Ryan Garcia says a better segment would have spared him some of the backlash from his WWE Raw appearance.
The WBC welterweight champion crashed the Joe Hendry and Danhausen concert on the July 27 episode of Raw at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, cracking a guitar across Hendry’s back before Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh cleared the ring. Garcia posed with The Judgment Day to close it out.
Asked about the experience in a recent interview, Garcia said he enjoyed the spot itself, calling it “sick” and confirming he was the one who hit Hendry with the guitar. His read on the aftermath was… less warm.
I wish they would have gave me a better segment cuz then I wouldn’t have got as much hate, you know,” Garcia said.
Garcia Wanted The Mayweather Treatment
He also measured his spot against the last time a boxer of that profile got physical on WWE television, and found it lacking.
The WWE guy is lucky you hit him with the guitar, not with your fist,” Garcia said. “Cuz Mayweather, when he did it with the Big Show, he punched him. Bro, that’s what I want to see.
The reference holds up. Floyd Mayweather jumped the barricade at No Way Out in February 2008 and threw live punches at Big Show, legitimately breaking his nose. That angle set up their No Disqualification match at WrestleMania XXIV, which Mayweather won with brass knuckles.
What The Backlash Was Actually About
Garcia’s framing sidesteps most of what drew the objections. The fan reaction to his appearance centered on his conduct in July 2024, when the World Boxing Council expelled him over racial slurs and anti-Muslim remarks made during a livestream. The WBC lifted that ban in November 2025.
The internal read was not much warmer. Fightful Select reported that a number of wrestlers wanted nothing to do with Garcia on the show. AJ Styles has since addressed the appearance and pointed to the TKO business logic behind it.
Garcia defends his WBC welterweight title against Conor Benn on September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, on a card co-promoted by Zuffa Boxing.
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