WWE: Joe Hendry on His 7/9 NXT Appearance, Damon Kemp Written Out of NXT on Tuesday’s Show & More on His WWE Departure, More News

Joe Hendry Comments on His Appearance on Tuesday’s NXT Show

Tuesday’s WWE NXT show featured NXT talent Joe Hendry making another appearance for WWE’s NXT brand. Throughout the show, Hendry was teased to be Trick Williams’ mystery tag team partner following Je’Von Evans being taken out by Brooks Jensen. These teases eventually led to Hendry making his surprise appearance for Williams’ tag team match against Ethan Page and Shawn Spears in the main event of the show.

Fightful held a recent interview with Hendry. One of the topics discussed included Hendry’s thoughts about his appearance on Tuesday’s NXT show.

“The thing I love about this, everybody hits me up throughout the week. The best part is, I don’t need to lie to anybody because I genuinely don’t know until the last moment. I love it. If I knew I was going to be doing all these cool things a week or a month in advance, you can overthink it. When everything just happens, it feels really organic, and people get those organic reactions.

It was a lot of fun. It’s so much fun. It’s everything you would want it to be. How crazy is this. Signed to TNA, getting to work NXT, at the same time can still do cool indies and you get to travel the world. The other week when Jeff Hardy came back and we’re all in the ring together. ‘What is going on?’ It was all worth it. All the struggle. It was all worth it.“

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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More on Damon Kemp’s Departure from WWE

As noted before, NXT talent Damon Kemp’s contract with WWE expired this past Monday and has departed from the company.

Tuesday’s NXT show featured Kemp being officially written out of WWE’s NXT brand and the company itself. In a segment taking place in the dreaded NXT parking lot, Charlie Dempsey and No Quarter Catch Crew were seen closing the trunk of a car and Dempsey yelling stating that “mistakes will not be tolerated” implying that Kemp was in the trunk.

Dave Meltzer reported in a special preview edition of this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that Kemp is techincailly still under contract with WWE for the next five weeks despite his recent statement.

Those spoken to close to the situation reportedly confirmed that the reason for Kemp’s departure was due to a contract expiration situation and WWE’s decision to not renew his contract. Meltzer reported that due to Kemp’s departure was not due to him being released, this means he will not be given a 30-day no-compete clause once his contract officially expires.

Meltzer reported that Kemp had been informed earlier this week that they were not going to offer him a new deal and the general reaction within WWE over his departure was one of surprise.

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WWE News & Notes

Wednesday’s WWE Speed show on Twitter featured Baron Corbin defeating Angelo Dawkins to advance to the Finals of WWE’s newest #1 Contender’s tournament for the WWE Speed Championship. Corbin will be facing off against the winner of Ilja Dragunov vs. Carmelo Hayes in the Finals.

Tuesday’s NXT show also featured Cedric Alexander and Ashante “Thee” Adonis making their surprise returns to WWE’s NXT brand.

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that his sources stated that TNA talent and current TNA Digital Media Champion AJ Francis, former Top Dolla in WWE, was in attendance backstage at Tuesday’s NXT show at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Sapp reported that the reason for Francis’ visit is currently not known nor if NXT officials currently have any plans for potential future appearances for him.

As noted before, this past Monday’s WWE RAW show in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada featured Rhea Ripley making her surprise return from injury. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE’s current internal roster list for their RAW brand currently has Ripley listed as a babyface while the rest of Judgement Day are still listed as a heels.

WWE recently released a new video on their WWE Vault channel on YouTube featuring Pro Wrestling NOAH legend Takeshi Morishima’s tryout matches for the company in 2008.

Variety reported that Drew McIntyre recently signed a contract with The Paradigm Talent Agency for representation in all areas of entertainment.

The Miz recently released a trailer video for his upcoming episode of WWE Legends: Biography on A&E. In the video trailer, John Cena gave his thoughts about his belief that The Miz is the most underrated WWE talent of all-time. Cena stated “He’s the most, not one of the most, the most underrated WWE superstar in the history of the business.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

As noted before, WWE backstage interviewer and WWE The Bump co-host Kayla Braxton departed from WWE following the June 28th WWE SmackDown show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Braxton announced on Twitter that she recently finished filming for her first movie project. Braxton, real name Kayla Becker, stated “Just wrapped my first movie…and I got to do it alongside actors I’ve admired for years! One in particular I’ve always dreamed of meeting someday … never in a million years did I think I’d one day be sharing scenes with them! What is life?! Can’t wait for you to see it! 🫣😱🤭🩸“

In a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, Kelani Jordan gave her thoughts about her match against Sol Ruca for the NXT Women’s North American Championship at this past Sunday’s NXT Heatwave event in Toronto, Canada. Jordan stated “Well first, when we (myself & Sol Ruca) came out, I felt like the Toronto fans gave us a very warm welcome. They were clapping and cheering before we even locked up, so that was super cool but also, during the match, being able to hear them say, ‘NXT!’ Or, ‘This is awesome!’ I’m like, oh my gosh. Then, I even was like, this is crazy. I never truly experienced that and it was literally electric… Right when we got back through the curtain, I was like, ‘I wanna do it again. I wanna go back out there.’” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

In a recent episode of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podacst, co-host Booker T gave his thoughts about why he feels Ethan Page is a perfect fit in the NXT system and how Page’s time in AEW helped provide the exposure he needed for his career to get signed by WWE. Booker T stated “Ethan Page, six weeks, man, six weeks since joining NXT, and now he’s the NXT Champion. What a ride this kid is on. What a ride Ethan Page is on. When he was in AEW, and I’m not just saying this, I always thought he was a guy that stood out. I always thought he wanted more. He wanted to be the frontman. Every time I saw him, he was talking. I don’t know what it was, but it was something about him. Now, he’s a part of NXT. I’ve liked his work since he joined the company. Him becoming champion is definitely is a flip-the-script moment. Nobody really saw this coming. We were in the ‘Whoop that Trick’ era, and then all of a sudden, boom. We changed gears, and now we’re in the ‘All Ego’ era. If you’re good, and the radar’s on you, your name will get there before you do. I really believe that. I feel like a guy like Ethan Page, he fits perfectly in the NXT system, even though he’s been in the business for 17 years. He doesn’t look weathered. He doesn’t look like a guy that’s been overused or anything like that. I think perhaps maybe the time in AEW may have helped him just because it gave him exposure. Before that, Ethan Page being in the business 17 years, I didn’t know him. But once he was there, I got my eye on him, and then next thing you know, boom. There was just something about him. I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ Not really ever thinking it imagining he would be in NXT or in the WWE system, but he fits in perfectly for my eyes.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)