Joseph Samuel Hendry (born 1 May 1988) is a Scottish professional wrestler and musician currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Smackdown brand. Known professionally as John Henry, he is a decorated amateur wrestler and has earned British Senior National Championships in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Prior to his professional wrestling career, he worked as a musician and uses his past experience in his professional wrestling work. Hendry writes and performs his own entrance music and videos.
Here is a look into his journey:
Early Life and Training
Hendry initially trained to become a professional wrestler with Damian Mackle, Mikey Whiplash, Robbie Brookside, and Marty Jones at the Source Wrestling School. His first Canadian tour was with SMASH Wrestling. He has also worked for Pro Wrestling Ulster.
Early Career
In 2013, Hendry began regularly appearing for Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), and was first introduced as a member of James R. Kennedy's stable, the Kennedy Administration. He entered into a rivalry with Big Damo, before feuding with fellow Kennedy Administration member Kenny Williams. Williams won the ICW Zero-G Championship during this time, and Hendry faced him several times for the title but was unable to win it. Hendry later formed tag team the Local Fire with Davey Boy. On 27 July 2019, Hendry was forced to leave ICW after losing to Leyton Buzzard in a singles match at Night 1 of Shug's Hoose Party 6.
Read also: JFU Wrestling Excellence
Hendry made his debut for New Generation Wrestling (NGW) in 2015, losing a match to Nathan Cruz before forming Team Scotland with fellow ICW wrestlers Davey Blaze, Lionheart and Kid Fite. Team Scotland often antagonised NGW Champion Nathan Cruz and eventually challenged Cruz to face them in an eight-man tag team match with Cruz's title on the line with the stipulation that if Cruz or any of his teammates were pinned, he would lose the title. Cruz retained his title in the eight-man tag team match in November 2015. Hendry, Lionheart and Kid Fite next appeared for NGW in May 2016, all three answering the NGW Tag Team Championship Open Challenge set by The UK's Biggest Tag Team (Stixx and Colossus Kennedy).
Hendry then began working for WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW). The first few weeks Hendry started a feud with Joseph Conners when, on 3 September, at WCPW Stacked Hendry was involved in a fatal four way for the WCPW Championship, in which, he was betrayed by Conners, who won the title. He faced Conners two times for the WCPW Title, but was defeated twice. After two defeats by the then WCPW Champion Drew Galloway, Hendry turned heel. On 6 March, at Exit Wounds, Hendry, Joe Coffey, Travis Banks, and B. T. Gunn formed The Prestige, a stable claiming something was wrong with professional wrestling and they were going to fix it. At the Mexican qualifier for the WCPW Pro Wrestling World Cup, Hendry defeated Martin Kirby by referee stoppage, becoming the WCPW Champion. On 2 October 2017, at WCPW Refuse to Lose '17, Hendry defended his championship against Will Ospreay. During the match, Marty Scurll cashed in his 'Magnificent Seven' briefcase (which he won earlier in the night from Hendry's stablemate El Ligero) to make the match a triple threat. Scurll then won the championship by submitting Hendry with the crossface chickenwing.
In 2016, Hendry made a few appearances for the American promotion Ring of Honor during the promotion's tour of the United Kingdom titled Reach for the Sky. Between 10 and 12 May 2018, Hendry was part of the television tapings for the reboot of World of Sport Wrestling.
On 24 May 2014, Romanian Wrestling Alliance (RWA) held its inaugural "The Revolution" PLE. On 6 October 2019, Hendry defeated Joe Coffey for the Y Division Championship.
From January to February 2019, Hendry was part of the World of Sport Wrestling UK tour, where he was largely used in tag matches.
Read also: John Dodson: Career Highlights
He also performed in Ring of Honor. On 8 August 2019, it was announced that Hendry was a free agent no longer, and had now signed a contract with ROH. Hendry made his first appearance as a full-time member of the ROH roster by interrupting Dalton Castle during a promo at Saturday Night at Center Stage on 24 August. Hendry would then show up as Castle's partner, the following night at Honor For All, where the two defeated Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger and Eli Isom). Hendry subsequently formed a tag team with Castle while also competing in singles matches at the same time.
Ring of Honor Championship Belt
Impact Wrestling/TNA
He first appeared in Impact Wrestling (renamed TNA in 2024) in 2018 before returning to the company in September 2022.
At Rebellion, Hendry teamed with Dirty Dango and Santino Marella to defeat The Design (Deaner, Angels, Callihan, and Kon) in a handicap match, after Callihan turned on Design by attacking Deaner. Following the event, Marella was attacked, and Hendry and Dango decided to investigate who attacked Marella. On the May 18 episode of Impact!, Hendry revealed that Dango was Marella's assailant and Dango would soon lay out Hendry while proclaiming "case closed." This led to Hendry defending the Digital Media Championship against Dango at Under Siege. On 9 September at Impact! 1000, Hendry and his tag team partner Yuya Uemura participated in the 20-man Feast or Fired match. Hendry told Uemura to grab briefcase number 4, which contained the pink slip, and Uemura was fired from Impact Wrestling. YouTuber Simon Miller reviewed Impact! 1000 on WhatCulture Wrestling's YouTube channel where he blamed Hendry for Uemura's firing. This led to Hendry and Miller attacking each other during the recording of Joe Hendry's Food Fight for Impact Wrestling's YouTube channel.
