Joe Hendry has wrestled all over the world but he’s especially fond of his work with Ring of Honor. And in a recent interview, Hendry explained how both he and ROH managed to overcome dreadful circumstances with the COVID pandemic.
In the interview, Hendry described how he and other ROH wrestlers were paid their full salaries despite no shows taking place. this money was critical for Hendry as it helped him pay off some very important debts. As he put it,
“If it wasn’t for Ring of Honor, I would not have a house. I have a house because of Ring of Honor. So it’s the house that Honor built, you know. I’ll never not have gratitude for that.”
Hendry went on to express his gratitude by doing extra work for the company, even when he was unable to wrestle. He started putting on these extra online shows like “Technique Tuesday” and “Making the Moveset”, hoping that, if the time for cutting costs came around, ROH would look at his additional work and find another reason to keep him.
Joe Hendry wanted his loyalty to ROH rewarded, and it was
All of Hendry’s work did pay off as he managed to get booked on ROH’s Final Battle show in 2021. Speaking to SP3 of Tru Heel Heat, Joe Hendry explained how that arrangement was made:
“So I phoned him [Greg Gilleland, ROH’s General Manager at the time] and I said, ‘listen, all that extra content that I did, I’m cashing that in now. I’m cashing that in and I’m asking, I want to be on that Final Battle pay-per-view’.
He’s like, ‘alright well run it by Hunter [Johnston, a.k.a. Delirious]’. So I phoned the booking team and I said ‘listen like this is the situation I want to be on Final Battle. I’ve done all this extra content, I want to cash that in, that’s what I’m asking for, for actual loyalty, I want something back and I want to perform at this show.’
I knew I had to knock it out of the park and I got through there and I said, ‘look, fly me in a week early.’ I knew if the White House was going to change travel, they would do it on a Monday. So I flew in like it was 10 days early and I quarantined in a hotel for like 10 days because I said I don’t care as long as I get in.
I got in the country and I quarantined and thankfully my COVID test was negative and went out of there. I had one of the best performances of my career and I genuinely believe that’s what led to this situation with IMPACT Wrestling.”