TNA World Heavyweight Champion Joe Hendry made a surprising appearance at WWE WrestleMania 41 – Night 2 as the opponent for Randy Orton. Orton ultimately secured the victory in their match.
During a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, Hendry discussed the timeline of when he first learned about this unexpected opportunity.
Helwani: “Can I ask? When did this first get on your radar? When did the possibility of this-you at WrestleMania first come across your desk?”
Hendry: “So, I’ve actually never answered this question. I’ve evaded this question every time someone has asked it, but because it’s you, Ariel, I will answer it. I found out about a week before. I had to sit on this for a week.”
Helwani: “Tell me. What’s that call like? Where are you? What, like? Can you paint the picture for us? I can’t imagine what’s going on in your mind when you get this call.”
Hendry: “So, I was in the airport, and I got a text from Triple H saying, can you talk? And I was at WWE World. I was scheduled to be there, to be signing things. I thought, you know, maybe something to the effect of, you know, they’ve got the Slammies, or it might be like, you know, doing a promo at WWE World. So, I’m kind of expecting that’s what the call is going to be. And Triple H says, ‘Listen, I’m sure you’re aware that Randy needs an opponent.’ And, yeah, that threw me off completely. I was in a state of shock, but I just, you know, I knew there was a job to be done. I knew in my mind. But when I approached these things, I just thought, I want to bring as much value as possible, and I want this to be the best moment that we can possibly make it. And I’m so proud of what we did out there. That shot of the spin around into the RKO. It’s now been made into a trading card, and I think it was a really fun moment for the fans—walk into the ring in front of 60,000 people. It was a huge moment for me. And what an honor to share the ring with Randy Orton. AEW. I just wrestled Randy Orton at WrestleMania. What is going on?”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit The Ariel Helwani Show with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
