A tell-all interview from Joe Hendry about his WrestleMania debut.
With Kevin Owens having to undergo neck surgery, that left Randy Orton without a WrestleMania 41 opponent. It was then decided that Orton would issue an open challenge and come night two of WrestleMania, answering the call was TNA World Champion Joe Hendry.
A day after making his WrestleMania debut, Hendry sat down with Busted Open for an extensive interview. He started off by describing his appearance as ‘unfathomable.’
It was unfathomable, and even more so than (Royal) Rumble… The Rumble’s got 30 spots. Could be this guy, could be that guy. This is wrestling Randy Orton at WrestleMania in his 20th WrestleMania. I’m watching the video package and I’m going, holy smokes. It was weird. I was chill the entire time until we got close to the venue and I’m in Gorilla, I’m still chill, I’m good and then I’m watching the video package and I’m going… So the thing is we got the option. At Rumble, I just walk out whereas I was on NXT, they load me beforehand and then you do the spin and they’re telling me, ‘The doors are gonna open. Do you wanna load?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah,’ and so we do the spin and I remember I’m gonna get to do the spin at WrestleMania. The doors opened, the music hits, spin around, I’m thinking, what is going on? That’s what I love about this business now is it’s just anything can happen and for me to be given that opportunity is something I’m extremely grateful for… You guys know what it’s like. You guys know what it’s like. I wish people could feel what that’s like.
Hendry shared that it was hard keeping the secret to himself. He did not tell anyone.
I don’t wanna reveal the exact moment (I got the call for WrestleMania appearance). But, it was a difficult period of time to keep that to myself, you know? It was hard, it was hard. I did but it was hard. It was hard. Yeah (I didn’t tell anybody). It was hard. Exactly (that’s why I got the reaction I did). It did not leak. It did not leak.
As the conversation about the topic moved along, Hendry shared a note about him being snuck into a room in Allegiant Stadium.
He was surprised with his own official WWE merchandise that he did not know was coming. WWE managed to get shirts printed without anyone knowing.
I’m in this little hidden room. By the way, I was in full disguise. I was looking like Inspector Gadget going around to Las Vegas. I’m talking the glasses, the mask, the hoodie. I looked ridiculous. But we managed to get me in without people seeing. This little room and they came in and they were like, ‘Here’s your shirt.’ Didn’t know there was gonna be a shirt and they managed to get it printed without people knowing.
Busted Open co-host Bully Ray expressed that he thought everything about Hendry’s appearance was great, but the match could be considered a ‘glorified squash match’ as it only went three minutes. Hendry disagreed.
He brought up how title reigns are defined and mentioned Josh Alexander’s reign as TNA World Champion and said it was about classic matches. With his reign, it’s about bringing as many eyeballs to TNA as possible. Hendry does not think he’s too good to be in the spot he was in at WrestleMania because other big names have lost in short matches.
He thinks the match went exactly how it should have and shared that CM Punk felt the same way. Hendry feels it would not have gone as well for him if it went long.
I disagree (that my match at WrestleMania was a glorified squash match). The thing is the offense was back and forth, whereas a squash, to me, it could have been ding, ding, RKO and there you go. For me, what I was thinking about was look, different title reigns are defined by different things. When Josh Alexander was TNA World Champion, it was classic match, classic match. My job as TNA Champion and what defines this reign is business, is getting as many eyeballs on TNA Wrestling as possible. You know who else lost quickly in WrestleMania in similar fashion? John Cena, and what am I gonna say? All of a sudden, I’m too good to do that? To me, that’s exactly how it should have gone… Do you know what CM Punk told me? We had a great conversation afterwards and CM Punk told me, ‘That was exactly how it should have gone’ and if it had gone longer, I think it would have worked out worse for me. There is no shame in taking the RKO and losing to a legend like Randy Orton. I’m the TNA World Champion. It’s my job to rebuild.
