Why Joe Hendry At WrestleMania Made TNA Legend Emotional

One of TNA’s greatest wrestlers ever was almost in tears at the sight of Joe Hendry appearing at WrestleMania with the TNA World Title.

Randy Orton was supposed to face Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 41, but a serious neck injury prevented Owens from appearing. That led to a mystery opponent facing Orton, and it was TNA’s World Champion Joe Hendry, who got a huge ovation for his debut WrestleMania match.

It was a short match that Orton won in under five minutes clean with an RKO. After the match, Orton shook Hendry’s hand, and Orton dropped him with an RKO, followed by Orton doing Hendry’s classic stare-into-the-camera move.

Orton admitted that he picked Hendry for the match because he is a fan of Hendry’s and wanted him to get that opportunity as the first TNA World Champion competing at WrestleMania.

Placing Hendry in that spot led to criticism from some fans and wrestling critics, as it made TNA look bad for having the champion lose in under five minutes. However, Joe Hendry had positive things to say about it.

“My job as TNA Champion and what defines this reign is business and getting as many eyeballs on TNA Wrestling as possible. To me, that’s exactly as it should have gone.

There’s no shame in taking the RKO and losing to a legend like Randy Orton.”

TNA Legend James Storm Was Proud To See Joe Hendry Represting TNA At WrestleMania

James Storm is a TNA wrestling legend who, like Hendry, is a former TNA World Champion and is also remembered as one of the best tag team wrestlers in the company’s history.

While speaking to Insight’s Chris Van Vliet, Storm supported the move to put Joe Hendry in that match against Randy Orton as the TNA World Champion. It made the “Cowboy” Storm emotional, too.

“I actually almost shed a tear. Because I was happy for Joe, but I was really happy for TNA. People can say whatever they want to say about Oh, this was not a good look. No, it was a good look. It’s the biggest show of the year, and they have another company’s belt in shot.”

Joe Hendry lost the TNA World Title to Trick Williams at NXT Battleground on May 25th, while Williams is making history as the first wrestler under contract to WWE who is holding the TNA World Title.