After Saturday’s WWE Men’s Royal Rumble, one thing became abundantly clear: TNA world champion Joe Hendry is a potential future star in the WWE. When his music hit at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN, the WWE universe erupted with one of the bigger pops of the night. With Hendry calling for a match with John Cena days after his world title win, Saturday’s loud ovation could very well present him what he’s been advocating for as it’s clear fans “Believe in Joe Hendry.”
The Pop That Raised Many Eye Braus & Staring Down Roman Reigns
SAY HIS NAME
AND HE APPEARS
AT ROYAL RUMBLE! pic.twitter.com/rq2u5bDYYd— WWE (@WWE) February 2, 2025
As many talented people the WWE has working backstage to bring the best product possible for the fans that consume it, there have to be moments where they do something that is thrown up against the wall to see if it sticks. Also, the WWE has openly mentioned how the passion and reaction of the fans could influence the direction of a story, i.e., Roman Reigns vs. The Rock turning into what it did for WrestleMania 40. So, when Hendry was brought in at #15, it felt like the WWE was seeing if it was a small group of people that believed in Hendry or a very big one.
The answer was in the form of a loud ovation where the 70,000 plus fans in attendance were singing his song word for word. Although I thought the pop would come later when he was in the ring, it appeared that everyone in the arena was hyped about Hendry being at the Royal Rumble. The next big pop was minutes later when Hendry and Reigns were facing off in the middle of the ring. Again, the stadium went crazy when they saw the image of them both facing off and it had to have given the executives in the back the feeling that they may have stumbled onto something with Hendry.
Joe Hendry Has A Chat With John Cena & Continues His Campaign For A Match
Earlier today, the 36-year-old Hendry made his media rounds and stopped by the Ariel Helwani Show. It was there where Hendry shared his conversation with Cena at the Royal Rumble, which gave him hope that a match could happen later this year.
Joe Hendry believes he will wrestle John Cena this year.#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/pLn2ozBtj6
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) February 3, 2025
“In the same way that I believed I would be in the Rumble, I’m happy to say it, I hand on heart believe that I will wrestle John Cena this year—100%. There’s not any doubt. I had the opportunity to tell John Cena that as well. We had a long conversation. It was awesome. He is the greatest, and I’ll share some of it, I won’t share it all, but basically, what he did say was that fortune favors the bold. And what he made clear is that if I want that match to happen, it’s on my shoulders; I’ve got to make it happen. I’ve got to generate the interest to make it happen – and it was almost like a challenge.
“Aside from that, he gave me some great advice, and with all the chaos of the Rumble going on, John Cena sat down with me, and we had a long, meaningful conversation. He could have used that time to think about what he was doing. He instead invested the time to talk to me. So I think he sees something in me, but I have to prove myself now. I have to put myself in a position where me vs. John Cena is one of the most compelling matchups in professional wrestling.”
During the Working Progress Podcast on YouTube, I’ve spoken about the possibility of this match happening, but instead of taking a slot on the main card, Cena would be better serving Hendry by appearing on a TNA Premium Live Event so that the company as a whole can benefit from the rub that they would get from the sixteen-time champ. It would mimic what Cena did in 2006 when he faced Rob Van Dam at ECW’s One Night Stand PPV. If not, one of the PLE’s in Saudi Arabia could be a landing spot for this match as most of those events tend to have big matches with no deep story attached to it.
How Likely Do We Get John Cena vs Joe Hendry?
The fact that Cena sat down with Hendry and gave him a path to land a match with him is huge. That means Hendry hit Cena’s radar, making a match between them at least possible at some point this year. Hendry, without a doubt, has social media buzzing over what he’s doing with TNA Wrestling. What needs to happen now is that Hendry must continue his callout of Cena with a social media campaign, and TNA has to book him strong for the next couple of months while having him out there consistently for their weekly iMPACT shows.
If there were a scale from 1-10 to determine the likelihood of Cena vs. Hendry to occur, I’d have to put it at a solid eight right now. If you think differently, I advise you to watch the Royal Rumble again.
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