25 Best Wrestling Moments Of 2025

21. Joe Hendry Appears From Fridge

Was Joe Hendry’s ‘WrestleMania Moment’ actually a good thing?

This was the discourse around April, when Randy Orton made very quick work of him in their open challenge. The finish was a slapstick punchline.

Dave Meltzer was astute in pointing out that WWE did not book Aleister Black or Rusev for the mystery opponent spot, since they wanted the audience to receive them as stars and winners. Through that lens, Hendry’s big, well-publicised “moment” doesn’t scan as a major display of trust.

Then again, WWE has effectively changed every rule. The audience no longer perceives this sort of thing as a burial. The modern audience buys what WWE is selling. Joe Hendry got to perform at WrestleMania! The fans see this as a more monumental thing than the result or nature of it in 2025.

Hendry actually wasn’t buried; he proceeded to moonlight in WWE throughout the year, building his knowing, world-breaking character - the beauty of which is that he does things that make no sense, but those things are so silly that the act gets away with itself.

In the most fantastically dumb example of the bit, Wren Sinclair “said his name” on NXT - and Hendry as if by magic materialised from a nearby refrigerator. Was he there the entire time? Would he have remained there had Wren not said his name?

You don’t ask these questions: it’s funnier if you don’t, and you instead delight in the facial expressions of the exasperated heels. Hendry’s own daft grin is always good value, too. The man has developed a gag that can run and run, and he doesn't need to win, even bump, to get it over.