AS a pro wrestler working with Glasgow-based Insane Championship Wrestling, Joe Hendry used to go by the name of The Local Hero. Next, he opted for The Prestigious One. Already British champion, the 29-year-old would be entirely living up to both nicknames if he can return from Australia with a Commonwealth medal for Scotland.

Hendry, whose schtick involves an element of musical parody to mock his opponents, got a trial on the WWE circuit in his first year and would love to add an element of their glitz and glamour to the Gold Coast games.

“If they let me, I will be coming out to my own entrance music,” says Hendry, all of 6ft 2in and 16 stones. “I guarantee it will be the best entrance of any sport of all time. I will be descending from the roof, with 10 drones attached to my arms!

“I used to be The Local Hero then I became The Prestigious One,” he added. “And basically, the reason I made my name is that I do musical parodies to make fun of my opponents. I’m sure you have all heard of Wrecking Ball [the Miley Cyrus song] but I did ‘Hendry Ball’ and I rolled to the ring in a zorb. Google it and you will see it! So, I am either going to raise the profile of amateur wrestling or ruin all credibility. I’m all in at this point!”

The purists of amateur wrestling may well roll their eyes at such behaviour. So might his parents when the idea of this Master of Arts and Business Graduate making his living in a leotard was first mooted. But don’t think for a minute that Hendry doesn’t regard his sport as serious business. A black belt in judo from his younger days, his move to wrestling was brought on in his mid 20s when “he hadn’t really achieved what he set out to do” and thought “I might as well REALLY disappoint my parents.”

As respectful as he is about the amateur form of the sport, he wants to prove a point that the pro wrestling game isn’t the joke that some consider it be. Bring back a medal from the Gold Coast and he will have won everyone over for good.

“When I hit 25 I really hadn’t achieved many of my goals but on New Years Eve I made a resolution to get into pro wrestling and I have been doing that ever since,” he said. “The BBC were doing a documentary at the time on some of the stars and one of the stories they were keen to explore was what would happen if a pro wrestler tried amateur wrestling and I said ‘I’ll do it!’.

“Of course some look down their nose at me,” he added. “But pro wrestling is a shark tank so I am used to it. It is like high school all over again and I am used to everything being thrown at me and I have toughened up because of that. So I wasn’t interested if people like it or not.

“But I don’t just want to represent my country, there is part of me that wants to show everyone that pro wrestlers are legit athletes as well. Because to be honest it is a helluva lot more of a sport than some things out there.

“It IS a sport and I take it really seriously. It is like any genre of entertainment and you can get anything from the bizarre to the ultra serious and to me it is a really pure art form. You either get it or you don’t. You don’t get casual fans. People are either into it or they are not. If you know a wrestling fan, it is like a religion.”

Not that there haven’t been challenges along the way when it comes to the transition. “Pro wrestling is a full-time thing but combining that with the amateur wrestling has been hard,” he said. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it [into Team Scotland] but in November I won the British championship, which I never thought I would.

“Starting a sport a 26, I thought that was a big ask,” he added. “I don’t cry too often but that brought a tear to my eye when I told my parents what I had done and when I found out I was coming here. If I could get across one thing, it is that I started pro wrestling at 24/25 and amateur wrestling at 26 and I want people to know that it is never too late to try something new. It is still hard not to get emotional about it now. It is one of the greatest honours you can have, to represent your country, and I feel very privileged to be here and be part of a team of so many talented athletes.

“I have so much respect for the sport and all the athletes who have been doing it their whole lives. I won the British and that brought a tear to the eye but if I was win a medal that would be something else, the tears would be streaming.”

While most members of Team Scotland prepare for the games with warm weather training, it so happens that Hendry will get into the swing of things by taking centre stage on his own musical show in Edinburgh. “I have a first class Master of Arts and business from Heriot-Watt university and I was offered a graduate position in London but I turned that down because I was going to be a musician,” he said. “It was mainly the parodies for a while but I am now performing again. I am doing a show on March 16 , music and a Q&A., and I play most instruments - guitar, bass, drums. The show will be at Opium, in Edinburgh, it will be 100 tickets on general sale and 30 VIPs and we are over halfway there and after this we will hopefully take that further.”