Joe Hendry has responded to criticism of his WrestleMania 41 match.
The TNA World Champion was revealed as a surprise opponent for Randy Orton after Kevin Owens had to pull out of their scheduled match due to his neck injury. While Hendry got a big pop and he was able to do his famous taunt during the bout, The Viper ended up defeating the current champion in almost 3 minutes.
A lot of people criticized this booking, saying that it undermined the TNA World title. Hendry responded to these claims in his new interview with Chris Van Vliet. The TNA star first explained that the match was not completely one-sided and he got some offense in. With RKO being a ‘one hit kill’ move per Hendry, the loss made sense for his character:
“The feedback that I got was exactly what it was supposed to be. And let’s be honest, the next how many days later, we had the biggest show TNA has ever had in 10 years, we had a higher attendance at Slammiversary. So we were past 4,000. I understand what this is, and my job is to put asses in seats for TNA wrestling.”
Everything Has To Be A Story: Joe Hendry
Joe Hendry explained elsewhere in the interview that previous champions have brought different things to the World title. He gave the example of Josh Alexander, whose reign was all about putting instant classic matches. The viral star explained that his goal is to do everything that’s best for business and bring as many eyes as possible to the company.
The 37-year-old also discussed how there have been other stars who have suffered quick defeat at WrestleMania but it did not affect their careers. According to him, it’s all about the kind of story you’re able to tell with the title:
“I think that in wrestling, everything has to be a story. So, in the movie, does Rocky win every single match? I mean, the story is Joe Hendry lost to Randy Orton. How is the champion going to recover from this? You know who else lost quickly at WrestleMania? John Cena to The Undertaker. You know who else lost quickly at WrestleMania? Triple H.
People have lost quickly at WrestleMania and these are the stories that we’re telling. When John Cena lost to The Undertaker, it was what is the path from here? And that’s what I’ve really learned from watching John Cena is that just make everything a story. Everything is a story. So it’s just about, okay, where do I go from here as champion?”
Apart from this, Joe Hendry talked about things such as the advice John Cena gave him during his Royal Rumble appearance, Triple H’s gesture for him at WrestleMania and more. You can check out his full interview below: