When Kevin Owens was sidelined with a neck injury, Randy Orton found himself without an opponent for his 20th WrestleMania. Rather than scrap the match, WWE had The Viper issue an open challenge...which was answered by TNA World Heavyweight Champion Joe Hendry.
It was a fun scrap and proved to be a move that not only blew the roof off the arena, but something few fans predicted (some of the names thrown around in advance included Rusev, Aleister Black, and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis).
According to PW Nexus' Cory Hays, WWE also considered having TNA star Jeff Hardy for Orton's opponent. The company's continued partnership with TNA opens the door to crossovers like that, and he and Orton have a storied history.
Ultimately, Hendry feels like the right decision. Not only was it one of the more fun matches on the card, but it gave Hendry his WrestleMania moment. As for both Matt and Jeff Hardy, we're sure they'll step back inside a WWE ring sooner rather than later.
Back in January, Jeff said this about what a possible WWE return could look like (he and Matt have since competed in NXT).
"For sure. There’s never been a real heel Hardy run. I was so excited about that in AEW, but I know I own what I’ve done and it was my fault I really let Matt down with the whole AEW thing. I think even AEW, before I broke my nose wrestling Sammy Guevara my thinking was we’re not being used, what if I can be like a heel on social media and send out some tweets? It evidently wasn’t professional, but again, it’s not like I was being serious. I just said something like Collision was designed for Punks."
"But I ended up getting three matches out of that with Swerve Strickland, Jon Moxley, and then Sammy. In all those matches I had that feeling, that passion. I could feel it again within myself. Oh my God. I love this I can still go, I got a lot more left in the tank, and I experienced that. But then naturally, injury happens, and my nose was broken, that was going to take a while to heal and things just worked out the way they worked out. I’m so glad to be back in TNA and super excited, because TNA has been there for me in dark times."
"When I left the pro wrestling world in 09 and got in my situation TNA employed me, they supported me and oh my God, like I said earlier, 2012 is one of the best years of my career, I was from sobriety. I was doing really good, and I just eventually eased into that drinking alcohol again. It took a while, but it just slowly caught up to me. It got me."
Check out some highlights from Hendry's surprise WrestleMania appearance below.