UK standout appeared at IMPACT's tapings from June through September in 2018, coming in once a month and effectively working seven matches for the brand. However, he left after their Mexican tour, and he spoke to Fightful and cleared the air as to why.
"It’s really weird, this perception. The thing with Impact! taught me a lot about perception and the reason is because I was probably only there four times because I didn’t have a VISA. It’s as simple as that. Unless I got a VISA, nothing was going to happen. So, it’s like to me, I saw it as four shows. I went out and had fun on the shows. This was back when I was drank. I had fun drinking with Grado and Abyss. I had a lot of great memories from Impact! Wrestling. But, people, perception wise, saw it as a failure, you know what I mean? Like I say, it’s one of these things that it just taught me a lot about what career moves to make and things like that because really I didn’t know that people would see that as a failure for only the few shows. In my mind its like, it seemed like a good opportunity at the time, so why not do it? But, then again I wasn’t under contract. They didn’t have my VISA, so unless it’s going somewhere it was only ever going to be short lived," Hendry clarified.
Hendry had the opportunity to make his career with IMPACT much more permanent home. He said that there's no heat between the two sides, it's just that there were better offers on the table, both financially and creatively for him.
"I don’t usually go into the business aspect of it too much, but I was made an offer for that to be in place, but I think what I really respected was they were one of the companies I was speaking to, I just felt that it wasn’t the right deal for me. I just felt like I was worth more and could contribute more. Credit to Scott [D’Amore], he didn’t doubt my talent for a second. He was like, “I have no doubt that you’ll be successful, but we just can’t do any more than that right now.” I respected. But, like, I think to me, I had a bit of chip on my shoulder to go, “No, I can contribute at a higher level than that.” It’s not about the money, I just knew that if I went in I wouldn’t be a fixture with that deal. I wouldn’t be in the main event scene any time soon and I felt like I could do more," Hendry stated.
A year after leaving IMPACT Wrestling, Hendry would sign with Ring of Honor. This led to many thinking that there was a bad falling out between IMPACT and Hendry, but the latter says that's not the case at all.
"I don’t want to give off this impression that there’s any beef between me and Impact. I had a great time and I learned a lot about my career, and like I said, VISAs are a pain in the ass. So, I know it’s difficult. But, yeah people feel like it was this failed falling out or whatever, but it just wasn’t the right deal for me. It wasn’t the right deal for Impact! at the time. It just wasn’t to be. I wish them all the best and they wished me all the best. So, there’s absolutely no hard feelings at all. I wish them all the best. It’s just I am where I’m supposed to be," said Hendry. "I feel like Ring of Honor got what I was about and the fact I was paired with Dalton [Castle], who just had the World title as soon as I came in, that to me was like, “Okay, I feel like I’ve made the right decision.”
You can see our full interview with Joe Hendry at the top of the page. When wrestling gets started up again, you'll be able to catch him on ROH HonorClub, but for now you can see him on Youtube, as well as social media.
