TNA World Champion Joe Hendry has revealed when WWE asked him to be Randy Orton's opponent at WrestleMania 41and his reaction to it.
Hendry recently spoke on "The Ariel Helwani Show" about his match withOrton and the details surrounding his surprise appearance.
"I found out about a week before. I had to sit on this for a week," revealed Hendry. "So, I was in the airport, and I got a text from Triple H saying, 'Can you talk?' I was at WWE World. I was scheduled to be there to be signing things. I thought, you know, it might be something to the effect of, you know, we've got the Slammys, or maybe doing a promo at WWE World. So I was kind of expecting that's what the call was going to be. Then Triple H says, 'Listen, I'm sure you're aware that Randy needs an opponent.' Yeah, that threw me off completely. I was in a state of shock. But I just knew there was a job to be done."
Hendry is proud of the match he had with "The Viper" and expressed how it was a great moment for him and the fans. He was also honored to face a legendary figure like Orton at "The Show of Shows."
"It was a huge moment for me,and what an honor to share the ring withRandy Orton," said an elated Hendry.
The TNA star also stated that he couldn't tell anyone about facing Orton ahead of the match, and that only two people knew about it from a business standpoint.
WrestleMania week is perhaps one of the most hectic times for wrestlers based in North America, and it was no different for Joe Hendry, who had numerous engagements to attend.
"I had a 12-hour media day for TNA. Twelve-hour media day. Then we had our event, the TNA event in Vegas, Unbreakable. The next day, I had WrestleCon for basically the whole day. I did the Westside Gunn show that night. Saturday, I did WrestleCon again, and that show wrapped around 3:30 in the morning. Then I was up to sign at 8:30at WrestleCon until mid-afternoon. Then I go to WWE World.Same thing again on the day of WrestleMania. On the day of WrestleMania, I had WrestleCon from about 8:30 until 1, I had WWE World from 1 until 3, and then I went straight to the building, got my gear on, and then we went," he said.
WWE and Hendry were able to keep his appearance on Night 2 of WrestleMania 41 a surprise, as he was already booked to appear at WWE World and had a disguise on hand to remain discreet.
"But the cool thing is, because I was at WWE World ... I was booked there for weeks. All we had to do was get me in the car. I had a disguise a dark hoodie, shades, a COVID mask."
The Scottish star joked about the speed with which WWE officials transported him from the car to the dressing room, which allowed his appearance to be a secret.
