5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE WrestleMania 41 - Night 2 (Results & Review)

4. Say His Name And He Appears

The moment Kevin Owens announced he had suffered an injury and was unable to compete at WrestleMania, the speculation began about who Randy Orton would face in his place. Would it be a returning Rusev? Maybe an NXT wrestler?

Instead, TNA Champion Joe Hendry appeared to accept the open challenge. In terms of a WrestleMania surprise and some light fun, Hendry was a perfect choice. He popped the crowd (meeting the definition of a legit good surprise), his viral entrance was over huge in the stadium, and his losing to Orton didn’t hurt anyone of consequence on the roster.

For Hendry, this likely was one of the biggest moments of his career. However, it can’t be understated that TNA’s world champion essentially became a jobber-to-the-stars for Orton. If you’re AAA, which WWE just acquired, you’ve got to wonder if that fate awaits many of your champions going forward.

Advertisement
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.