WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said that the reason he chose Joe Hendry to answer Randy Orton’s open challenge is because they wanted a different scenario as they couldn’t put anyone to fill Kevin Owens’ spot and match that intensity.

“Just incredibly difficult to try to put somebody in the spot to fill that in,” Levesque said. “It has to be a completely different scenario, and that’s where Joe Hendry came in. And to me was the perfect opportunity to put him in there.”

He said it was the right thing, right moment, right time, and right spot to showcase Hendry on the biggest stage of them all and have that incredible WrestleMania moment for him.

“And I will just say…I love Joe Hendry,” Triple H continued, saying that he’s great, smart, and respectful.

He said he was really happy that they could put Hendry in WrestleMania and also revealed what he told him before walking out.

“I said, ‘You will be here again, so enjoy this one because the pressure gets heavy from here. This will be the easiest WrestleMania you ever do, and you will do more,'” Triple H told the press.