Speaking about the post-match RKO, Hendry also disagreed with the opinion that that was not good and he explained why:
Well, I personally disagree (that Randy Orton giving me second RKO was bad). Because, if you remember, when Matt Riddle was tag team partners with Randy Orton, he was welcomed to the club. It was like, hey, you’re here. That was like an initiation. He took a lot of those secondary RKOs and he got the pat and it’s like, you’re here. You’re a part of the team…
It is (Hendry agreed with the point that it was Orton’s own way of saying Hendry got himself to this position). It is and also, what did he do after the RKO? He did my spin and then did his pose… And as John Cena said this morning, he says, ‘We got an introduction to Joe Hendry last night’ and Randy doing that reinforces the things that I do.
Chiming in on the conversation was Tommy Dreamer, who’s on TNA Wrestling’s creative team. Initially, Dreamer felt the second RKO was unnecessary, but began to think about it and said there’s now connective tissue between Randy Orton and Hendry.
He put the thought out there of Orton appearing at TNA Rebellion on April 27th. Dreamer said his mindset about situations as such have changed a bit because Moose lost clean to Oba Femi at NXT Roadblock and no one scolds Moose about it.
Dreamer: At first when I saw it (Randy Orton give second RKO to Joe Hendry), I was just like, eh, not necessary. But then, also hearing — and the other part of this, the whole time I kept saying, man, there is connective tissue now with Joe and Randy. I also know that Backlash and I’m like, man, Randy had a tag team partner that was really unique to Randy and I couldn’t remember till Joe just told me it was Matt Riddle and I’m like, there is connective tissue with this type of character that Joe is and this type of character that Randy is and I’m like, there’s more money there, and hang on, there’s also where there’s a pay-per-view next Sunday, Rebellion, where it’s a 10,000-seat venue and I’m like, hmm, is Randy Orton gonna show up? What’s going to happen on that side? Also, there’s all these different things. Then I start thinking Backlash. Listen, I’m also friends with Joe and I’m like, I couldn’t be prouder of him. But then I’m also like, think of all these things where TNA could get represented here or there or again, it’s the grandest stage of ‘em all and my thinking has changed because the whole thing with Moose. Moose lost clean to Oba Femi and not one person, when Moose goes to the ring, you lost to Oba Femi, that X Division Title means nothing. It’s a different time and sometimes you have to think a little bit differently and Joe’s explanation has sold me on everything has been the right call and then also, for the people that have talked to him and straight off from my text, I know it’s right because all these same people are talking the same way.
Switching the focus back over to TNA’s product, Hendry was asked if it’ll be difficult to go back after experiencing and competing at Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. Here’s how he responded:
And I’m gonna be completely honest and completely real with you guys, right? I have to be honest, I had a change in mindset right before all this took off. It used to be about, I want this, I want the title, I wanna work here, I wanna work there. Now, honestly, being completely real, that does not exist. All I’m focused on is I’m like, what value do I bring? What’s the biggest reaction I can get? So in that spot with Randy (Orton), I wasn’t thinking, what’s the most I can get? I was thinking, what’s gonna be the most viral moment? And that viral moment was the spin and the RKO… So now the challenge for me is not when I can I get another moment. It’s about, right, how I can take this and make money for TNA Wrestling?
The Galen Center in Los Angeles, California is hosting TNA Rebellion. The venue has a capacity of 10,000 people. Hendry shared that a ‘WWE megastar’ shared with him that they want to show up to Rebellion in their tour bus.
And Tommy (Dreamer), we don’t need to reveal who it is but I know you know who I’m gonna be speaking about here because this person told me that you guys had a conversation. You said you wonder who might show up at Rebellion. One of the WWE megastars who has a tour bus told me they wanted to show up to Rebellion with their tour bus. Do you know who I’m talking about? That’s what they wanted to do. We got WWE megastars who wanna get involved.
Hendry is going to be defending his World Title at Rebellion in a Triple Threat against Frankie Kazarian and NXT’s Ethan Page. Page and Hendry clashed for the NXT Championship at the No Mercy Premium Live Event in September 2024.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Busted Open with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
