Subhojeet Mukherjee on February 11, 2026
Joe Hendry may be the new face of NXT as its reigning champion, but according to Hendry himself, the WWE door could’ve opened long before his 2025 signing—if he had chosen to walk through it.
In a new interview with Metro UK, the Scottish star revealed that WWE had been in the picture much earlier in his career, dating all the way back to 2014 when he appeared as an extra on an episode of Monday Night Raw as a lawyer for Rusev and Lana. But it wasn’t the segment that changed his trajectory—it was a conversation backstage.
“That conversation with William Regal was probably one of the most important moments in my career. I’ve never spoken about that before,” Hendry revealed, crediting the talk with Regal as a major turning point in how he approached the wrestling business. “I can remember most of that conversation, and it’s really guided a lot of my decisions in the professional wrestling business.”
Despite brushes with WWE over the years—including the 2016 United Kingdom Championship Tournament in Blackpool—Hendry chose not to pursue a contract at the time. And it wasn’t because WWE wasn’t interested.
“There are things we can talk about, things we can’t talk about,” he said coyly, before addressing the 2016 opportunity more directly: “I personally don’t think I was ready to be in WWE at that point. I felt I needed to travel the world to get the skills required to perform in WWE at the highest level, and discover who I was as a performer.”
Since officially joining WWE in November 2025 following his TNA departure, Hendry has become a fixture on NXT programming—and last week, he captured the NXT Championship. But that climb, Hendry says, wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t taken the long road. So it’sclear that Hendry’s rise feels all the more complete knowing it was on his terms, in his time.
Do you think Joe Hendry made the right call by holding off on WWE until he was ready? Or should he have joined back in 2016? Drop your thoughts and join the conversation below.
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