Joe Hendry has detailed how he was able to keep his WrestleMania debut a closely guarded secret that was not leaked ahead of time.
Following the events that took place at Elimination Chamber, which saw Randy Orton return and attack Kevin Owens, a match was set up between the 2 for WrestleMania 41. However, with Owens announcing that he required neck surgery and would miss Mania, Orton was without an opponent for his 20th match at the event.
Hosting an open challenge on night 2, Orton’s opponent was revealed to be Hendry. In what was a genuine shock as it was not reported ahead of time, the Scottish star received a loud ovation from the Las Vegas fans in what was his latest viral moment.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, the TNA World Champion first detailed how he disguised himself to sneak into Allegiant Stadium unnoticed, adding that the betting odds didn’t have him down as a potential opponent:
“So we got me in a car at WWE World. I had to change in the car, not into my wrestling gear, be did that at the building, but I had to change in the car. I got the most generic hoodie possible.
So it was like, Las Vegas hoodie or whatever. I had a COVID mask. I had sunglasses. I looked ridiculous. It was covered head to toe. Honestly, I wasn’t even in the betting odds. There was an “other” category where you would have to manually put in Joe Hendry. That’s how secretive this was. It was not one of the standard options. There were about 10 options, and I was in “other.””
When it was brought up that SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis was the favourite to be Orton’s opponent given the developments that played out in the lead up to the match, Hendry responded that Aldis was involved in the match, albeit behind the scenes:
“On that topic, this is how cool Nick is. Nick came down to help with this moment. So he invested his time to give input about what we could do. So the fact that Nick gave his time to help that moment, that’s how cool Nick is.”
Why Randy Orton Chose Joe Hendry As His Opponent
Following WrestleMania, it was reported that Orton was the one who chose the TNA star to be the replacement opponent. In a recent interview, Randy Orton elaborated further on why he pushed to have Joe Hendry be his opponent.
In other WWE news, plans for the 2025 Draft have been seemingly revealed.
Also in the interview, Joe Hendry defended his quick loss at WrestleMania.
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