No matter the size, former TNA World Champion Joe Hendry prides himself on entertaining the crowds of wrestling fans before him. He is also dedicated to performing to the best of his abilities. Such is the case at the record-breaking WWE WrestleMania 41 event, where he emerged as the surprise opponent to 14-time world champion Randy Orton.
Despite the initial pop for Hendry's appearance, some fans later expressed their disappointment in the result, which saw Hendry lose to an RKO just over three minutes into the action. According to Hendry, though, the match finish is largely irrelevant, as several other factors led to positives for himself, TNA, and WWE.
"People can say whatever they want to me about that, but it created an iconic moment, so much so that a Topps trading card was made out of it," Hendry told the "Battleground Podcast." "It's a moment that everyone will remember, doing my spin into the RKO. Then people talked about the second RKO, but when Randy taps me, that's his seal of approval. Also again, I'm the one that said I wanted people to associate my title run with an ascension in big business. The [TNA] show after that, the meet and greet lineups were insane. The draw was insane, so it had a positive impact on business. That's my contribution to TNA Wrestling. That's what I want it to all be about."
Fellow TNA star Matt Hardy recently attested to the success of Hendy's grand stage outing, noting that the duration of his post-TNA Rebellion meet and greets greatly increased in comparison to past ones. Additionally, Hardy pointed out that the TNA World Championship, TNA's biggest prize, was highlighted on WrestleMania, WWE's biggest platform. Orton, a legend of the business, also got to celebrate his 20th WrestleMania appearance with a victory.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Battleground Podcast" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
