IMPACT is saying goodbye to Joe Hendry today, as the combat sports star has opted not to re-sign with the company. Hendry has many pots in the fire, so to speak, from wrestling in World of Sport, to wanting a future in MMA and now apparently starting his own t.v. series. Hendry is pursuing his own independent show via Patreon. which he’s yet to launch.
Hendry had announced a ‘retirement’ not that long ago to pursue an MMA career, but that appears to be in flux or just a story line for now. He hasn’t appeared on IMPACT in a while, so his departure isn’t that much of a surprise, though the futures of Katrina and Grado are unknown at this time.
Hendry was a hell of a wrestler for the brand, and this should be seen as a bit of a loss for the company.
In Other News…
Pete Dunne doens’t know what literally means. He also has no desire to move to Orlando for NXT, perfectly content staying in the British scene, under the….NXT banner. Huh….ok. Talking to The National, Dunne said that he would remain in the UK if given a choice of either NXT brand, due to his passion for the scene. However, it should be noted the British wrestling scene existed before Dunne, it just wasn’t as vibrant or thriving. He’s quoted as saying;
If I had the option to go to main roster, if I had the option to go more full time in Orlando I’d still be here because I’ve been passionate about British wrestling because I’ve been a part of this when it was literally non-existent. So to bring it to this point is just exciting to see how far we can keep pushing it.
Josh Barnett holds no ill-will towards Jay White for their unplanned confrontation last year during NJPW’s tour of the U.S. Barnett and Jim Ross called the Long Beach Show at ringside, where Jay White whipped Juice Robinson into the barricade; knocking Ross on his ass and banging him up. As Barnett tells it, he looked to White for him to apologize to some degree, but White instead started jawing with the former UFC Heavyweight Champion, causing Barnett to go after White.
When asked about the situation on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Barnett said;
I am not implying any ill-will on Jay White and Juice Robinson’s part and I don’t believe that at all. But at the time they were whipping each other into the railings and the railings were not secure because they were exploding up into the air practically and they went through and came over and looked at us and I was like oh man and BOOM a 230lb Juice Robinson goes right into that railing and it smashed right into the table and just ripped the corner of that table into JR and he just completely collapsed underneath and he hits his head, smashes up I don’t know what and I look over and see people immediately tending to him and I look at Jay White and it was a tense situation and I just wanted him to give me some acknowledgement that he f*cked up and that’s it. I don’t know these guys but I tend to feel that there is a lot of disrespect in modern professional wrestling towards old timers and I feel like there is a lot of folks that look as wrestling as being nothing to do with combat sports and nothing to do with legitimate wrestling and that its all part or all worked and who cares, screw kayfabe and you don’t actually need to know how to do anything for real and all these guys that think otherwise are dinosaurs and are just haters and screw those dudes.
Barnett can be a long-winded speaker, so for more quotes, click here, but he also goes on to say that he’s apparently done with NJPW, because the company is no longer giving AXS footage to produce, instead pre-producing the content and sending it over. He also believes that people in NJPW tried to “torpedo” he and Ross internally at NJPW, which would further highlight why they aren’t part of NJPW anymore. He also goes on to slam infamous NJPW ref, Red Shoes for the Ross spot fiasco, claiming Red Shoes didn’t do his job in getting the match under control. The whole thing is a hell of a read.
Quick Hits – Conrad Thompson revealed that he negotiated the Undertaker’s appearance on Double or Nothing through ‘Takers representative, and the going rate for the Dead Man is a whopping $60,000 for three hours. WWE has announced that the 2020 Royal Rumble will be held at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.