Joe Hendry has revealed that a former WWE star played a key role in shaping one of the most important decisions of his career — using his real name in wrestling.
Speaking on TMZ Inside The Ring, the reigning NXT Champion admitted he wasn’t originally convinced that “Joe Hendry” had the right sound for a sports entertainment career.
The advice came from his trainer, Big Damo — known to WWE fans as Killian Dain. According to Hendry, Damo encouraged him not to rush into creating a gimmick name without a clear long-term concept. “He was like, ‘Look, just use your own name because you don’t have anything that you’re super set on right now. Rather than rushing that or being something that you don’t want to use, just use your real name just now,’” Hendry recalled.
At first, Hendry questioned whether his birth name carried enough impact. “I remember at the time thinking, ‘Oh, does Joe Hendry have much of a ring to it?’”
However, that skepticism eventually turned into one of his biggest creative advantages.
As fans know, Hendry’s viral rise was fueled by musical parody videos — and he realized his name was incredibly flexible when it came to rhyming schemes. “I realized that I could say my name in different ways to rhyme in songs… Joe Hen, Joe Hendry… I can rhyme it with almost any song. So that really helped with my viral videos.”
The simplicity of using his real name gave him creative freedom — and authenticity — something that’s clearly paid off as he now sits atop NXT as champion.
Hendry also took the opportunity to correct a long-running online inaccuracy: despite what Wikipedia once stated, his legal name is Joe, not Joseph.
In hindsight, what once seemed like a placeholder decision ended up becoming the foundation of his brand — and arguably a major factor in his viral success and championship run.
