Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The Ariel Helwani Show, TNA champion Joe Hendry described how his WrestleMania appearance came together.

Acknowledging that he’s been evading this question every time someone asked, Hendry said that he found out a week before when he received a text from Triple H asking him if he can talk.

“So I was in the airport and I got a text from Triple H saying can you talk and you know I was at WWE World, I was scheduled to be there to be signing things and I thought you know, maybe something to the effect of you know they’ve got the Slammies or it might be like, you know, doing a promo,” Hendry said.

But the call went into a totally different direction.

“Triple H says, ‘Listen I’m sure you’re aware that Randy needs an opponent,’ and yeah, that that threw me off completely that I was in a in a state of shock,” he continued.

He said that he’s proud of what they were able to accomplish and the shot of the spin-around getting an RKO is now being made into a trading card.

“I think it was a really fun moment for the fans, walking to the ring in front of 60,000 people it was a huge moment for me and what an honor to share the ring with Randy Orton,” the champion said. “I just wrestled Randy Orton at WrestleMania! What is going on it’s incredible!”

Asked who was the first one to find out after he hung up with Triple H, Hendry said he couldn’t tell anyone and had to sit on the secret for a whole week.

“I found out about [WrestleMania] a week before. I had to sit on this for a week. I got a text from Triple H, saying, can you talk… Triple H says, ‘Listen, I’m sure you’re aware that, Randy needs an opponent.’ And yeah, that threw me off completely. I was in a state of shock,… pic.twitter.com/ztW5WbV1t5

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 23, 2025