Joe Hendry’s famous stare into the camera didn’t come from some carefully mapped-out wrestling character meeting. The WWE star revealed that the signature move grew organically over time, and its roots actually trace back to Ricky Gervais’ David Brent from the original British version of The Office.
While speaking to Peter Rosenberg on Cheap Heat Live, Hendry was asked about the origins of the camera turn that has become a major part of his entrance and overall presentation. Hendry explained that a lot of his act wasn’t created all at once. Instead, he would try things and adjust them depending on how fans responded. Even his familiar hand gesture changed over the years after Hendry realized slowing it down generated a stronger reaction.
“The cool thing about my act is it evolved over time. Even since, I think, 2013 or 2014, I was doing this, but the hand wave used to be too fast. We’d burn 100 calories by the time my entrance was done. So I learned to kind of slow it down, and it gets a bigger reaction, to be honest with you.”
Hendry said the audience also helped shape his “We Believe” chant. He originally intended “I Believe in Joe Hendry” to be the catchphrase, but fans had another idea.
“The audience helped me with it because I remember I was doing a show once and I was like, ‘I’m going to go out there and the catchphrase is going to be, I Believe in Joe Hendry.’ And the audience started going, ‘We believe. We believe.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, okay. They want to chant We Believe.’ So it’s We Believe.”
The same process eventually helped create Hendry’s camera turn. Hendry initially couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it came from before remembering that the original version was much less dramatic than what fans see today.
“The camera thing, I can’t actually pinpoint. Oh, no, no. So again, it started off when I first did the turn. It was very quiet. It was like a sort of subtle turn to the camera.”
That’s when Hendry revealed the surprising inspiration behind it. He was a huge fan of the UK version of The Office, and David Brent’s habit of acknowledging the documentary camera gave him an idea for his wrestling character.
“I used to watch the UK Office a lot, and that’s my all-time favorite television. I just refuse to acknowledge the US version of The Office.”
Hendry then explained how he imagined David Brent acting if the character suddenly became a professional wrestler.
“I thought that if he was a wrestler, that’d be something he would do. He would kind of turn to the camera like this.”
What started as a tiny head movement eventually became the exaggerated camera turn wrestling fans immediately recognize today.
“In my original version of the music video, it was just a head tilt, and then it became more accentuated over time based on audience reaction.”
The David Brent influence actually goes even deeper than the camera stare. Hendry said Brent’s infamous music video from The Office also helped shape the style of his own wrestling music videos.
“He did a music video where he covered, you know, ‘If You Don’t Know Me by Now,’ and I’ve always based my music videos on that. So, you know, there’s a lot of influence there.”
Hendry then revealed that David Brent wasn’t the only ingredient. His character was essentially built from a bizarre combination of Brent and Tom Cruise during his infamous couch-jumping era.
“It was basically a combination of that and Tom Cruise. And I’m talking like jump-up-on-the-couch Tom Cruise.”
Hendry’s explanation shows just how much of his character has been built by throwing ideas out there and watching how audiences react. The camera turn started as a subtle David Brent-inspired head tilt before evolving into one of the most recognizable pieces of Hendry’s presentation.
Did you ever realize Joe Hendry’s camera turn was inspired by David Brent from The Office, and what do you think of the story behind it? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