At Hard To Kill on 13 January 2024, Hendry interrupted the debut of A. J. Francis by playing a music video that mocked Francis and it culminated in Francis attacking Hendry with the assistance of DJ Whoo Kid. As a result, Hendry began feuding with Francis, who cost him a Digital Media Championship match against Crazzy Steve at Sacrifice. Hendry eventually faced Francis in a match on the 14 March episode of Impact!, which Hendry lost after Rich Swann betrayed him by hitting him with a steel chair and joined forces with Francis. It led to a match between Hendry and Swann at Rebellion, which Hendry lost due to interference by Francis and Shawne Merriman.
Read also: Read the full story of John Jurkovic
On July 5 episode of iMPACT!, Hendry defeated Jake Something to earn the final spot in the six-way elimination match for the TNA World Championship at Slammiversary, which Hendry failed to win after Josh Alexander turned on him by hitting him with a low blow and eliminated Hendry. On the 26 September episode of Impact!, Hendry defeated Frankie Kazarian to become the #1 contender for the TNA World Championship at Bound for Glory. At the event on 26 October, Hendry failed to beat Nic Nemeth for the title after interference by John Layfield. Hendry protested over the loss and demanded a rematch but Director of Authority Santino Marella told him that he had to work his way up the card to earn another title shot. Hendry began his title pursuit by beating Nemeth's brother Ryan Nemeth on the November 14 episode of Impact!. At Turning Point, Hendry won a six-way Turkey Bowl match by pinning Brian Myers, forcing him to wear the turkey suit. At Genesis, Hendry defeated Nemeth to become the new TNA World Champion. Over the next two months, Hendry would successfully defend his title against the likes of Matt Cardona, Jake Something, Ryan Nemeth, and Hammerstone.
On the April 3 episode of TNA Impact!, Frankie Kazarian attacked Hendry and injured his arm, which would restart their feud. Hendry was subsequently taken to a nearby hospital. Later that night, Kazarian declared that he would be calling his shot for the TNA World Championship at Rebellion in his home state of California. However, NXT's Ethan Page made a surprise return to TNA and declared that after speaking with TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella, he would be challenging Hendry for the title at Rebellion (due to defeating Hendry in a match earlier in the year on NXT). Later that night, TNA announced that Hendry would defend the TNA World Championship against both Kazarian and Page in a three-way match at Rebellion. At the event, Hendry would retain his TNA World Title against Page and Kazarian. This would lead to a match at Under Siege, where Hendry would team with Elijah to defeat the team of Trick Williams and Frankie Kazarian.
TNA World Heavyweight Championship
WWE
Hendry first made some brief non-wrestling appearances for WWE in 2014 before returning in 2024 on NXT through a working partnership between TNA and WWE. In 2025, Hendry became the first TNA World Champion to enter the Royal Rumble and have a match at WrestleMania.
On 18 June 2024, Hendry made his WWE in-ring debut on NXT as one of TNA's representatives in a 25-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Championship, where he was immediately eliminated by Frankie Kazarian. On the 9 July episode of NXT, Hendry appeared as Trick Williams' tag team partner after Williams' original tag team partner Je'Von Evans was taken out earlier that night to defeat NXT Champion Ethan Page and Shawn Spears. At Week 1 of The Great American Bash on 30 July, Hendry held his first live concert in WWE.
Hendry made his surprise WrestleMania debut, answering Randy Orton's open challenge at Night 2 of WrestleMania 41 after his original opponent Kevin Owens was unable to compete due to a legitimate neck injury. On 22 April 2025, Hendry returned to NXT calling out Trick Williams before throwing him out the ring with the help of NXT Champion Oba Femi. On May 6, Hendry matched up with Tank Ledger and Hank Walker in a 6 man tag match against the Darkstate (Dion Lennox, Cutler James and Osiris Griffin along with Saquon Shugars). Due to Trick Williams running interference to attack Hendry, Dark State won by pinfall. Later that night, Hendry interfered in the battle royal, allowing Elijah to eliminate Williams.
WrestleMania Logo
Musical Career and Persona
Hendry has been a musician for 10 years, and was the lead singer for a band named Lost in Audio (they were close to signing a deal with Sony Music), and has incorporated his prior career into his professional wrestling work.
Hendry went viral on social media with his theme tune, "I Believe In Joe Hendry", being released as a single. It peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart and number 6 on the UK Singles Sales Charts on 3 May 2024. The song peaked at number 4 on the Official Big Top 40 Charts.
As a face, Hendry was known for flamboyant ring entrances, usually parodying a famous song to mock his opponent. Examples of this include: Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" used during his feud with former manager James R. Kennedy, the EastEnders theme tune to mock Sha Samuels, and Limp Bizkit's "Rollin' " to mock Wolfgang. In Insane Championship Wrestling, he was known as the "Local Hero", referring to a section of Kerrang! Following a heel turn in March 2017, where Hendry was the leader of WCPW stable The Prestige, he became known as "The Prestigious One".
Amateur Wrestling Career
A black belt in Judo, Hendry transitioned to amateur freestyle wrestling in 2014 at the relatively late age of 26. He represented Team Scotland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Hendry went out of competition in the Round of 16, losing to Australia's Nicolaas Verreynne.
Wrestling Pictogram
Accomplishments
- British Senior National Championships in freestyle wrestling (2017)
- British Senior National Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling (2018)
Titles and Accomplishments
Here is a summary of John Henry's titles and accomplishments:
| Promotion | Championship | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| WCPW | WCPW Championship | Won on [Date], defeated [Opponent] |
| TNA | TNA World Championship | Won on [Date], defeated [Opponent] |