Summary

Joe Hendry shared a memorable story from an earlier WWE tryout while speaking with Chris Van Vliet, describing how an attempt to make a good impression in catering turned into what he called the worst tryout mistake anyone could make.

Hendry said the group received feedback from William Regal about improving their physiques and sharpening their technique. Wanting to show he had taken that message seriously, Hendry chose chicken and rice while others were talking about the cake in catering. The situation then went sideways when he accidentally inhaled rice while Regal was in the middle of a lengthy talk about how wrestlers build trust with an audience.

Quote from Joe Hendry

"So I'll tell you now, I've messed up a WWE tryout worse than anyone ever has. I've never told this story before.

So yeah, we do the tryout, and we're getting a bunch of feedback. William Regal is telling us, 'You've done a good job. Need to focus on physiques. You need to focus on your technique.' I'm thinking, all right, cool.

So I go into catering. All the other guys are talking about how good the cake is in catering. I'm like, these guys, we've just been told to work on our physiques, and they're eating cake. I'm going to show them that I'm eating rice and chicken. He's going to see that, and he's going to go, 'He's coachable.'

So I'm sitting there with my rice and chicken. William Regal comes down and sits with us all. This is the awesome thing about William Regal, he sat down with us for like two hours and just told us, this is what wrestling is. I can remember almost every word that he said, and it helps me to this day.

But the main point was that being a wrestler is about building trust with the audience, so when the audience sees you, they know they're going to get value. They're going to be entertained. It's not just the big wins, like we talked about, the pay-per-views and the TVs, it's the house shows, the fan interactions, it's everything. He made me realize that about the business.

But while he's giving us these amazing lessons, I'm sitting there with my chicken and rice, and he's in the middle of this very impassioned speech. While I'm chewing, this little piece of rice just falls down the back of my throat, and I try to clear my throat a little bit to get rid of it, and I inhale the piece of rice.

So now I'm in a situation where I've got two choices, right? I can either just cough and interrupt the story, 'Oh, sorry, my bad,' and move on. Or I can say, you know what? I'm going to try and clear my throat silently.

So he's telling this story, and I go, I'm going to do that, and I just end up accidentally inhaling another eight grains of rice.

So he's telling this story, and I'm sitting there like... [struggling to breathe]. The guy sitting next to me is like, 'What are you doing? He's in the middle of a story.'

I basically spat rice all over the table where everyone's eating while he's telling this story. So from his perspective, he's telling this big speech, and I've just gone, 'Oh yeah...' [coughs up rice].

So maybe that was the reason. Who knows?

But no, he sold it beautifully. He just says, 'Can't take you anywhere, Joe,' and then walked off.

So that was comedy gold."

What William Regal's lesson meant for Joe Hendry

Hendry presented the story as a comedy disaster, but the part that stayed with him was Regal's message about trust and consistency. That matters because Hendry said he still remembers that advice and uses it today, which turns the anecdote into more than just a funny tryout memory.

For WWE fans, it also puts a little more texture on Hendry's road to the company. The story shows that one awkward moment did not erase the impression Regal's advice left on him, and Hendry framed it as part of the learning process that shaped how he approaches the business.

Sources

Joe Hendry while speaking with Chris Van Vliet