Ace Steel Discusses Partnership and Mentorship with Joe Hendry in TNA

In an interview with WrestleZone, Ace Steel discussed his recent partnership with Joe Hendry in TNA and the role he's played in helping Hendry advance his career. Steel, who recently faced Frankie Kazarian in a Chicago Street Fight on TNA Impact, spoke candidly about his work with Hendry.

“Quite simply, it’s a shoot as we say. I’ve been working with Joe backstage on his matches and working on his craft to get him to that next level. None of that is BS by any means. I’ve really been working hard with him. Joe was at the school last week, he came down earlier in the week to work out down here in Florida and just to hone some skills, work on some fine tuning of things. I’m a mechanics guy, I like to work on the mechanics of each wrestler and fine tune them, get them to that next level. I’m really into suspending disbelief and in my opinion, those guys really suspended disbelief from Harley Race, Terry Funk, Bruiser Brody back there. These are the guys I grew up on. The industry is entertainment, but so are movies and we get thrown into those and we love them. Joe and I have been working very close together, we got a pretty good bond going on and it just turned into an on camera role that I would have his back as he is a Lone Ranger so to speak in TNA."

Steel emphasized the importance of focusing on in-ring performance and minimizing distractions: "It’s working on his in-ring, what he does in-ring focusing on 100%. He obviously has the crowd with charisma and that’s something you can’t teach. You can’t teach that. You can tell people to come out of their shell and hopefully they do. Joe has had that intangible where he can go out there and he’s done that himself. Everything he’s done from working in ROH at an early time to when he got a shot in TNA. I’ll be 100% serious, until I came on board with TNA, I had not heard of Joe Hendry. I may have heard the name, but I wasn’t invested. The first night, it was actually in Chicago last October when I started with TNA, that was the first time I saw him in the ring and I said, ‘Wow, this guy has something.’ What he does in the ring, let’s focus more on going for the win, let’s focus on what a champion would do, that champion mentality when he wrestles and not always pandering to the people. He has the people with him, we don’t always have to turn and look at them, they’re coming with us. Let’s bring them for the ride. We don’t always sort of have to break that fourth wall and look into the camera. I’m getting him more focused on what he’s doing in the ring to get to the point of getting the win as opposed to let’s get the crowd one more chant. They’re gonna chant, they’re already chanting. When he’s on the mat, they’re chanting. When he’s down, they’re chanting for him to get up, so what can he do to maximize that. He doesn’t have to waste a second getting a couple of claps in. Not that it’s a total waste, but you understand what I’m saying. I’m just trying to get him to the point, much like any other champion. I don’t think of him as a strict comedy wrestler because I don’t think he’s comedy, but you’ve got to eliminate a little bit of the haha element to show focus to show that killer instinct.”